About me

[garnpet]

Well here goes....

I started out in this hobby back when I was a teenage in the early 80s with a 5 gallon tank and 3 guppies and absolutely no idea what I was doing - like most people.  The 3 guppies quickly multiplied to well over 100 within a year and I purchased another 5 gallon tank and a 20 gallon tank.  The 20 gallon tank at that time was considered huge! I actually wish I still had that tank as the bottom was made of slate rather than glass.

I followed all the good advice of those days.  Especially the "if you must clean your gravel, make sure you keep your water and put it back into the tank"!  Yikes, the things that I did.  The tanks were in my bedroom and at night I would turn off the filters so I could sleep without the noise bothering me. 

Eventually the overpopulation and inconsistent filtering killed all the fish and I got rid of the two 5 gallon tank but kept the 20 gallon.  When I moved to Ottawa in 1988, I setup the tank again, but this time with 3 goldfish.  The tank was in direct sunlight and was soon consumed by algae.  I think I went about a year without feeding the fish or cleaning the tank and the goldfish somehow managed to survive.  Eventually I sold them and the tank to someone.

That was the end of the fish keeping until about 2 years ago when I thought it would be a good idea to get a tank for the kids - ok really for myself.  When I went to buy all the equipment at SuperPet in Barhaven, the fish manager at the time (Steve I believe) made me buy "The simple guide to Freshwater Aquarium" by David E. Boruchowitz and made me promise to read it before setting up the tank.  What an eyeopener - cycling a tank, pH, water changes! So many new ideas and concepts since I last had a tank.

From that 26 gallon tank, I have expanded my inventory to include a built-in 108 gallon, and a couple of 20 gallon tanks in the back room which my wife constantly bugs me about, and have just started my first salt-water tank when I bought a used aquapod from someone on the OVAS forum.  I am starting to eye my planted 108 gallon and calculating how much it would cost to covert it to saltwater!

I started going to OVAS meetings last year  (sort of like AA, but for people with a fish problem).  At my first meeting I was unable to contain myself and bought pretty well every type of plant that came up for sale.

Unable just to enjoy the meetings as an observer, I am now involved with the Executive as the Newsletter Editor.  I have met a lot of great people here in the club and made some pretty good friends.  The advice is great and there is never a lack of people willing to help no matter what the problem.


Quick list of other things:

Sports:  Softball, golf, and curling
Music:  Rush, just about anything with a hot guitar player
Hobbies: Canadian stamp collection
Kids:  3 (Andrew 6, Cara 5 and Kaitlyn 2)
Wife: 1 - who is now trained to do water changes when I take the kids to New Brunswick during summer vacation
Dogs and Cats: 0 - wife is allergic (thank goodness)

[babblefish1960]

Hey there garnpet, that is such a cute history, all the subtle details of death and dissapointment, you have come a long way it would seem. Lucky kids though, just point and Dad pays. That's a great way to get tanks, just blame it on the kids.

That book you were "forced" to buy is definitely a good resource for starting out, good decision. If your python trained wife ever gets really uppity about the "extra tanks", just bring her over to the fish apartment to have a look at what "normal" could look like, then she'll relax for sure.

I love the AA for fish people description, it sort of fits, except that we encourage each other to excesses, so it seems to be working in reverse. Any chance you remember what you did with the slate bottom tank? It may be in my living room, snort.

Keep up the great newsletters there fella, they're wonderful, and last longer than the cookies.

[garnpet]

If your python trained wife ever gets really uppity about the "extra tanks", just bring her over to the fish apartment to have a look at what "normal" could look like, then she'll relax for sure.
the great newsletters there fella, they're wonderful, and last longer than the cookies.

I told her about your place after I picked up the appistogramma's the other week.  Some of the words that came out of her mouth included:  obsession, collector, don't you dare, divorce, and he has a girlfriend?

[babblefish1960]

Wow, harsh, all those expletive deletives in one sentence, I guess I better lay low for a while, she might imagine I'm corrupting you with the reverse psychology. You can still use the kids to further the eventual overtaking of the house with tanks.

Good luck with that one, the best way is to present these things in a manner that leaves your wife feeling as though it was her idea, then she'll feel better.