Fishkeepers Anxiety!

[SAChichlidLover]

Hey everyone, I wanted to discuss another topic which is quite common in the hobby.. Anxiety.
Mine is that bad that every night before I go to sleep I'll quickly run down the stairs to check if all my fish are alright ?
Alot of the time I always wonder if my fish are happy and healthy or not and if they are growing properly haha!
The worst is with new fish and if they are going to survive and be a great addition to the tank or terrorize it even if you have researched the fish to death it sometimes happens! And the worst.. when the fish die and you blame it on yourself and are terrified for the others! Maybe I'm too attached to my fish but either I couldn't lose any of my fish without shedding tear, maybe I'm just soft haha
Here's some random pics of my fish.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Totally. I count my fish every day.

I also check on them every night.

 

[SAChichlidLover]

Totally. I count my fish every day.

I also check on them every night.

Hahaha same here, Sometimes even going the extra mile and testing the water lol

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hahaha same here, Sometimes even going the extra mile and testing the water lol

Oh, I test my water every week. Some people think I’m crazy... ?

 

[SAChichlidLover]

Oh, I test my water every week. Some people think I’m crazy... ?

Same here! Its better safe than sorry haha

 

[Neleono]

Don't worry, I'm completely the same! I've never owned any really big fish but I make really big connections to my little guys. I always take, a few minutes after I wake up, to count all of my fish and look over all of them to see any problems. I do this a few times a day. Sometimes I will just watch them for 30 min strait looking for irregularities. Sometimes this pays of in the way that I am able to catch problems quickly but also I am anxious ever time I go to bed because I wonder if they will make it through the night, even though there is nothing wrong with them. I think a little bit of that is good but too much can cause you burnout and lots of stress over time. Its hard to find a good balance between what is a good amount and what is to much. And not to get all phycological but that often relates to my life. It is good to worry about things, we were made to worry for a reason, it keeps us and those we love safe but to much is an even bigger problem than not enough. Fish keeping has taught me a lot about fish and other animals, but a lot of the things I have learned can also have a relation to my life and the lives of others, as if its all interconnected. My mini rant about fish keeping being life its self aside, its sometimes good to have fishkeeper's anxiety but we need to learn to make a balance to keep ourselves happy and in turn our fish happy too. And don't worry, when I loose a fish, even a little tetra that I just got from the store, it breaks my heart just the same. Some people don't feel sad about loss of fish all that much, but others do. It's really all about how we preserve loss, and how we react to it. All people are different when it comes to that thing. All of that aside, you've got some neat fish and those pictures make me like them even more! Best wishes, Nele.

 

[AbbeysDad]

You just need to relax and have more confidence in yourself. If you're staying on top of your tank maintenance with weekly partial water changes and filter/gravel maintenance, and you're feeding your fish high quality food (lightly)...then they're having a good life and you fussin n' frettin about them is just a waste of emotional energy. Now if you slack off and things begin to go south, well then kick yerself in the backside and step back up to doin it right again!
Footnote edit: I rarely test water these days as the fish will 'tell' me when somethings off. Then again, my routine water changes are like clockwork.

 

[SAChichlidLover]

Don't worry, I'm completely the same! I've never owned any really big fish but I make really big connections to my little guys. I always take, a few minutes after I wake up, to count all of my fish and look over all of them to see any problems. I do this a few times a day. Sometimes I will just watch them for 30 min strait looking for irregularities. Sometimes this pays of in the way that I am able to catch problems quickly but also I am anxious ever time I go to bed because I wonder if they will make it through the night, even though there is nothing wrong with them. I think a little bit of that is good but too much can cause you burnout and lots of stress over time. Its hard to find a good balance between what is a good amount and what is to much. And not to get all phycological but that often relates to my life. It is good to worry about things, we were made to worry for a reason, it keeps us and those we love safe but to much is an even bigger problem than not enough. Fish keeping has taught me a lot about fish and other animals, but a lot of the things I have learned can also have a relation to my life and the lives of others, as if its all interconnected. My mini rant about fish keeping being life its self aside, its sometimes good to have fishkeeper's anxiety but we need to learn to make a balance to keep ourselves happy and in turn our fish happy too. And don't worry, when I loose a fish, even a little tetra that I just got from the store, it breaks my heart just the same. Some people don't feel sad about loss of fish all that much, but others do. It's really all about how we preserve loss, and how we react to it. All people are different when it comes to that thing. All of that aside, you've got some neat fish and those pictures make me like them even more! Best wishes, Nele.

Very very true, I'm glad you feel the same! And I like to do the same to be honest catching issues before they become issues is amazing Thank you so much! best wishes to you too!!!

 

[SAChichlidLover]

You just need to relax and have more confidence in yourself. If you're staying on top of your tank maintenance with weekly partial water changes and filter/gravel maintenance, and you're feeding your fish high quality food (lightly)...then they're having a good life and you fussin n' frettin about them is just a waste of emotional energy. Now if you slack off and things begin to go south, well then kick yerself in the backside and step back up to doin it right again!
Footnote edit: I rarely test water these days as the fish will 'tell' me when somethings off. Then again, my routine water changes are like clockwork.

Thabk you so much! I try not to stress haha and I do 50% every week so hopefully they will all be okay, I dont blame you! I hope all is well

 

[jonny-5]

I do check the numbers of fish in the morning & before bedtime & probably 100 times a day ,Together with the tank temp & make sure the filters are working
But i do have fry in 1 of tanks at the moment so i need to check & feed regular
My wife says Why do you keep checking everything ?

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Hey everyone, I wanted to discuss another topic which is quite common in the hobby.. Anxiety.
Mine is that bad that every night before I go to sleep I'll quickly run down the stairs to check if all my fish are alright ?
Alot of the time I always wonder if my fish are happy and healthy or not and if they are growing properly haha!
The worst is with new fish and if they are going to survive and be a great addition to the tank or terrorize it even if you have researched the fish to death it sometimes happens! And the worst.. when the fish die and you blame it on yourself and are terrified for the others! Maybe I'm too attached to my fish but either I couldn't lose any of my fish without shedding tear, maybe I'm just soft haha
Here's some random pics of my fish.

I get this big time, I have to tell my fish "it's morning time, I'm turning the light on!" so they don't get shocked when I turn the light on in the morning... Same with night time, have to tell them all goodnight before I switch off the light. My tank is directly opposite my bed and I try so hard to squint in the dark to see if that one gourami is asleep or dead I'm quite paranoid in general too, and this definitely doesn't help.
Anxious fish keepers make do! Gorgeous fish, by the way!!

 

[mrsjoannh13]

You are not alone. I get extremely anxious with new fish - watching them like a hawk, freaking out if they glass surf, etc.

One of the things that made me mellow out a bit and this is kind of counter-intuitive, but Corey from Aquarium Co-op said in one of his videos: "How do you get good at fish keeping? You kill a bunch of them.". He's not saying go kill a bunch of fish on purpose, mind you. What he means is that you're going to make mistakes and through those mistakes you'll learn. And despite it all you are going to lose some fish. It's stressful and it's no fun but it's going to happen. Like a previous poster said, take good care of your tanks, keep up on your maintenance, research how you plan to stock your tanks, and then sit back and enjoy.

 

[Colin_T]

Footnote edit: I rarely test water these days as the fish will 'tell' me when somethings off. Then again, my routine water changes are like clockwork.

Same here. I jut watch the fish and if they aren't their usual happy selves, I check the water but normally they were bombing around doing their thing.

I did check the pH of my tap water every week or two because the government used to chance sources regularly and some weeks we had dam water with a neutral ph (7.0) and the following week we got ground water with a pH below 5.0. So I had to watch that, but I added Rift Lake conditioner to virtually all my tank water while it was in holding tanks and that raised the pH.

 

[madmark285]

Same here. I jut watch the fish and if they aren't their usual happy selves, I check the water but normally they were bombing around doing their thing.

Last Saturday something was wrong with my barbs ie: no morning feeding frenzy. Quick check to discover the water temperature was 65F (18C). My heater died after 3 weeks of use, WTF!

So a little anxiety is a good thing.

 

[Guyb93]

I worry about the smallest things rather than the majors and end up creating more hassle for myself for example I worry that my passive feeder don’t get enough food , so I often over feed for no reason as my corys look like balloons and end up having to do larger weekly water changes again a few months back I got that caught up in my filter flow , it had slowed down by maybe 20% I was adamant I need full flow even though it’s a canister rated for a tabk twice my size I took it apart clean it all and lost beneficial bacteria enough that I needed to dose with bottled bacteria... got the filter flow back to 100% though ahahah