Beastije
Fish Addict
Just my opinion, but given people here are long time fish keepers too, maybe you will be able to confirm my suspicion.
I think fish keeping as a hobby is somehow being controlled by some things ( I guess the suppliers) in waves and it is the same as in any hobby
I mean like pet breeds are becoming popular after some movies (think Lassie), I feel fishkeeping is really the same, but people still think they have a choice in what fish are they getting.
10 years ago when I started everywhere around me people were getting malawi and tanganyika cichlids and everyone had limestones and these fish. Now almost everyone has south america, special cichlids, special tetras. 20 years back it was guppies and their forms, now they are still there, but special, wild caught forms.
When I look at other fishtanks that people have, 90% of them at this point have a south america one. Same goes with bettas, basically nobody had a betta 20 years ago, only few people had bettas 10 years ago, now everybody has or had in the past 5 years a betta.
Is it just me or is it not really our choice what we keep? is it the issue of we see other tanks and like it and want to replicate it? Or is it what is available in the stores. That might be for newbies, but what about the other people that order special fish and have almost every type of fish available. Sure water params might be the difference, but even in SA or Asia you get fish from one end of the spectrum and fish from the other, so that is not it.
I just dont understand it
I think fish keeping as a hobby is somehow being controlled by some things ( I guess the suppliers) in waves and it is the same as in any hobby
I mean like pet breeds are becoming popular after some movies (think Lassie), I feel fishkeeping is really the same, but people still think they have a choice in what fish are they getting.
10 years ago when I started everywhere around me people were getting malawi and tanganyika cichlids and everyone had limestones and these fish. Now almost everyone has south america, special cichlids, special tetras. 20 years back it was guppies and their forms, now they are still there, but special, wild caught forms.
When I look at other fishtanks that people have, 90% of them at this point have a south america one. Same goes with bettas, basically nobody had a betta 20 years ago, only few people had bettas 10 years ago, now everybody has or had in the past 5 years a betta.
Is it just me or is it not really our choice what we keep? is it the issue of we see other tanks and like it and want to replicate it? Or is it what is available in the stores. That might be for newbies, but what about the other people that order special fish and have almost every type of fish available. Sure water params might be the difference, but even in SA or Asia you get fish from one end of the spectrum and fish from the other, so that is not it.
I just dont understand it