Hi Everybody 😃
I have a confession to make. I’ve been reading the forum since early spring! I didn’t have an aquarium at the time, in fact I was looking for a retirement hobby. And your journals are what got me researching to figure out if aquariums are it. I want to thank you all for creating those journals as they have set me off on my own freshwater adventures! And many thanks to Cory & crew for starting it! I also want to possibly be an encouragement to other seekers by adding my own journal. 🤗
My brother & I had an aquarium when we were kids. Not only zebras, neons and an angelfish, but also we each won a goldfish at the field days and each spring we brought home pollywogs and raised them til they lost their tails and had to be let loose. We were enchanted.
Life moved on and I’ve never had another one. My kids weren’t interested so it never came up. So second childhood maybe … 🤣
Here is a summary then of what I’ve done between spring and now:
Spring to June - read and read and read! Decided it was much more involved (& expensive) than I expected. So I chose to start with a ten gallon, no heater. I really wanted a betta but after finding out they’re happier in warm water, I decided on a paradise fish and golden dwarf barbs, snails of some sort and shrimp.
June - got equipment, water sprite, java moss, pearl weed, duckweed, anubias nana, added bit of fish food each day and waited. And waited. 🤪 Did more reading & lots of YouTube watching. The duckweed & pearl weed all died, diatoms appeared. I didn’t like the hood & came up with a different setup from a houseplant grow light setup I had.
July - Yay! Diatoms! I immediately ordered snails. 🤣 By now I had a LOT of bladder snails which stowed away on the duckweed. I’m sorry to admit I don’t like them at all! I ordered and received Japanese Trapdoor Snails (I call them TDs for short.) I love them. Will do separate post so this doesn’t run tooooo long. After 4 or 5 days when they settled in well, I ordered 10 shrimp (mixed colors) and Malaysian trumpet snails. Also got some lucky bamboo.
Didn’t like background so removed it - the gravel was for houseplants & will be replaced in future; the little shelf wasn’t treated like the main part and got mold from splashes so had to throw it out.
September - finally got shrimp & snails at end of month (delay at shop), drip acclimated - love them both right off the bat!
October - first week: shrimp come out and eat, 6 or 7 of them I can identify anyway, and aren’t afraid of me watching them, but then they hide the rest of the time; the trumpet snails aren’t afraid at all - sometimes I don’t see any during the day and other times they’re all over exploring.
I can’t budget in fish til the new year, but I’ve changed my mind anyway. I don’t want any predatory fish because I absolutely love these shrimp! Originally, they were meant to be mainly cleanup crew and my fish choices factored in population control. But they’re so dang cute, I can’t do it. 😏 So, instead of fish for this ten gallon, I’m saving for a larger aquarium and then decide what kind of fish I want. I don’t want any especially active fish, it’s not relaxing to me and definitely no live-bearers. The ten gallon will be my shrimp tank. 😎
What have I learned so far? Patience!!! “Aquariums as a hobby” means ongoing experience, not one & done! Maybe most importantly that they enchant me still! 🤗
(PS I chose “Pokey” because it took me so long to jump in both getting aquarium & joining forum. But to be honest - most decisions take me a long time going back and forth between all possibilities! 🤣)
