While I'm online now I'd like to share my experinces with information and advice gathered on tropical fish keeping.
My lfs people are long time tropical fish owners and they have many tanks at home. The guy that runs the store is in his mid-30s and, according to some of his classmates, has owned fish since he was in high school. One of the workers in the store has owned fish for a long time and she currently maintains several tanks at home. Another worker there has many tanks at home and also maintains tanks around town for local businesses (doctors and lawyers offices mainly). My wife also has a cousin that worked at the big aquarium at Monteray, CA on Cannery Row and sells tropical fish, owns many aquariums, and runs an aquarium maintenance service in Raleigh, NC. I get info from him too. These people seem knowledgeable, but what I read here and in other places is contradictory to what they say, sometimes.
I guess what I'm getting at is, there are lots of places for information on keeping tropical fish. There are lots of people with different experiences and different opinions and different styles, some are minimalists with their tanks and some push the limit on stocking. I think common sense, trial and error, and good advice along the way make us better fish keepers. There is a lot of variability in all those parameters that get us to the point that we feel comfortable about keeping fish. I still ask a lot of questions and I tend to question things I read and hear, that is my nature. I like to do my own research while asking people questions about how they would go about it. I still do my own though. I imagine that I will continue to ask questions for years concerning the keeping of tropical fish, and I imagine it will take me some time to experience many of the fish and fish-related problems involved with the hobby. I guess I would rather experience a situation than take someone's word about it.
Why did I post this, I guess because I have seen, heard and read so many things in the last several months that I felt the urge to post my thoughts on fish keeping advice and information.
I do feel that the advice I've received on this site has been some of the most sound advice to which I've had access and I've used it more than other sources.
My lfs people are long time tropical fish owners and they have many tanks at home. The guy that runs the store is in his mid-30s and, according to some of his classmates, has owned fish since he was in high school. One of the workers in the store has owned fish for a long time and she currently maintains several tanks at home. Another worker there has many tanks at home and also maintains tanks around town for local businesses (doctors and lawyers offices mainly). My wife also has a cousin that worked at the big aquarium at Monteray, CA on Cannery Row and sells tropical fish, owns many aquariums, and runs an aquarium maintenance service in Raleigh, NC. I get info from him too. These people seem knowledgeable, but what I read here and in other places is contradictory to what they say, sometimes.
I guess what I'm getting at is, there are lots of places for information on keeping tropical fish. There are lots of people with different experiences and different opinions and different styles, some are minimalists with their tanks and some push the limit on stocking. I think common sense, trial and error, and good advice along the way make us better fish keepers. There is a lot of variability in all those parameters that get us to the point that we feel comfortable about keeping fish. I still ask a lot of questions and I tend to question things I read and hear, that is my nature. I like to do my own research while asking people questions about how they would go about it. I still do my own though. I imagine that I will continue to ask questions for years concerning the keeping of tropical fish, and I imagine it will take me some time to experience many of the fish and fish-related problems involved with the hobby. I guess I would rather experience a situation than take someone's word about it.
Why did I post this, I guess because I have seen, heard and read so many things in the last several months that I felt the urge to post my thoughts on fish keeping advice and information.
I do feel that the advice I've received on this site has been some of the most sound advice to which I've had access and I've used it more than other sources.