gemini://unbon.cafe/kloug/intro.gmi

Here I talk about what brought me to the hobby, give the general context of my aquarium and try to provide some helpful links

I've been in the hobby of fish keeping for the past 3 years now (started in 2017). I first got a fish when I was 6, and that was the terrible goldfish in a bowl kind of thing. But my parents and I didn't know any better back then. I think I kept this fish alive for one year or two, but then we went on holidays and it died at my aunt's :( I recently came back to the hobby when one of my colleague started talking at length about his aquarium, how his guppies kept on multiplying non stop.

In my flat, I cannot really grow anything as I have no direct sunlight: my windows are facing a wall 5 meters away, so only a few plants can live with me. The succulents on the inside window border seem to do fine for the most part, but any other kind of plant like orchids or anything flourishing will die in a few days... Hence the idea of the aquarium seemed perfect: it provides me with a bit of gardening, it's an eye candy in the living room and hopefully I could maintain low noise (see the article on filters).

So I started reading a lot about betta fish keeping, the easy plants for beginners video on youtube, and a lot of blogs and forum about the hobby. It's really dense at the beginning as you learn the nitrogen cycle, all the terms, the abbreviations etc. But since you do it at your own rythm, and since every day you stumble upon something you didn't know, I got really sucked in. It's also easy to read about the hobby on comute or on the toilets thanks to the connected phone.

I find it fascinating to be able to maintain life in such a small and closed environment. All the chemical exchanges, the slow stabilization of the environment, how any unbalance will express itself differently. I guess you need to like learning about biology, chemistry (a tiny bit) and wildlife in general to like this hobby. There is also some kind of zen thing in it: it's something you control, trying to find and maintain a balance as any mistake will stare you in the face. I must admit in the past 3 years, I've made mistakes and it has cost life of few fishies ... So maybe not everyone will be able to accept this.

I noticed I got also quite anxious when something wasn't right in the aquarium. I would document myself about it and try to find a solution. But when it didn't work, or I couldn't solve the problem, I tend to care less about the aquarium, and the situation just gets worse as I keep on wondering, rumbling about it. But I never give up and ultimately, I will have to take some decision, like changing filter, lights or doing water changes more often. And once I get to a better looking aquarium, I can't help but look at how clean the glass and water are, how bright and full of life the fishies inside are.

All in all, it's really about finding the right balance by combining all the elements at your disposal. What you put in the tank (fish, plant, substrate, filters and what not), but also your direct environment: your flat's water quality, the kitchen frying stuff downstairs (that's creating most of the oil at the surface of my aquarium, I'm sure !), the light from the window etc.

Last but not least, it's rather easy for me to get by cheap equipement, plants and fishes as I live in a big city, where fish markets or pet stores are often easy to find. If you live in a smaller city or country side, you will have to deal with the local pet store, who may not have supply for everything, but who could maybe order them for you ? Or if you know other people near you in the hobby, maybe you can group order ?

This book has been an eye opener for me, I think you can get the pdf online, but buy her book to support her !

This is a good forum with open minded people. Still, read the guidelines before posting.

Feel free to drop your question here, I'm no expert but hopefully I can point you in the right direction :)

MWAHAHAHA !!