Hmm My Views On The Hobby Are Changing :(

[DJH584]

+1 on Flute's attitude regarding this.

The fish didn't ask us to take them home - we bought them and took them home.
Water changes and tank cleaning are a necessity - 10 mins on a water change Flute, you have to be joking - it takes me an hour to thoroughly gravel vac and change 60 litres of water in our tank but I do it because it is MY RESPONSIBILITY to maintain the health of my fish.

I cannot say that I am happy with the tank that we have. I would rather have a larger tank with the same amount of fish BUT I know, that in order for my fish to survive, they need me to look after them. I certainly would not give up part way through a water change just because I had become teed off with the idea.

I think that the OP needs to readdress his wants and needs AND whether or not he wants to keep fish anymore.
Perhaps he needs a break from fishkeeping and should rehome his current fish?

 

[Flute]

10 minutes is a rarity for me to be honest, as I do like to faff about

But I have two syphons, and 8 buckets, so if I have both of those running at the same time, plus a helping hand from my much stronger other half, I get it done pretty quickly

I would say to the OP, if you're unhappy with your tank then have a change about in it. Add new pieces of wood or rock, new plants, move things around etc. It can do wonders to get your enthusiasm going again.

 

[Donya]

I will chime in on the low-maintenance side of things, since I have joint problems that sometimes turn normally trivial tasks incredibly painful ones - including fiddly stuff like taking filters apart for cleaning and replacing cartridges. I have 10sw tanks and 2fw tanks, so after my joint problems started and I started having pain-induced motivation problems, I set about re-rigging my tanks to be lower-maintenance while still having the same animals that I loved. There are some easy ways to have a less-needy tank that is still interesting:

- Under-stock. Fully stocking a tank in the normal sense makes maintenance all the more critical for the animals' survival. Less animals = less waste = more stable for a longer time if a WC has to be skipped.

- If WCs are needed primarily for waste removal, step up biological filtration to space them out further. Tack on another filter like a HOTB or canister to help you out if plants aren't doing the job. Stepping up chemical filtration also helps but is a much more expensive solution if used long-term (but it is great for the short term when you have a week or so of crazy problems).

- If WCs are needed primarily for replenishing something, use a supplement for that thing to keep the system stable between WCs that are needed for waste removal.

- Try to build ecosystems that are self-regulating (like Steve's suggestion). But, if you get animals to do things for you like stirring gravel or eating algae, make sure the animals actually do the jobs you want them to do...sometimes animals are sold for tasks they can't/won't do.

- Automate things when possible, like timers on the lighting if you have trouble getting up in time to turn them on or can't be home when they need to go off.

- Settle for a tank that isn't beautiful if you can appreciate the life it contains anyway. Beautiful, photo-perfect tanks are often really high maintenance to keep that way. A tank doesn't have to be gorgeous to be biologically healthy and have pristine water (some of my ugliest tanks have also been the healthiest). If you are in a temporary tight spot for time, you can always let the appearance go and work it back into shape later when you have time again.

i ended up cutting down on feeding a lot i used to feed flake every day and some days throw in some blood worm for a treat, now i only feed flake every couple of days or so! i also hate water changes

This should frankly be a really big red flag for you when thinking about keeping any sort of tank. If it's not just other fatigue getting you to that point, then you need to re-evaluate whether a tank is right for you. Even low-maintenance tanks can require emergency WCs if something goes wrong - but if you hate the WC itself, you may be temped to ignore warning signs and let the system crash rather than jump on the problem straight away. The most important part of a healthy tank is wanting to look after the animals in it, not just wanting to look at them passively. If you feel averse to whatever maintenance a system needs to be healthy, then you should reconsider keeping that kind of system. The same applies with any pet. I totally hate cleaning up after dogs - can't stand the sight or smell of it. So, no matter how much I like interacting with other people's dogs, I absolutely shouldn't have one of my own.

 

[kylealastairlove]

okay you all probably think im a terrible person now lol, maybe i do need a break thinking about it, i dont want to give up the hobby though thats the problem but i have my own problems, health problems that im trying to sort out. (i know this is a completely different subject, i just want to make it clear what i want) keep suffering from illness's im not a very healthy person but what bothers me most is i've had insomnia for a while now a good few months and its getting worse and worse still, im beginning to get really sick of it because what happens is i come home from work at 11, end up staying up all night not being able to sleep till early hours in the morning lets say about 6 or 7, sometimes later. but then i wake up late in the afternoon and only have enough time to get myself ready and go back to work again, im trying to sort myself out because what i want to be able to do is to get bed early and wake up earlier in the morning so i can have all the time i need to maintain my tank and look after my fish, when i can do this i feel is the point where i will 100% enjoy keeping fish again, and re gain my interest and dedication to my tank so yeah im working on this. because i really want to keep my tank and my fish i only have 4 neon tetra at the moment anyway, i dont want to buy anymore fish because i know im not ready, but at the same time i want more fish because i need activity in my tank to boost my interest.

 

[Flute]

I don't think you're a terrible person at all, as I said in my first post I wasn't having a go, it was just more of a gentle reminder about the responsibilities of owning animals. If you're struggling then I think perhaps you should take a break from the hobby- your health is paramount and it's something you need to sort out first

Feeling guilty about not looking after your tank will not do you good either, and I think it's a wise decision for you not to buy any more fish until you start to feel more like yourself.

Taking a break from the hobby doesn't mean giving it up- think about it this way. If you're that stressed out about your current fish, rehome them. Then take some time away from the hobby so that you can rest up, and whilst you wait you can plan future tanks, get excited again, become enthusiastic once more and think of all the fantastic options you can go with for your new set up

 

[kylealastairlove]

thank you flute helpful kind words right there !

i tell you what i kind of know what i want to do, i've wanted to do it for a while and that is have a tank dedicated to a wild caught betta and maybe a small school of some kind of rasbora as i've had experience keeping a betta and lambchop rasbora's before and they were both amazing fish in their own way. back then i didnt think i had the know how and knew enough about betta's to do this kind of tank though where as now i think i could do it with a bit of dedication to tank maintenance, obviously im not even gonna think about trying that out now because i need to sort out my own health and get myself into a routine before i can begin planning a new tank idea and tank maintenance routine. but i can just picture it, dark heavy tannin stained water with a gentle flow pushing through the twisted roots and large rocks, a few bunches of plants here and there with a happy little betta and a lovely sparkly active shoal of trigonostigma hengeli or espei! or maybe even some galaxy rasbora id love to be able to do that