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Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and why?

Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

a1Matt said:
Collecting.
Being able to grow and swap plants is a great outlet for my geeky urge to collect. (I'm a geek and not ashamed to admit it!)
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Would be safe to assume that the planted tank is a geeky thing to do?
For example, look at the tank of "AlwaysBroke" and you could see that it is a very technical thing to have, or at what Mowze, LondonDragon, and the countless of users on the forum that have timers, measure things by the grams, etc, etc..

The toolkit alone needed to maintain a planted tank can run into the dozens..
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

I love the creative side of designing my scape. I enjoy the scientific sice and devouring as much knowedge as possible from the internet. I am very compedative by nature and get motivation from seeing other peoples great scapes. I enjoy the forum side of things and participating with all other people who share the same excitement as myself.

I am obsessed with moss and searching for aquatic mosses, plants and fauna in the wild. I spend countless hours and sleepless nights thinking of ways to breed shrimp or grow plants emersed. This excites me because I am cultivating my own stock for my next scape 😀
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

I like to experiment! I like to try different light levels, co2, ferts mix it all up and start again. I learnt nothing usefull till I came here, but I love to try pushing the levels of plant growth, and experimenting with ferts. My least favourite part is co2. So wishy washy. Is it green/yellow, green/blue? Are my fish suffering? I hate drop checkers, they suck. Think I got the level right now so will try leaving it alone.
Pruning back one week then having to do it all again 2 weeks later is very satisfying though! lol :lol:

Edit: Cant be asked with aquascaping, next tank will be plants only.
 
A thread worth resurrecting, I think...

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Lots of new members since this was posted... 🙂
 
I like the pleasure of raising healthy plants (when I can lol), combined with the interactions of fish that are calm and comfortable in their surroundings.

The best example of this i've seen, which I love; is my white cloud mountain minnows darting around the lush green monte carlo carpet; while either pecking at each other and flaring their fins in breeding behaviour 🙂
 
Aqua360 said:
I like the pleasure of raising healthy plants (when I can lol), combined with the interactions of fish that are calm and comfortable in their surroundings.

The best example of this i've seen, which I love; is my white cloud mountain minnows darting around the lush green monte carlo carpet; while either pecking at each other and flaring their fins in breeding behaviour 🙂
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WCMM are my favourite fish right now. So underrated and colourful in the right conditions.
 
George Farmer said:
WCMM are my favourite fish right now. So underrated and colourful in the right conditions.
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agreed, I got mine a few months back; and they never fail to entertain, cheap and super hardy. I notice a lot of my females get super fat and pregnant, but I haven't been fortunate to cultivate any fry yet
 
My most frustrating part of the hobby right now is slow growth and plant issues! My favourite part is that my fish don't seem to give a monkies that it does not look like the great aquascapes you see on here and I love feeding time when they are all out. One day I am sure I will get the plant growth I want, I tell myself that if it was easy there would be no satisfaction in it 🙂
 
Love these older threads...This one is a great way of touching base with the real passion behind the hobby. Makes me wonder why it fell in to obscurity, great revive George.

I enjoy the creative process the most...even though it can be extremely frustrating at times:arghh::banghead:🙂

The gratification of reproducing a little bit of nature in my home is also a big pull for me...and that it often seems to take on a life of it's own and somehow evolve in to something more than I intended.
 
Interesting question. I guess that as I have a history of running the same tank setup for many years and rarely tear things down to start completely afresh my favourite aspect must be about the challenges of balance and maintaining it. I'm not a huge fan of EI probably because it is about providing non limiting levels of everything rather than learning to balance things at other levels. I love to watch and add and watch and add or reduce etc. my fascination is learning from the plants and fauna for me it is all about balance and as I recently said in another thread I think this mirrors my own search for balance in my life. I also love the photography side but then that is another hobby of mine...
 
I love watching how things develop. I tend to always analyse things no matter what I do and that mentality applies to fish keeping.

Sometimes I have lazy periods when I don't dose nutrients. My plants go to shits. Then I start "fixing" the deficiencies and sort of take mental notes along the way what action resolved them, how long it took, how the plants were initially affected, how their leaf shape changed subsequently, etc... I think that I almost subconsciously let things go so I can sort them after 🙂
When you've kept fish tanks for years, all sort of odd things happen and one learns all the time. I basically love experimenting and see what works best. I like finding my own ways and new ways and I do tend to challenge established beliefs just to see if they have any merit in practice. Many of them don't....
Having said that, I never endanger my fish's health the slightest as long as I am aware of the dangers. My favourite part of the hobby is fish keeping, seeing my water pets happily buzzing around. I keep mostly long lived fish and it's rewarding to keep them healthy and alive and less fearful of me 🙂
My next most favourite part is reading, reading, reading....about all aspects of the hobby, anything really.
 
The Hobby is ever evolving, and experimentation is the key. New ways of thinking and doing things with plants,fish, shrimp etc.
I enjoy the experimentation that scaping gives more than anything else. Seeing what works and what does not.
Being able to watch the inhabitants interaction within an environment that you have created with your own hands.
Watching the plants grow within and out of the tank, and how the feel of the whole scape changes depending on what the plants are doing.
Enjoying other people interacting with the scape and peering in to see what certain things are. and then explain about what is inside and where certain inhabitants come from.

Just last night, with the Insularium. It was fascinating at 7-8pm being able to witness how the shrimp react within it. They slowly emerge from wherever they have been during the day. and watch them forage amongst the plants. Seeing how curious they are whenever a new plant is introduced into the scape. As they clamber all over the plants
Also watching the pipefish predate in every nook and cranny they can get into, to find shrimplets, cyclops etc to eat.
 
My favourite part is watching everything evolve and helping to maintaining a world for the plants and fauna. Seeing everything flourish (when I'm doing a good job).
Also love how the fish and shrimpies are characters in their own right. Seeing how they react to changes I make in the tank. For example.. since adding the 2700l powerhead in a 64l tank, the phantom tetra has been on a suicide rollercoaster ride and keeps going back for more, the corys are constantly riding the waves.. the bamboo shrimpies have been named: Mr Miyagi, Rocky, Rambo and Bruce Lee (if you see them infront of the powerhead you'll understand why :lol: ).. the Amanos are busy doing God knows what. Sometimes I wonder if they're dead or in the filter until I see a few walking over the substrate or in the Ludwiga.
Love it as a hobby.. though it's more of a commitment as lives depend on me.
 
For me its all about the fish. To build/design a scape for a specific fish. For us to have the ability to mimic nature, to create something that reflects what is real, and its all in your home.

I enjoy looking at what i have made and thinking, i done that. Watching it all change over the months/years and in the end creating something new.

I love when people ask if i have any "pets" and i say fish. Watch them roll their eyes. Just show them a picture and you can see the amazement on their face.

Another aspect is how aquariums open new doors. My first aquarium was a fish bowl that housed two funfair gold fish.
 
I love the all consuming research ...the beauty found along the way in viewing amazing scapes . I am a gardener by profession so to me its gardening in my living room ,,,the satisfaction in looking at a creation that works and pleases the eye, the fish enjoying the environment created. I never tire of it
 
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