No more fish tanks

[fish48]

my fish room now holds 90 fish tanks that's where I've got to stop and all for the love of live -bearing fish although I do keep the odd danio /tetras , many of my rare livebearers need live foods in the diet to help and keep them in good conditions for breeding , keeping and maintaining all the different live foods is a job in itself i keep 20 + tubs of grindel worms that needs feeding almost daily not to mention all the other types of live foods .when keeping a large number of Tanks it takes up a lot of time dedication and a understanding wife that have put up with my addiction for more than 45 years,

 

[Fishmanic]

If I had 90 tanks, I’d set up an automatic water change system. Do you sell the fish you breed?

 

[GaryE]

I stopped at 65. Beyond that, it feels like a chore. Maybe it IS a chore. But it's fun.

 

[Lcc86]

Wow that's some seriously admirable dedication! I think my other half would go crazy if I got a second tank haha.

 

[Fishmanic]

I stopped at 4 tanks. Now I'm down to 2 tanks.

 

[fish48]

lol automatically change water every week, I sell the more common livebearers ,I pass the rarer ones on to dedicated fish keeper friends that have the same interests not too long ago I passed some very difficult fish onto a couple of friends that are doing very well with them when or if I needed to get some back i know who has got them ,
oh by the way water changes can take me between a day or day and a half

 

[fish48]

Wow that's some seriously admirable dedication! I think my other half would go crazy if I got a second tank haha.

in the past I had known a few people to end up getting a divorce over fish keeping, I get moaned at a lot for spending too much time in the Fish House lol

 

[fish48]

I stopped at 65. Beyond that, it feels like a chore. Maybe it IS a chore. But it's fun.

you are absolutely right I have had as many as 130 tanks way to many

 

[Lcc86]

in the past I had known a few people to end up getting a divorce over fish keeping, I get moaned at a lot for spending too much time in the Fish House lol

I think it's important to try and be accepting/accommodating of different interests. My partner is into cars and has got me into them over the years, and I'm into animals and have forced them on him in return haha. But maintenance/cleaning of any pets is pretty much down to me because it's "my" thing and if it was up to him we wouldn't have them at all!

 

[GaryE]

Our last 2 houses have had double garages. My wife looked at them and said "I don't want to go in and see what you do with this space. It's yours. Have fun." I think it's important for people to have different interests. She has her activities and I have mine, and we meet up all through the day. Before retirement, we had different jobs, so this is a flow. I don't think she wants us to sit in a room so she can watch me slowly wrinkle up and lose even more hair...

Now that we are both retired and have moved to an area with inexpensive housing, she is happier because the garage space I have isn't in the house anymore, but across the yard in a stand alone outbuilding. Humidity was always an issue before.

This one took some renovation, but it's a delight to work with. While I don't have an automatic system, I do have a set up designed for ease of water changing. I have the room divided up into rack based zones, and I do one or two zones while checking the mostly killifish in the morning. I learned quickly to do it in increments because Canadian winter water is very cold, and while I do a hot cold mix with my soft tapwater, the amount of hot is quickly used up in January and February conditions.

Right now, my wife is cool with the time I spend out there, but the puppy we have is really annoyed at me. Once the pup gets over her fear of bubbling filter noises and her need to chew on everything in range, she'll be a fishroom dog.

It is a lifestyle decision, enabled by our partners, and the cost of having space to indulge ourselves. I'm lucky on both counts.

 

[emeraldking]

my fish room now holds 90 fish tanks that's where I've got to stop and all for the love of live -bearing fish although I do keep the odd danio /tetras , many of my rare livebearers need live foods in the diet to help and keep them in good conditions for breeding , keeping and maintaining all the different live foods is a job in itself i keep 20 + tubs of grindel worms that needs feeding almost daily not to mention all the other types of live foods .when keeping a large number of Tanks it takes up a lot of time dedication and a understanding wife that have put up with my addiction for more than 45 years,

Looking at that number, I guess both of us top the number of tanks. And yes, I do recognize what you're saying here. I'm not adding any more tanks either. This number is something I can still manage with my current health problems. And still have a social life...

 

[emeraldking]

in the past I had known a few people to end up getting a divorce over fish keeping, I get moaned at a lot for spending too much time in the Fish House lol

I also know some people who went through a divorce because of the time spend on this hobby. If someone would keep a high number of tanks, this person should consider what effects it may have on a relationship. Especially, when the hobby is not shared with the partner. But even when the partner does share the hobby, one should know there boundaries on the number of tanks and fish. But I do understand the enthusiasm...

 

[Colin_T]

Amateurs, stopping at 90
The Queen sends you a card at 100.

Go on, do it, go for the century. Then the double century.

 

[GaryE]

Amateurs, stopping at 90
The Queen sends you a card at 100.

Go on, do it, go for the century. Then the double century.

No fair, Colin. It was your job.

I crept up to 70 gradually because I needed to keep fish for direct experience when I had my fish writing jobs. I had a day job and a family, but it paid well, all tanks and gear were a tax write off, and I could do water changes at midnight. I needed a lot less sleep back then.

If I had had the space I have now, yikes. I was the limit for what that house could hold in its basement.

It does bring up something I've wondered about. Until the early 2000 era, it wasn't uncommon to meet people with 150 tanks. I visited fishrooms where I lived with up to 300, on systems. Guppy breeders, Tanganyikan breeders - there were at least a dozen 90 plus set ups in my region. They bred and acquired fish through the aquarium club networks, and supplied the auctions with interesting species. Between the club auctions and sales to stores, they tended to break even, even on pensions.

We had a natural disaster, an ice storm and long power system collapse in winter that wiped most of those rooms out. But without a crisis, that scene seems to have largely vanished. Now, a huge fishroom in that city is 30 to 40 tanks, and prior to my moving away I was a local outlier with 65. I guess it's a reflection of a worsening standard of living, less leisure time and a higher cost of living. It's harder for people to do what they like now.

Has the same happened where you are, or am I just not hearing from the real diehard aquarists?

 

[Colin_T]

Most of the older people that had lots of tanks have either died or downgraded the number of aquariums so there's less work. Most younger people taking up fish keeping aren't in clubs and aren't really getting carried away like we did back in the day. When fish clubs were common here (80s, 90s, early 2000) there were lots of young people (age 20-30s) with fish rooms containing lots of tanks, and the old time fish keepers also had lots of tanks. But since clubs are almost non-existent now the number of people seeing fish rooms (and getting the idea of creating one) just doesn't appear to be there.

I guess the economy and covid really screwed things up too and made the price of fish keeping a lot more than it was back in my day. I was shocked looking at the prices of tanks, stands and lights today. I remember paying $20 for a 2ft tank, $60 for a 3ft and $80 for a 4ft tank. Plus I got my store discount which was cost price plus tax so half those prices . I used to build my own stands and they were 1/4 the price of what the shop sold them for. These days 2ft tanks are over $100 and a 4ft tank is $300. Like holy moly that's expensive.

I had lots of tanks because I wanted lots of fish, and I got them I also needed tanks to hold the different species of rainbowfishes I was keeping (60+ species, 80+ river systems). I needed tanks for breeding and rearing fry. I was collecting fish too and wanted tanks to hold those fish. I had marine, brackish and freshwater tanks. Then I would see something interesting on the wholesale list and had to have them (20 Acarichthys heckelii, 20 swordtail characins, 50 Botia lohachata, 10 Epiplaty dageti, etc).

It was painful moving all those tanks and fish but I had a van and a good friend, plus a couple of weeks to move everything. But if you want a fish room you really need to own your own home and that's not easy now. Hell, it's bad enough trying to find a rental property thanks to covid and with interest rates going up, I can't see many people setting up a fish room any time soon. At least not here.