true facts about my community aquarium

[scott the fishman]

Hello my  fish keeping friends! I hope you all had a great holiday.

I would like to start this topic by sharing with you my background with this hobby. It all started when i was 4 yrs old just kidding! but seriously when i was very young early 70s i was given a 26 g show tank. you know the kind with the stainless steel edges. even at that young age i was all ready diving skin diving had all my gear. so i would dive in our ponds on our property. and in the river the apple gate river and the rogue river in Oregon. even went spear fishing in those rivers. So i got a very up close and personal look at aquatic life.

in fact i was very passionate about it. spear fishing in the ocean was in my blood my uncles and my ants my mother all were divers. i entererd my 1st competition dive meet at 15 yrs old. and i placed in that competion so now back to my 1st aquarium.

that 26 gallon tank i spoke about. well it changed my young life. when i say it changed my life i mean it helped me grow up the responsibilty,the willingness to learn and care for these fish. i had to read many books and then go dive in the pond or rivers to see 1st hand what i was reading about. it was life changing.

so i cought some fish from our pond bullhead croppy, sunfish. I  took water and rocks from the pond placed them in that 26g. even had to catch grasshoppers and crickets to feed thes little guys. i learned alot. but then life happened. mom dies dad dies. years go by infact i forgot all about that wounderfull time with that aquarium.

now a young man in my early 20s. i start to look back on my life. I REMEMER THAT 26G TANK. the fun and the joy it brought in my life.  It was then at that very moment i knew what i had to do. GET MY SHT TOGEATHER. so i could buy many yes many MANY AQUARIUMS HAAAAAHA. i thoutgh to my self.

So one day i saw a fish store with a going out of business sighn. so i went in and YESSSSS every thing was 50/80% off they had this huge showtank with stand and UGF power heads heater, nets every thing for 300$ the tank i cant rember how big i think it was 6 feet long 21 inches deep anf 18 inches wide. so maybe 150g not sure. it was thats store showtank anyways i got it they gave me graval that was cycled all ready. i set it up weeks later i was buying south american and central cichlids.

i went in to the forest to gather wood and rocks for the hardscape. you know i nerver had a single fish issue other then a fish jumping out or fish fighting. i was able to get breading pair of cichlasoma sicilliam. to be  truthful, i had no idea they were a maiting pair untill i had fry in my tank.

what to do i do i need more tanks yup i got 40g tanks 20g tanks 10 g tanks. i had so many tanks i had to pull tricks at  the corner to afford all the food, feeders and every thing lots of fish need to survive. SILK PLANTS WERNT CHEAP EVEN BACK THEN!!!

i became very knoledgeable  infact a LFS would call me and say hey this guy is having a trouble with his filters could you call him. yeah no joke and make no mistake i would walk to a payphone and call that guy. i was even selling fry jackdempsy cichlasoma sicilliam fry i had so much fish credit i stopped!  pulling tricks! ok ok ok i didnt stop!! how ever my upstairs apartment was a sweeeet fish room my neighbors would say hey aren't you that fish guy? so now you know who i was SCOTT THE FISH MAN!!!!

so short story long!!!. i am now allmost 60 yrs old in bad health both physical and mental not to worry i have fish in my life now after many many years i have fish back in my life. most importantly i have all of you in my life so THANK YOU!!!

So now much older i see things in a much different light with my 75g aquarium i post pics of every other day. i have learned some instresting facts about my fish facts you dont see on the internet.

like my red tail black shark. fact #1 they are not mean. yes they will chase fish but my shark only chases those who chase others. my shark never noyt once ever harassed my rummy nose or my cherry barbs in fact he only chases the tiger barbs who only chase each other. my shark nerver gorges himself he only eats what he needs and backs off. my sharks physigue never changes he is thick with a slight bulge if any in his/her mid section.

one day i added 8 new fish friends to the tank. rosey barbs. soon afterwards day or two the shark desides to chase one that did not end well. Rosey barbs dont run it was a huge tight swirling fight. neather would back down the shark got the worse of it. to this day the shark does not chase those rosy barbs they do how ever get out of his way. the rosey barbs dont bother any of the fish not the little rummys or the chery barbs.

Now facts about the tigers i read every where on the internet that tiger barbs are mean fin nippers. Well apparently my tigers dont surf the web. not a single fin has been niped since i got these tigers 6 months ago. they dont chase any other fish at all except themselves and evewn that is not aggression its fun time for the tigers. atfirst i thought itr was aggression but it is not, let me explain what i witness i saw 4 of my 6 tigers nonstop chasing each othe NO i take that back i saw one tiger chasing others aggresivly. it worried my it even stressed me out.

then one night i finally saw something that enlightened me. you see they are playing when one gets to tired to keep swimming 1000 miles per hour he/she simply breaks off gets in to a 45 deree face to the gravel and NOBODY chases him. now after about 45 sec that same fish that broke off now deliberatly puts himself directly infront of the tiger who was chasing him and it all starts again. they do this over and over every single day.

well thank you guys for letting me share my life my fish and my hobby with you all.

[Guppysnail]

That is such a fantastic story. Thank you so much for sharing my friend!  Over the years I have noticed many behaviors that when I started surfing the web, I realized the internet folks may not have interpreted what they were seeing correctly. My fish don’t surf the web either and seldom adhere to wat the internet claims as gospel. 

[scott the fishman]

On 1/8/2022 at 8:00 PM, Guppysnail said:

That is such a fantastic story. Thank you so much for sharing my friend!  Over the years I have noticed many behaviors that when I started surfing the web, I realized the internet folks may not have interpreted what they were seeing correctly. My fish don’t surf the web either and seldom adhere to wat the internet claims as gospel. 

THANK YOU  for letting me share. yes the internet ppl dont know all. i think every single fish must have there own persanality its that simple i think. when ppl see fish chasing each other nonstop it does look aggrsive but it noty allways is 

[Minanora]

Thank you for sharing. This is a solid reminder of how wonderful our community is. How simple boxes of water can shape our lives. Also, that fish have personalities! Which I've recently found that some people don't think this and I just don't understand it!

Thank you again. I love seeing photos of your adventure! 🙂

[scott the fishman]

On 1/8/2022 at 8:31 PM, Minanora said:

Thank you for sharing. This is a solid reminder of how wonderful our community is. How simple boxes of water can shape our lives. Also, that fish have personalities! Which I've recently found that some people don't think this and I just don't understand it!

Thank you again. I love seeing photos of your adventure! 🙂

SOILD IN DEED  my jungle box of life / fish friends has given me new life. as far as sharing my adventure that  is my pure pleasure.

[Flumpweesel]

Thanks for sharing your origin story (perhaps it should be released comic book  once the film rights are out there no more need to visit the corner).

Enough space and enough food chills out most populations you happy tank sounds lovely.

[scott the fishman]

On 1/9/2022 at 12:05 AM, Flumpweesel said:

Thanks for sharing your origin story (perhaps it should be released comic book  once the film rights are out there no more need to visit the corner).

Enough space and enough food chills out most populations you happy tank sounds lovely.

thank you for reading. and yeah my fish are very happy. when i look at my tank it realy does remind me of what i saw in those ponds and rivers i use to dive in.

 

[Levi_Aquatics]

Thanks for sharing! I enjoy hearing how others get into the hobby.

[scott the fishman]

On 1/9/2022 at 8:49 AM, Levi_Aquatics said:

Thanks for sharing! I enjoy hearing how others get into the hobby.

thank you for reading i know it was a long rant but was fun looking back on that time and sharing it. i to like to hear how others got into the hobby. i think that would make a great topic😏

[Torrey]

@scott the fishman thank you for sharing. 

Oregon is an amazing place to learn about nature, and the Coastal Salish in WA taught me about responsibility to the rivers.

You just awakened multiple memories, thank you. 

[scott the fishman]

On 1/9/2022 at 11:08 AM, Torrey said:

@scott the fishman thank you for sharing. 

Oregon is an amazing place to learn about nature, and the Coastal Salish in WA taught me about responsibility to the rivers.

You just awakened multiple memories, thank you. 

your welcome. oregon is amazing! diving in those rivers was so amazing all my friends thought i was nuts to do that. every day now i look at my tank and it reminds me  of those rivers. glad those meories came back😊

[Torrey]

ORD 🥰

[Preyhunter]

Nice story.  I always had red tail black sharks in the past myself.  Cool looking fish in my opinion.  I told myself that I wouldn't be going that route now that I'm back in the hobby, but I'm probably lying to myself.  That's a lot of myselfs, I apologize.

[scott the fishman]

On 1/11/2022 at 11:46 AM, Preyhunter said:

Nice story.  I always had red tail black sharks in the past myself.  Cool looking fish in my opinion.  I told myself that I wouldn't be going that route now that I'm back in the hobby, but I'm probably lying to myself.  That's a lot of myselfs, I apologize.

thank you! you know what they say once you go black red tail shark you you dont go back😉