I have recently gone through a big change in my life. I re-invented myself to a degree and stopped doing a lot of things because I thought they were the right things to do and starting doing things I didn't do because I cared too much about what others thought.
Long story short, I am came to grips with being a die hard animal lover and decided to bond with my three year old daughter by building a tank. I always wanted a fish tank that was more than a goldfish 5 gallon at room temperature. I recently bought a 20 gallon kit from Aqueon and last night bought a 14 gallon for the top of my dresser in my room! Needless to say the bonding went well, however my inexperience and my daughters taste in color led to the 20 gallon getting black and pink rocks, purple plants and electric green plants, the stocked with GloFish. I love the tank but as soon as I move to a bigger house with more room, it will go in her room and be the 'girlie' tank.
I strongly feel kids need pets so its a good excuse to put it in her room and then dad will need to fill the void with a 70+ gallon tank for the Bala Shark he's always wanted!
I love watching the fish. Though the black and pink rocks hurt my eyes....I still find peace and happiness just watching the fish and the shrimps and snails all moving about in harmony. What's very odd to me is that i find myself wondering if they know how small their entire world is, but how big of an impact they have.
Lastly, (for now) I think its fascinating to learn something new. I love to read everything I can get my hand on when I start a new hobby and this is a great one. There has been so much learning and learning leads to tweaking and tweaking leads to more tweaking then building and then full blown obsession! My 20 gallon is 5 weeks old and I already have bought two new filters for it to make sure I have it 'just right'. I've already learned and am working on the right balance of shrimp, snails, fish and plants to keep a tank super clear. the payoff has been great watching my Killifish get super bright and colorful, much bigger already and seeing him come up to the glass to look at me during feeding.
Anyway, short and no where near all the reason but I'll stop here for now.