Hello,
My post is about how happy I am that I began keeping fish in 2017, and how I have grown even happier from it since then. I belong to an aquarium club and have fun tending my 13 fish and their plants in my 30gallon tank (113L). I keep white cloud mountain minnows, gold cloud minnows, and 2 oto cats.
WEIRD HOBBY- NOT!
The other day I heard on the radio an author/psychologist Neil Pasricha talking about weird hobbies. And, Pasricha's words specifically were "weird hobby" which caught my attention. He was describing a book about brain health and resilience, and how online culture has really worn people down. He said that the way to be healthy and resilient against online fatigue is to take up something new, and keep options open; with a "weird hobby" it is good that the learning curve is steep for the brain. He did not mention fish, but the idea clicked for me. I do NOT find fishkeeping weird... but I think my family might! That radio broadcast resonated with me becuase that describes what I did, when I tried something very different, about 3 years ago in 2017.
CLOSET SCIENTIST
Getting a fish tank was definitely a combo-breaker because the family had always seen me as a college librarian, online all day, every day. Ha! No one knew that I actually have a closet scientist waiting to burst out. My children are out of the house, I needed a hobby... It was not a dog or a cat, it was a fish tank, and it has been a success! My family thought it was unprecedented that I, in the humanities profession, would keep fish. (There is a precedent however, as a child, I admired freshwater fish every summer while swimming in ponds AND kept a fish tank for a while).
CLUBBING
So here in Boston began my journey as an adult aquarist, in January 2017. That is the month I bought a mature 10gallon tank (37L) from an area medical student. I did this after reading and researching aquariums a lot. Though old, the tank was nicely decorated and had 4 pretty white cloud mountain minnows. I was smitten. That same month in 2017 I joined an aquarium club, the Boston aquarium society in Massachusetts
https://www.bostonaquariumsociety.org/ It is a place which encourages and informs my scientist's head, one night a month. BAS "supports my habit" by giving me a place to talk with others who love fish: they are aquarium staff, fish geeks, environmentalists, nerds-who-probably-should-get-out-more, biologists, pharamcists, teachers, house painters, plus some colorful characters. At BAS meetings we crack jokes and bring things and stories to swap. At BAS meetings, there are many people I would never ordinarily have met, and I am happy that I have!
BAR IS LOW
Getting back to the idea of weird hobbies and that lofty notion of resilience and life balance etc., unfortunately those 2017 fish from the med student are not longer among us -- my aquarist skills were/are still developing. But I'm improving a lot and learning all the time. I have learned that a) this is a hobby where the measure of success is that you did not kill anyone b) I take my victories where I can.
Though that bar may be set rather low, I pursue my aquarium hobby with joy and energy. And it's a good day when I get to spend time with my glittery, fishy pets.