Why do so many people leave the hobby?

[homegrowncichlid]

That feeder is a really good idea., I just want to "like" your post, too bad I can't use it since I have too many other competing fish, who would just camp it. I've already have enough things going on with my butterfly target feeding station and my puffer target feeding station.

You've basically solved the problem of how to keep sea horses (as an extreme example) in community tanks. It can be done! How do you handle competition from other hungry fish in the tank?

 

[Paul B]

Homegrowncichlid a long time ago I invented a seahorse feeder for feeding adult brine shrimp here http://www.saltcorner.com/Articles/Showarticle.php?articleID=26
It worked great and I patented the thing. I do not sell them any longer but I sold about 6,000 of them. It was the grand child of this new, new born brine shrimp feeder which works very well. My other fish don't use the feeder because the shrimp are to small for them and only the fish I want to use the feeder use it. The rest of the fish I target feed with one of these. I target fish everything and would never just put food in my tank.

 

[oseymour]

The famous Paul_B. I'm reading through your lengthy thread on ReefCentral.

I've only been in this hobby for 3 years but a couple things have made me successful and not want to leave.

• I got my wife and kids involved - They feed the tank when I'm at work and keep close watch on the fish, they usually alert me when something is sick or off. I let them choose most of the corals and fish in the tank and I take care of the dirty work maintaining the equipment, skimmer and water changes.

• Automation helped a lot, my Apex controller help me and my family maintain and monitor parameters and when we go on vacations in the summer.

• 
  Cheap equipment from people leaving the hobby - I could not afford a lot of this equipment new so I continuously browse the used equipment forums and that's where I get most of my equipment and corals.

• 
  I have friends in the hobby and made a lot of new ones and it gives us something to talk about other than football, our wives and kids. Its great to share first hand experience and we encourage each other.

 

[House of Laughter]

Friends and support are key

Ive been a member since this site began, have been through award winning tanks, a business venture and for the past or so years have lost interest due to competing work and family priorities, loss of contact with my reef buddies and all the work required to maintain a good/healthy system (which has relevance and context to all).

This past weekend a good and old friend of mine convinced me I should not break down my 150 (been up for 7-8 years). I have been slowly taking it and all the pieces connected to it down. That process alone has been daunting and uber time consuming. This is the friend, who, BTW, I helped put his plenum into his new tank. Yes I said plenum.

So, last night, for the first time in years, I went to an reefers house whom I've known for years and bought frags .. . . . .

The 150 is being cleaned and leaned and a 16g nano has birthed from it all.

Thanks to my reefer friends and this community.

House

 

[juanmu319]

I have a 265 gallons, that when we got hit with Sandy, I was without elect. for 2 weeks. Everything in the tank died, several thousands of dollars of fishes as well as corals. Now trying to restart all over.

 

[JHOV2324]

I feel the people who have stayed the longest in the hobby are in a stable condition for example already married and/or have a house, career. This way your tank is not only a hobby but it becomes a staple chore. Yet a chore that provides satisfaction.

 

[Paul B]

Oseymour, Nice to meet you. I was born in Brooklyn, Bensonhurst.
Now I live on Long Island. On Reef Central I only post on my thread as they deleted two of my threads, one about immunity as they don't believe in it so I severely restrict my time there.

 

[FlexLuthor]

I would like to chime and get to the crux of the issue:

Any supermodels keeping saltwater fish, please call me.

That will be all

 

[oseymour]

Oseymour, Nice to meet you. I was born in Brooklyn, Bensonhurst.
Now I live on Long Island. On Reef Central I only post on my thread as they deleted two of my threads, one about immunity as they don't believe in it so I severely restrict my time there.

I realize that the mods there are petty with a lot of things. I liked RC because it seemed like the most active community. I initially mostly sold or listed items for sale here but for the last few days I've been poking around reading and I'm getting to like it here.
Message to mods, the design and navigation here could use some work, its hard to find stuff when you are a newb.

Back on topic, I also think a lot of people leave because they are not quite sure what they are getting into. I saw all the nice tanks and was frustrated when my tank didn't look like that from day 1. It was after a while I realize that some of those beautiful tanks have been up for years. An LFS in Brooklyn also sold me a ton of crap that screwed up my tank, PH Buffers is one example.

 

[ScubaDre]

Here is the real problem that's not really a problem. As in every hobby ( photography, fishing, woodworking, r/c ...) there are lots and lots of people that think "oh that looks cool" only to find out later it's not as easy as it looks, more expensive than thought, or just not really their thing. Before literally jumping in they don't take the time to learn as much as possible beforehand and are doomed to fail. Yesterday I was in Petco Union Sq. (I can feel the looks... I get an employee discount there) and this dude was buying some really random stuff that included a clown, emperor angel plus other fish, some coral and a condy Haitian anemone... recipe for disaster. After talking to him I found out he was replacing some lost fish and words like cycle, reef safe, lighting were like a foreign language. He gave back everything and I was lucky I wasn't kicked out. Fact is most people don't know what they are getting into. I've been doing tanks since I was a kid with my gramps and brother and its always been a passion. People will come and go like in every hobby, it's only the "cool" people that stick around.

 

[oh207]

Great discussion, and entertaining too. It would be nice if this thread had a poll option.

I can't say that there is one specific reason why so many people leave the hobby, or even say that one reason is more common than the other. I think everyone else pretty much said it all, family, cost, moving, did not meet expectations, failures, etc...But I do like your theory. Its just as sound as everyone else's. But one thing to look at is who is joining and who is leaving and how long are the newcomers staying. And for those who are leaving, how long were they in the hobby?
Being engaged, being excited, and getting bored assumes that those who are leaving are more senior hobbyists who have had successes and are no longer challenged or excited. So they get bored and leave...perhaps to join supermodel fan clubs.

I think another way to look at this is to examine why so many people are entering the hobby? Maybe someone should start a new thread with said title...:scratch:

Its said that fish attract us to the hobby and corals gets us addicted. That certainly describes me. And your conclusion supports that as well!

Thank God for corals!

Your posts are always entertaining.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Reasons why I left.
Money
Attitudes of others
Time to spend on maintaining the tank was not there.

 

[zenfish]

Reasons why I left.
Money
Attitudes of others
Time to spend on maintaining the tank was not there.

attitudes of others?

can you expand on that?

 

[Raul]

My cause...

Illness

The only cause we have no control over....

 

[brand]

Lol you expect me to read all that , it gets boring and you take tank for granted like me .

 

[brand]

Cost not really once it's setup done except for electric bill .

 

[brand]

Illness of course I would stop right away . Mr reef friends have all my stuff if something happens to me told wifey who and what .

 

[brand]

One guy have to keep eye on he wants my giant leather bad lmao

 

[Paul B]

I still think it takes a special person to stay in this as it is human nature to become bored. If we think of any of this as work, then it is work and why would we want to work "and" have it cost us money? I don't consider any of it work and actually like to change water and clean the glass. I also like it when something goes wrong as that allows me to think of the reason. What did I do wrong? How can I prevent it from happening again? Why do no Supermodels ring my door bell?
Problems such as flatworms, algae and cyano I find interesting. I love it when I find a "pest". We call a lot of things pests. I am sure they call us pests as they are just doing what they were built to do and were also happy being in the ocean when someone in-advertantly collected them with a piece of coral or rock. Then they get really mad when we try all sorts of things to kill them. This is what makes this hobby fantastic. Of course we need patience and a lot of it. If we just want to look at pretty fish we should not have started this hobby but bought a picture of a coral reef instead. Some of us have reef tanks in Iowa, Kentucky or Colorado, places that were never meant to have a reef yet we are able to keep them there.

 

[basiab]

My guess is most people get in without reading about it. Then spend a ton of money on the wrong things. Have no patience to see things through and then give up.
I got into this hobby about 15 years ago. Started with a 10 gallon and then to a 24 gallon aquapod that I still have. Most of my fish lived for years as did my corals (LPS). I stayed at 24 gallons because it was easy to maintain. I really enjoyed it and kept it exciting by having different kinds of fish and different types of LPS over time. MR helped me resolve problems as well as selling/buying. But now I am retired and will be moving and there is plenty to do without having a tank to worry about so I am closing down my tank. Will I start again, who knows.