Returning To Fishkeeping After 6-7 Years

Hi there,

I have just joined this forum after being out of the hobby for 6-7 years. I am looking forward to reading many of the sub-forums & threads here and must say that to have so much information on tap here (and internet in general) is a huge difference to when I kept fish before. I have kept fish on-and-off now for 20+ years now and the main reason for getting back was my 7 year old son spotting one of my old tanks in our garage, asking me multiple questions about it and finally asking me to set it up again hence re-kindling my interest.

In the past I have kept only community tanks (albeit large ones), I have bred livebearers, danios, tetras & angelfish. Indeed I used to sell my stock to some of the pet shops and this was my first step down the entrepenerial road I eventually ventured on!

Anyhow, decided I was not going down the community tank road this time so I decided to setup a 4 foot tank to keep a fish that i've long wanted to keep........ Oscars

Luckily I kept all my old heaters, filters, decorations, rock, bogwood, medicines, test kits etc: so I was pretty much ready to go. I live in Wicklow and the water here is very good especially for fishkeeping.

Setup the tank, waited for it to cycle and then headed out with my (very) eager 7 year old son to buy the fish. Now Oscars are not run-of-the-mill fish stocked in all fish shops so after a few phone calls I had a list of 3 to visit. Ended up in the Aquatic Village in Brittas and they had the most magnificant Red Tiger Oscars in stock. Not cheap at €19.95 each but they do a 'buy 2 get 1 free' offer on all their fish so it worked out average price when taking 3. I know I can't keep all 3 in my 4 foot tanks when they get bigger and I plan to move 1 of them to another tank later. These were some seriously nice juvenile (about 2.5 inch) Oscars; probably the nicest i'd ever seen.

Anyhow they have settled in very well and are feeding ravenously including demolishing earthworms to the delight of my 7 year old. I'm really enjoying keeping them.

I must say that not a lot has changed in fishkeeping during my absence. Spotted a few fish i'd never seen before, the internet and the wealth of information/forums available on-tap is amazing and of huge benefit to fishkeepers. Probably the most remarkable addition to fishkeeping during my time away has been this 'Organic Aqua' product. I've read up lots on it and the ability to instantly setup a tank even if just for quarantine or for an emergency is remarkable. Also, for shops with multiple tanks the work saved probably offsets the cost of the product. Don't see it being economically viable for a 1 tank setup but i'd certainly keep some in case of a biological filter emergency or if an emergency/quarantine tank was needed. Don't think anybody knows exactly how this stuff works but it's so radical and all the reports are that it works and works well 100% of the time.

Anyhow, that's my introduction; I look forward to talking/debating with many of you over the coming months/years. My 7 year old son loves the Oscar tank so much that he's getting a Juwel Lido 120 from Santa for Christmas; a community tank not Oscars I might add.

Hi tm2204,

Welcome back to the hobby and to the forum !

Looking forward to seeing pictures of your new set up and reading up on your long experience of fish-keeping !

Valerie

HI tm2204,
great to have you here and will be interesting to see what has changed from your point of view.

Mickey

Thanks Valerie,

Over the years probably the most satisfaction I had was raising some young angelfish in my community tank, seeing 2 of them pair off & spawn in the tank and deciding to setup a separate spawning tank for them & seeing them spawn time after time then raising the fry to selling on size. They were a pair of beautiful angelfish.

Must say though that even at this early stage i'm getting great fun out of my Oscar tank. My son had fallen in love with fishkeeping and rushes home from school every day to feed the Oscars. I get so much satisfaction from seeing him enjoy something I have gained so much from over the years and it makes a great alternative to computer games & his other obsession WWE wrestling.

Hi Mickey,

Not all that much has changed really. I see there are a lot more all-in-one aquarium 'packs' like Juwel & Orca available; many of them are stunning with bow shape front tanks etc: I love the Lido 120 and i'm getting my son one for Christmas.

The price of fish in a lot of the shops was quite a shock too I might add; however like everything if you shop around you can get value. Was away on a weekend in Wexford and the pet shop on the main street had some really nice fish at very cheap prices. Alas too far to be my regular place of purchase but if they can sell at reasonable prices then I assume so can others.

Out of interest do you get many people on here selling their own home bred fish? I know I would have tried this when i bred my fish years ago.

Hehe,I have molly and guppy fry I cant give away! lol
However Id settle right now if I could find a female golden ram that is so far proving elusive
Welcome to the forum by the way tm2204.Great to have another experienced head to turn to.
Gavin

hi tm2204,
you do get some for sale all right some will be in the "for sale section" others maybe be on individuals post in their signature.

you will also pick on when some will be ready just by post and advance order.

Mickey

Hi welcome to the site. Can you post a few picks of your set up. I sure everyone would like to see it.

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Will post some pics when I get a chance, the Oscars are really cool and the best specimans i've seen.

Finally got a chance to put up a video of my Oscars

Hope you all like them............

looking well TM there a cool fish

nice colour on the oscars looking nice and healty

Good looking fish hope all goes well for you and welcome back to the hobby... i hope that skull isnt your young fella after falling into the tank and been eaten by the oscars

Lol, nope not his skull but he's sure facinated by it.

He wants a skull, a sunken pirate ship & a pirate cannon in his tank at christmas.

I remember my first tank as a kid and I was more facinated with the bubbling sunken diver than the fish themselves

well not my style of tank not fond of those ornaments , but if it gets a young fella interested in fishkeeping what the heck go for it , hey i did that myself although i loath to admit it