Ok, you asked for it.....
This is a copy of my Star Letter that was printed in the May edition of Tropical Fish magazine. I have contacted them since because of the ed's response and they want to do an article on tanks latter in the year when i have my fish house up and running
Dear Sirs,
Having just read Peter Johnson’s letter in the April 2006 issue, I feel compelled to write to you. I understand the feeling Peter is going through coming back to tropical fish keeping from the cold water. However, having not had a setup since I was 17, I must share in Peter’s feelings of “getting back in to it”.
My first encounter with fish keeping came, as im sure it did with many others, from the goldfish at the fair. This moved on to my father keeping tropical fish. My interest in watching their behaviour at such a young age probably laid the seed for what has become. At 16 years of age I secured myself a job at Keith Barracloughs’ (manufacturer of King British for those not in the know) here in sunny Bradford by the sea. I worked in the fish house and quickly got to learn the species by their common and sceintific names. This invariably led to my 48 x 18 x 18 tank in my bedroom at home. This was your typical community tank with fancy guppies, molly’s platys and tetras. After 2 years, I left KB’s and went on to other jobs, none in the fish business. Then, by chance last November, I met an old friend from school. He showed me his 4ft Malawi tank and the spare tanks in his back garden.
One of these being a well used 60 x 18 x 18 which he had been given after it spent 2 years on someone’s balcony. Needless to say, my friend gave me the tank. It was in a poor state, but after purchasing some chrome edging and some (not so) neat mitring, the tank was restored. Then came the task of finding something to sit it on. Another friend of mine with a fish house where he breeds Discus, Angels and Bristle Nose plecs, had a very rusty and old 3 x 3 steel framed double stand which he no longer used. I duly brought this home, cut it in half, sanded and painted it chrome. (thank god for Hammerite !!) At this point the tank had cost me around £20 in chrome edging and aquarium silicone. I acquired some gravel from the same friend that gave me the tank and a filter came in the shape of an internal Fluval 4. An extra £14 was spent on a heater and tank was filled and cycling (fishless of course). The tank is now powered by an external Fluval 404 and a joiner friend for mine built me a hood for it which completes the tank. It’s a community tank with many livebearers and half beaks along with neon and black tetras and a plethora of Corys.
However, this is not where the story ends. By the power of the internet, I found a wonderful forum. I also found a few LFS’s who had a good stock of many fish. Unfortunately, I now suffer from MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome) and in the short time I have taken the hobby back up I currently stand at 9 tanks all up and stocked. They range from 24” tanks up to 60” and stock everything from Gouramis to Discus. I also have nursery and birthing tanks along with Betta tanks which I have designed special sectioning in to hold 6 males comfortably.
One of the LFS’s I used chose to close his fish house and turn completely to reptiles. As you can guess, I purchased the fish house from him at the princely sum of £300. This includes 23, 24 x 15 x 12 tanks, all the racking, 5 sump tanks, heaters, pumps, nets everything. This currently resides in my back garden awaiting the completion of my animal house. Extreme to say the least, but I can honestly say I have missed fish keeping so much.
Now at 34, I feel that I am competent enough to take care of the fish I have and am able to own many of the fish I could have never owned when I was younger. I also run a fish rescue via the forum I found rescuing unwanted fish. These range from livebearers to the latest rescue last week, which consisted of 1 large Gibby plec, a large common plec. An 8” tin foil barb, a 6” clown loach and a selection of cory’s.
I feel with your magazine, I am kept aware of the many new technologies available that weren’t 17 years ago. I now breed many fish to pay for the upkeep on the many tanks and intend to supply the local LFS’s with stock, which will also help with the upkeep of the fish house. To sum up, I have missed it and am so glad to be back from the very cold. I am feeling the same warmth as you Peter!!
)
