Ideas that haven't come through

[elephantnose3334]

The tank ideas of mine that didn't come into fruition included:

Single-species pygmy corydoras tank (Aqua One Lifestyle 76L tank)
The original ideas for the Aqua One Horizon 130 (Lake Inle project or Microdevario kubotai tank)
Fluval Curve 87L tank for wild bettas and rasboras

I'd love a fish room, but I have to move out of my parents' home in order to get it.

 

[GaryE]

My ideas I've thought through that haven't happened are (forty seven pages later, we'd still be going).

My view is simple. Even if you play a game with your mind to create realistic fantasy tanks, you are taking the time to learn about how they would work. Maybe later you end up in a situation where you can put your learning to use. Or not. But learning is good for the mind.

I knew a guy who suffered off and on from fierce depression, partly because he had a handicap that made it very physically difficult for him to leave his apartment. Any question you asked him about aquariums or fish, he could give you a reasonable, thoughtful, grounded answer to. I think he had read every serious work written on fish, read every magazine for the previous 40 years and was digging into internet sources with delight.

He had one tank with a few common mbuna in it. That was his entire fishroom. But in his head, the fishrooms he had were fantastic.

 

[elephantnose3334]

My ideas I've thought through that haven't happened are (forty seven pages later, we'd still be going).

My view is simple. Even if you play a game with your mind to create realistic fantasy tanks, you are taking the time to learn about how they would work. Maybe later you end up in a situation where you can put your learning to use. Or not. But learning is good for the mind.

I knew a guy who suffered off and on from fierce depression, partly because he had a handicap that made it very physically difficult for him to leave his apartment. Any question you asked him about aquariums or fish, he could give you a reasonable, thoughtful, grounded answer to. I think he had read every serious work written on fish, read every magazine for the previous 40 years and was digging into internet sources with delight.

He had one tank with a few common mbuna in it. That was his entire fishroom. But in his head, the fishrooms he had were fantastic.

Yes, some ideas don't always come into fruition. I really wanted a fishroom of both saltwater and freshwater tanks but the parents won't let me until I move out of the parents' house.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Oh, so many. Elephant, if this were my thread, I think I'd be more optimistic and call it "Ideas that haven't come through yet." You never know. Many of my unhatched ideas (such as a gigantic Wyoming foothills tank) are simply too expensive. Even if I somehow became a multimillionaire, it would be hard for me to justify a $10,000 fish tank when there are so many more important things to use my money for.

But even there, you never know. What if a doctor's office or hospital approached me and offered to pay for the whole thing, all to make patients happy? Heck yeah, I'd do it! And if I don't, Gary's observation is right on the money. It's still worth learning about how different parts of our world work, including the underwater parts, even if we never do anything practical with the knowledge.

 

[GaryE]

That's a fair decision from your parents. It's their house, and you've mentioned you depend on your Dad to do water changes.

I was about 30 when I looked in my study one day and realized it had crept up to having 5 tanks. Before that, I wasn't in a stable enough job/living situation to be able to explore. Plus I was busy doing other things, none of which were on my radar when I was 17.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Oh, so many. Elephant, if this were my thread, I think I'd be more optimistic and call it "Ideas that haven't come through yet." You never know. Many of my unhatched ideas (such as a gigantic Wyoming foothills tank) are simply too expensive. Even if I somehow became a multimillionaire, it would be hard for me to justify a $10,000 fish tank when there are so many more important things to use my money for.

But even there, you never know. What if a doctor's office or hospital approached me and offered to pay for the whole thing, all to make patients happy? Heck yeah, I'd do it! And if I don't, Gary's observation is right on the money. It's still worth learning about how different parts of our world work, including the underwater parts, even if we never do anything practical with the knowledge.

It can be expensive doing a fish room, but I might want to try my best in looking after the fish.

That's a fair decision from your parents. It's their house, and you've mentioned you depend on your Dad to do water changes.

I was about 30 when I looked in my study one day and realized it had crept up to having 5 tanks. Before that, I wasn't in a stable enough job/living situation to be able to explore. Plus I was busy doing other things, none of which were on my radar when I was 17.

I understand that I depend on my dad to do water changes. I'm learning, and that's why I need help doing water changes. I'm doing research on how to do waterchanges by myself, but yearly full cleans are not needed unless there is seriously wrong in my tanks.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Tanks I would like to do someday, if money and space weren't issues:
-An indoor pond in a greenhouse (another dream I haven't made work just yet). The details vary, but it definitely involves waterfalls, water lillies, and enormous schools of bright fish that can be seen from above.
-The aforementioned Wyoming Foothills biotope. I picture an enormous paludarium with desert plants, sagebrush lizards, and boreal chorus frogs above, Colorado River cutthroat trout, red shiners, and mountains suckers below.
-A west African pond/ditch. If I ever get serious about this one, I plan on asking @GaryE LOTS of questions.
There are others. There are also several that I dreamed about for several years before I finally did them: A Southeast Asia regional sorta-biotope, the Negro/Orinoco flooded rainforest (which I've done in two different tanks), the Himalayan foothills paludarium (currently coming together rather nicely), the Sumatran rice paddy. Fun stuff.
Point is, keep learning and thinking things over, and don't let what you can't do prevent you from doing what you can. Working within limitations is part of the fun.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Tanks I would like to do someday, if money and space weren't issues:
-An indoor pond in a greenhouse (another dream I haven't made work just yet). The details vary, but it definitely involves waterfalls, water lillies, and enormous schools of bright fish that can be seen from above.
-The aforementioned Wyoming Foothills biotope. I picture an enormous paludarium with desert plants, sagebrush lizards, and boreal chorus frogs above, Colorado River cutthroat trout, red shiners, and mountains suckers below.
-A west African pond/ditch. If I ever get serious about this one, I plan on asking @GaryE LOTS of questions.
There are others. There are also several that I dreamed about for several years before I finally did them: A Southeast Asia regional sorta-biotope, the Negro/Orinoco flooded rainforest (which I've done in two different tanks), the Himalayan foothills paludarium (currently coming together rather nicely), the Sumatran rice paddy. Fun stuff.
Point is, keep learning and thinking things over, and don't let what you can't do prevent you from doing what you can. Working within limitations is part of the fun.

I'm from Australia, but I wish I had a New Guinea biotope tank full of Boeseman's rainbowfish. It would be much prettier than any other tank in the world.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I'm from Australia, but I wish I had a New Guinea biotope tank full of Boeseman's rainbowfish. It would be much prettier than any other tank in the world.

I got to do a rainbowfish tank once, AND someone else paid for it! That was pretty cool. Boesmanis are gorgeous fish, but I was unable to settle on just one type. If I remember right, I had at least five different types of rainbows in the tank. They would all school together and the whole thing really did look a bit like an enormous, moving rainbow.

 

[elephantnose3334]

I got to do a rainbowfish tank once, AND someone else paid for it! That was pretty cool. Boesmanis are gorgeous fish, but I was unable to settle on just one type. If I remember right, I had at least five different types of rainbows in the tank. They would all school together and the whole thing really did look a bit like an enormous, moving rainbow.

I call them the actual name, Boeseman's rainbowfish, not Boesemanis. The latter is used to attract people. And they're endangered too.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I call them the actual name, Boeseman's rainbowfish, not Boesemanis. The latter is used to attract people. And they're endangered too.

Boesemeni is the scientific name. Both are good. One of the funnest things about Rainbows is the way they display for one another, changing their color intensity to communicate. Really beautiful and fun to watch.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Boesemeni is the scientific name. Both are good.

Have you seen them before? Why are they common in the hobby, but rare in the wild?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Have you seen them before? Why are they common in the hobby, but rare in the wild?

Yes, I kept them for several years. They are common in the hobby because they are fairly easy to breed in captivity. The wild population is endangered mostly due to over-collection in the 1980s and following.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Yes, I kept them for several years. They are common in the hobby because they are fairly easy to breed in captivity. The wild population is endangered mostly due to over-collection in the 1980s and following.

The Ayamaru lakes in Bird's Head Pennisula are being destroyed by people. Is there a way to preserve the lakes?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

The Ayamaru lakes in Bird's Head Pennisula are being destroyed by people. Is there a way to preserve the lakes?

Habitat loss is almost always an issue. Yes, there are ways to preserve habitats, but it is largely up to the local people.