Hello to all

[vike]

New to your website but not the hobby and I enjoy reading and learning things . I have been involved in the hobby for 45 years but I find that sometimes I need other peoples perspectives
on issues. So thanks for having me and looking forward to contributing any way I can .

 

[Andy Sager]

Hi and welcome to the site. Nice to see another "Old Timer" ( I'm in the hobby for 60 years so you are still a pup at 45. I've got the gray scales. LOL )
What are your main interests fish wise?

 

[vike]

LOL) Late bloomer I guess. Breeding and raising angel fish. Years ago I used to sell them to local pet stores when they were owned by local families. I still enjoy doing that but there isn't the interest there used to be. Even after all the years I still enjoy the hobby especially during the cold winters here. Used to ice fish but to cold for me now. Lately I've been resealing some of my old tanks which is something I've never done before. I'm working on a tank made up of schooling fish, something I've never done before either.

 

[Andy Sager]

LOL) Late bloomer I guess. Breeding and raising angel fish. Years ago I used to sell them to local pet stores when they were owned by local families. I still enjoy doing that but there isn't the interest there used to be. Even after all the years I still enjoy the hobby especially during the cold winters here. Used to ice fish but to cold for me now. Lately I've been resealing some of my old tanks which is something I've never done before. I'm working on a tank made up of schooling fish, something I've never done before either.

Yeah sadly, the quality of the domestic Angelfish has definitely gone down over the years. There is some hope with the hybridizing of Scalare from different areas so getting some of that wild bloodline back but the ones without are nothing like they used to be. I actually became a commercial Angelfish breeder when I lived in NJ and that only grew after I moved to Florida so I've seen the decline for a long time. As I've traveled the country on vacations, I hear the same thing from all the older pet shops. It's a shame what's happened to them. Schooling fish should be a nice change for you. Depending on what fish exactly you get, if you can determine sex easily enough, you want to have 2-3 females for every male in the school. The males will fight a bit when they become sexually active so having less of them in the school will limit that as there will be less competition.

Hope this helps.