# What to do with your Aquariums as you get older?



## DogTailRed2 (22 Oct 2021)

Any older Aquarists out there (I'm 54) ?
Just wondering what your plans are as you get older? What do you intend to do should you pass away?
While we never want to think about the innevitable an aquarium is not like a cat or dog, you can't offer it to an adoption centre.
I'm wondering when I reach my 70's 80's (should I live that long) wether I should sell them or give them away?


----------



## MirandaB (22 Oct 2021)

I'm the wrong side of 55 but can't see me stopping any time soon although cutting back a bit but that's more due to lack of time with work and rising energy costs.
Should anything happen then I've left a list of people to contact regarding rehoming fish and tanks.


----------



## MichaelJ (22 Oct 2021)

MirandaB said:


> Should anything happen then I've left a list of people to contact regarding rehoming fish and tanks


Good thinking. I think my family would probably figure out a way to donate everything to my LFS or aftermarket listing... because that's what I said I would do if I otherwise would be unable to maintain the tanks. I am always striving to simplify things with the tanks. I don't think I spend more than between 2-3 hours a week on actual maintenance on my two tanks. Unless seriously physically impaired I don't see myself being unable to do that for many years to come.


----------



## zozo (28 Oct 2021)

I'm turning age 56 at the end of this year. Darn, that's soon now you mention it.  Still can't believe it is really happening still feel 25 at heart and every morning I still see a handsome young fellow in the mirror.

In our language, it is particularly difficult because we use according to age and politeness a different form of address for elderly people than Sir only. Jij (Dutch) is You (English) that is how youngsters address each other and U (Dutch) is also You but sounds more formal and how a youngster should address an elderly person. Thus then when I try to fancy the pretty young cashier at the supermarket she formally and politely says U and to rub it in it is followed by Sir too. 

That's always a very confronting reminder that I'm probably wrong and still dreaming when I look in the mirror early in the morning. 

But currently, I'm young free and single and it indeed did cross my mind. What about the pond and the tanks etc. when I suddenly drop out of the blue sky or get unable to and have no time to act for whatever reason? I actually don't know!? But I have a rather large family and a few family members and a few friends fancy aquariums... I guess they figure it out... All I have is made DIY with some unique ornamental flair to it you don't see every day. It's not something off the shelf. I had people asking if they could have it if I stop. So that's already halfway anyway. 

Thus we keep on rocking till we can't anymore...


----------



## Wolf6 (28 Oct 2021)

I'm actively trying to get my kids into the hobby, in the most likely misplaced hope they will one day have the same passion for this as I do.  I will probably be plodding around in my garden and with my tanks till I die, even if I have to crawl. I might switch to low tech eventually if the water changes and maintenance becomes too much.


----------



## Andy Pierce (28 Oct 2021)

I have been wondering the same thing.  Currently I can walk around with a 20 L bucket of water during water changes, but that won't be true forever.  It's the water change piece I worry about as the rest of the maintenance is pretty straightforward for anyone (e.g. surviving family members ) to carry on.


----------



## Wolf6 (28 Oct 2021)

Andy Pierce said:


> I have been wondering the same thing.  Currently I can walk around with a 20 L bucket of water during water changes, but that won't be true forever.  It's the water change piece I worry about as the rest of the maintenance is pretty straightforward for anyone (e.g. surviving family members ) to carry on.


I have the luxury of just using garden hoses, into garden for water removal and attached to tap in the scullery(?) for adding water. No carrying buckets at an old age for me. But if I look at my dad, well past into 70, he can still carry heavy stuff around without too much hassle. So I'm not worried yet. Who knows by then we'll have little 'aqua-helper-bots' who we can just tell to do it for us. Maybe even maintenance drones that we can put into the tank to do the trimming. Ah, the future is bright.


----------



## dw1305 (28 Oct 2021)

Hi all, 


Wolf6 said:


> I'm actively trying to get my kids into the hobby, in the most likely misplaced hope they will one day have the same passion for this as I do. I will probably be plodding around in my garden and with my tanks till I die, even if I have to crawl.


Same for me. The tanks are pretty low maintenance already, but changes in them may alert the children that I've died.


zozo said:


> Thus then when I try to fancy the pretty young cashier at the supermarket she formally and politely says U and to rub it in it is followed by Sir too.


Not very PC, but I think a number of us (I'm 58) may have been there. 

A few years ago we had a student look at the length and composition of supermarket queues and they found that men are more likely to visit check-outs with young female cashiers, even if it meant a longer wait.............. 

cheers Darrel


----------



## zozo (28 Oct 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Not very PC, but I think a number of us (I'm 58) may have been there.



What does PC stand for if I may ask?

Edit never mind I think I get it.








						Definition of PC
					

parsec; after a meal; after meals… See the full definition




					www.merriam-webster.com
				



And no it actually isn't, but nothing wrong with finding someone pretty/attractive and being friendly. I'm not blind after all.



dw1305 said:


> A few years ago we had a student look at the length and composition of supermarket queues and they found that men are more likely to visit check-outs with young female cashiers, even if it meant a longer wait..............



I guess we old fart Dutchmen must be very lucky then... 90% of the cashiers in our country are young female students. You can't get around them. It's a side job for them during their study years. Anybody over age 20 not studying anymore is about too expensive, a higher risk for the employer to contract, thus a rarety to find. The cashier is like a traditional girls job, slang for a girl in Dutch is Miep and as a jest, a cashier is called a Bleep Miep.

That actually also always is a guarantee for variety about every 2 to 3 years there are new ones...


----------



## dw1305 (28 Oct 2021)

Hi all,


zozo said:


> What does PC stand for if i may ask?


<"Politically Correct">.


zozo said:


> ............. 90% of the cashiers in our country are young female students. You can't get around them. It's a side job for them during their study years. Anybody over age 20 not studying anymore is about too expensive, a higher risk for the employer to contract, thus a rarety to find. The cashier is like a traditional girls job, slang for a girl in Dutch is Miep and as a jest, a cashier is called a Bleep Miep.
> 
> That actually also always is a guarantee for variety about every 2 to 3 years there are new ones.....


and that would be the definition of  "_not PC_".

cheers Darrel


----------



## mort (28 Oct 2021)

When I was in the shop we had a few people in their 70's and 80's who kept fish and probably looked after them far better than most tbh. They simplified things and kept easy fish for the most part but there was an amazing guy that was 88 I think (because he liked to memtion it) that still had a little fish house and bred some of the healthiest stock you could imagine.
I don't think age maters much nowadays, it's simply what you are able to do and there's no point giving up until you have to if you don't want.


----------



## zozo (28 Oct 2021)

dw1305 said:


> and that would be the definition of "_not PC_".



Tell me about it, in my country anybody over age 50 getting unemployed is about doomed to stay that way. Especially lower class, Too old, too expensive, too much risk... very frustrating in this position receiving unemployment payment is you are obliged to apply for jobs several times a month till age 67. Not doing it is an offence and you get a penalty. And applying only means you get turned down. And this month in month out over again for the next 17 years or so.

No wonder there is time left for the 50 + to peek at cashiers etc.


----------



## John q (28 Oct 2021)

zozo said:


> Tell me about it, in my country anybody over age 50 getting unemployed is about doomed to stay that way.


Similar scenario in the UK unfortunately.

Meanwhile back at the ranch ~ I've given the Mrs a crash course in maintaining my tanks should I become incapacitated, I'd also romantically like to think my 6yr old daughter will follow in my footsteps. I think she might have the planted tank bug, found her the other night skimming through George farmers aquascaping book, so things look promising on that front. 😀


----------



## Driftless (28 Oct 2021)

64 here, I can get older?   
My tanks are at my office and we use hoses instead of buckets.  I was very sick last year and employees took care of the tanks when I was in the hospital.


----------



## Garuf (28 Oct 2021)

I worked in a factory for a couple of years and from that, all I can say is as soon as you think your old you get old. The blokes who were slinging round hundreds of kilos of metal a day all day soon ended up ghosts of themselves as soon as they stopped doing it. 

The thing that bothers me isn’t maintenance I have to say, I like it and I don’t mind lifting buckets.
What worries me is that when I move from my current digs finding a rental that allows me to keep fish… it took me some 8 years between previous and current tanks because a rental ain’t ever your house and you can’t really live how you want…


----------



## dw1305 (28 Oct 2021)

Hi all, 


Driftless said:


> I can get older?


I hope so, it is better than the alternative.

cheers Darrel


----------



## DogTailRed2 (28 Oct 2021)

Andy Pierce said:


> I have been wondering the same thing.  Currently I can walk around with a 20 L bucket of water during water changes, but that won't be true forever.  It's the water change piece I worry about as the rest of the maintenance is pretty straightforward for anyone (e.g. surviving family members ) to carry on.


Have you concidered making a diy water change device?
A water butt. A tubb. Some hose, fittings and a couple of pumps.
I never lift a bucket anymore.


----------



## ian_m (29 Oct 2021)

Make something like this, never have to heat/mix and lift water buckets again.
DIY Project - Water change heater project.


----------



## Wookii (29 Oct 2021)

Both my tanks are set up with fully automated daily water changers and overflow outlets connected to waste pipes. Lugging buckets around are what drove me out of the hobby 20 years ago, so I'll never be going back to that!

As for what to do about your tanks when you breathe your last, I don't think its worth worrying about. Even for those of us a little earlier in years, you can get hit by a bus tomorrow, the outcome is the same, your family have to catch any livestock and give them to a LFS, clean your tank out and get rid of the gear.  Not ideal for them, but I don't think they would want me to sacrifice the pleasure of having a tank just so they didn't have to go through that process.


----------

