What is killing the hobby?

[gardenman]

On 5/13/2022 at 10:02 AM, Jawjagrrl said:

I lived in DE for many years - even though many improvements have been made in equipment and fish availability since then, in many ways this was the golden time for the hobby. I miss that interaction around the fish counter. Dean has spoken about this before too.

Yeah, the sixties, seventies and eighties were kind of the golden age of fish keeping locally. In Delaware there was a pricey LFS on Governors Prince Boulevard that had a dark showroom that was gorgeous. They had ponds in the middle and a huge show tank on the far wall with a large arowana in it and other fish. For cheap stuff there was Discount Aquariums just off route 202. If you wanted to save money and didn't mind wandering off a bit further there was World Wide Aquariums in Upper Darby. They were a wholesale/retail operation and had amazing prices on stuff. There was a little mom and pop place around Prices Corner that operated out of a house. Just Fish still operates (or I think they do) off of route 13. The best fish store around was Martin's Aquarium first in Jenkintown and then later expanded to Cherry HIll. Berlin NJ had several fish stores. Echelon Mall had a large fish store in it for a while. It was an amazing time to be in the hobby. And it's nearly all gone now. It's a shame. The kids today don't know what they're missing. Those were fun times. I didn't think they'd ever end, but they have. Life goes on. 

[JoeQ]

Lots of interesting replys here, I thought the answer would of surely been 'supply chains and the over supplied big chain store business model isn't working anymore so stores are stocking less' but the group consensus seams to be 'it's the economy' 

 

 

 

I think for it to come back it will boil down to the hobbyists themselves, trading/buying amongst themselves, local aquarium groups assuming the role of your mom&pop shop where you can socialize about aquariums and trade. Individuals eventually branching out to online store fronts and online live stock suppliers starting to cater more to small hobbyists instead of selling a minimum number of a particular fish. As for the lacey act, i guess the effects that will have on the hobby is still to be determined. 

[isaly]

I don't think anything is killing this hobby.

I think I represent the common aquarium hobbyist, one tank, 55 full o' tetras, looking to set up maybe one or two more over time, going slowly...having thoughts about pea puffers. I really love fish keeping — it's in my life, just not the main thing in my life.

My expenditures are limited by available funds. A friend of mine and I built cigar box guitars this last week. It worked well — I'm no spaz in that area, pretty good with chisels and hand woodworking tools. Even better, I know how guitars work. I'd like to improve my building. I have ideas for improvements. I have some tools and need some specific tools which will come to around $200 - 300. They're quite cheap to build after the tools, though. I would have to put my pea puffer tank on hold. I can choose both, but I can really afford to do either one.

...and the cigar box guitars win...maybe pea puffers later...and I love my tank o' tetras.

If my biggest problem right now is to choose between two excellent pursuits, I want more problems ;)

Edited May 14, 2022 by isaly

[Bbeausoleil]

I'm not sure, although I know the reason why I'm looking for someone to take my entire setup off my hands is because I'm disabled, and it is extremely painful to work on it. The lifting and bending is just so painful. I don't know what to do or who to talk with about this. I am new to the forum so I cannot use the fish/invert swap option. I'm pretty attached to these lil guys so I didn't want to put it up on cl for who knows what to happen to them. It doesn't feel good having to part with them, but my health cannot keep up with their health.

In my 29g acrylic aquarium I have 2 SAE, 2 otocinclus, 4 hatchets, 8 s&p corys, 3 dwarf chain loaches, 10 white cloud minnows, 15 cardinal tetras. Plants in it are several java ferns, bacopa, pogo octo, moneywort, scarlet temple, and a few baby tears. If they want the whole setup of heater, Fluval 207 canister filter, CO2 diy-mix tank, air pump, a variety of food and accessories (medium net, glass turkey baster, black scissors set w/ tongs and paddle,) they're welcome to home them all. Otherwise, I'm unsure of the outcome. I really tried to spoil them. I'm just unable to keep up the regular maintenance, in my condition.

[JoeQ]

On 6/6/2022 at 4:28 PM, Bbeausoleil said:

I'm not sure, although I know the reason why I'm looking for someone to take my entire setup off my hands is because I'm disabled, and it is extremely painful to work on it. The lifting and bending is just so painful. I don't know what to do or who to talk with about this. I am new to the forum so I cannot use the fish/invert swap option. I'm pretty attached to these lil guys so I didn't want to put it up on cl for who knows what to happen to them. It doesn't feel good having to part with them, but my health cannot keep up with their health.

In my 29g acrylic aquarium I have 2 SAE, 2 otocinclus, 4 hatchets, 8 s&p corys, 3 dwarf chain loaches, 10 white cloud minnows, 15 cardinal tetras. Plants in it are several java ferns, bacopa, pogo octo, moneywort, scarlet temple, and a few baby tears. If they want the whole setup of heater, Fluval 207 canister filter, CO2 diy-mix tank, air pump, a variety of food and accessories (medium net, glass turkey baster, black scissors set w/ tongs and paddle,) they're welcome to home them all. Otherwise, I'm unsure of the outcome. I really tried to spoil them. I'm just unable to keep up the regular maintenance, in my condition.

That stinks, im sorry to hear about your situation. I fell out of the hobby in 2016~2017 for simular circumstances, but come 2019 I was soo bored I reconfigured my setup (with some help) so I could handle it without much discomfort. Is this something you can do? Reconfigure your setup so it makes maintenance easier? 

Edited June 6, 2022 by JoeQ