OCD

[Crawdaddy]

I read a lot of comments here that mention OCD. I am not exempt from this, in fact like a lot of you, it drives my spouse nuts. I thought it would be funny to start a thread so everyone could have an outlet to get the things that might drive their other half crazy off of their chests. I have come to the conclusion that n order to really take care of your tanks, you have to have a certain level of compulsiveness, but I know hat my wife doesn't quite understand it. When we got our first tank, she thought that having a hobby would really help me relax, and once it was set up, it wouldn't be that expensive to keep up. How wrong she was . The relaxation I get from my tanks is working on them, taking care of them, and cleaning them. I find if I spend to much time just looking at them, I find things I need to change about them, and then all my thoughts are focused towards making these changes. It will actually interrupt my sleep patterns. In the evenings, I spend all my time researching these changes. She is able to just sit and stare at the tanks, talk to the fish and enjoy them.

So I figured this would be as good a place as any for us to "vent" our OCD, and have others with the same condition, listen and support our illness.

 

[Ursi]

I find I'm the exact same, I like to spend lots of time cleaning and caring for my tank, and I get obsessive over it, researching for hours losing sleep over it. It drives everyone around me crazy, they don't get it either. That was my main reason for joining this forum, so that I could talk to people about fish that didn't think I was crazy!

 

[New2me]

This is funny and so true...I am very new to this hobby but have already found it very consuming! Recently, while I was researching the possibility of a new dwarf puffer tank my husband sent me an instant message that said 'I wish I was a fish...then maybe I'd get some attention!!' lol

 

[Mrs.h2012]

I read a lot of comments here that mention OCD. I am not exempt from this, in fact like a lot of you, it drives my spouse nuts. I thought it would be funny to start a thread so everyone could have an outlet to get the things that might drive their other half crazy off of their chests. I have come to the conclusion that n order to really take care of your tanks, you have to have a certain level of compulsiveness, but I know hat my wife doesn't quite understand it. When we got our first tank, she thought that having a hobby would really help me relax, and once it was set up, it wouldn't be that expensive to keep up. How wrong she was . The relaxation I get from my tanks is working on them, taking care of them, and cleaning them. I find if I spend to much time just looking at them, I find things I need to change about them, and then all my thoughts are focused towards making these changes. It will actually interrupt my sleep patterns. In the evenings, I spend all my time researching these changes. She is able to just sit and stare at the tanks, talk to the fish and enjoy them.

So I figured this would be as good a place as any for us to "vent" our OCD, and have others with the same condition, listen and support our illness.

I'm constantly re arranging my tank, and The more I stare at it, i always end up changing something. My husband laughs at me. He hasn't said he thinks I'm crazy.. Although I'm sure he thinks it he just won't say it lol. Actually tonight was a night I couldn't sleep... So I go in the living room to stare at the tank. I ended up re arranging lol.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

This is funny and so true...I am very new to this hobby but have already found it very consuming! Recently, while I was researching the possibility of a new dwarf puffer tank my husband sent me an instant message that said 'I wish I was a fish...then maybe I'd get some attention!!' lol

I literally LOL'ed! Love that haha.

 

[ForZiE]

i have this to! I have only taken up fish keeping since the start of the year (2013) but already have brought a 2nd larger tank. Read tons on here and re-search thing and ideas. Becoming really taken into it and spend hours looking after the fishes!!

 

[Lauren22487]

I believe I will be OCD about my tank also. This is only day 2 for me. I also have OCD in the phobia form so I kept asking my friend is my son gonna get sick from the water dripping on his toys (while cleaning) Is this gonna be ok is that gonna be ok haha her reply "would you let him swim in a lake? Well then he will be ok" hahaha My tank was empty for a week and I still arranged things and enjoy staring at it so did my husband... Luckily my husband is used to my many forms of OCD Im already talking him into a bigger tank once I get the hang of things so i can have more stuff to arrange

 

[Mrs.h2012]

I believe I will be OCD about my tank also. This is only day 2 for me. I also have OCD in the phobia form so I kept asking my friend is my son gonna get sick from the water dripping on his toys (while cleaning) Is this gonna be ok is that gonna be ok haha her reply "would you let him swim in a lake? Well then he will be ok" hahaha My tank was empty for a week and I still arranged things and enjoy staring at it so did my husband... Luckily my husband is used to my many forms of OCD Im already talking him into a bigger tank once I get the hang of things so i can have more stuff to arrange

Bigger tanks are just more fun anyway, you have so many more options on which fish you can have!

 

[Lauren22487]

Bigger tanks are just more fun anyway, you have so many more options on which fish you can have!

Agreed! He just wants to make sure I take care of it and don't lose interest or let my OCD (in the bad form) get the better of me haha I told him everyone says the bigger the easier and better

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Agreed! He just wants to make sure I take care of it and don't lose interest or let my OCD (in the bad form) get the better of me haha I told him everyone says the bigger the easier and better

That is true. If you've read up on cycling (which I hope you have! If not there are some articles about it in the stickies) if you attempt a fish in cycle it allows for more room for error and doesn't take as long for toxins to build up.

 

[Crawdaddy]

My wife is pulling her hair out, because all she hears from me now is that I need a six foot tank. I found a pretty good deal on a new one with stand for less than 800. She got to thinking about it, I thought I had her convinced, and then it's we can't afford it right now. In the next breath she wants to go look at shoes. I mean the only person I know that has more shoes than her is her Mom. I then made the mistake of mentioning that if she stopped buying any more for her collection, I could afford the tank in no time, and yes, as soon as the words were out of my mouth I realized I screwed up. Needless to say, within the week, she bought a new pair. I know I'm a guy, but I swear that she has 2-3 pairs of the same shoe, but then I'm told that they are different. I don't see it, but like I said, I'm a guy. How many pairs of (insert color here) do you need?

Sorry, I'm just want my tank, and I'm obsessing over it.

 

[Lauren22487]

We have a deal if he buys stuff I get to buy stuff too its only fair... he supposedly by accident orders stuff on amazon because of the one click buy... mmmmhmmm so I get to go buy me stuff when these unexpected packages arrive... and I have maybe 5 pair of shoes I don't wear most of them because heels suck they are only for special occasions which are rare... who needs shoes when u can buy fish because I got a tank and fish he got a tablet haha

 

[Crawdaddy]

She wants a mini, that might be the way I have to do it. She has at last count 40-45 pairs of shoes, and most of them might get worn once a year? Every now and then she pulls out a pair, and I'm like when did you get those? She's I've had these for a coup,e of years. I swear I've never seen them before.

 

[marsh]

She wants a mini, that might be the way I have to do it. She has at last count 40-45 pairs of shoes, and most of them might get worn once a year? Every now and then she pulls out a pair, and I'm like when did you get those? She's I've had these for a coup,e of years. I swear I've never seen them before.

Haha, this is a quandary. I am no fashion maven but I would say look at it this way: her closet is her fishtank, the shoes are her prized fish/corals and the rest is the equipment to keep it running. Go measure the closet and see if it is +/- six feet long?

 

[Crawdaddy]

LOL, and yes, it's at least six foot wide, closer to eight deep.

 

[Lauren22487]

Hahaha I love that idea!