Falling out

[Deadbrain]

I'm having trouble with aquarium burn out and I wanted to reach out to a community that I respect and love and see if there is somthing I can do I still love the aquarium hobby but I'm just not feeling the same way about it but I want to get back in to the fun can anyone mabey that has dealt with this and bounced back help me out with this?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Deadbrain firstly, welcome to the forum. Maybe this is the first step in rekindling your relationship with the hobby- I know for me it sparks my interest and I enjoy interacting with other enthusiatic fish keepers. 

Tell us a little bit about what you keep, how many tanks, what kind of tanks and we can help you troubleshoot or spark the aquatic fires again!

I know @Atitagain has posted about some burn out/overload- and lots of the experienced aquarists here can relate. There are several of us here that even don't have tanks but enjoy interacting and sharing past experience. 

[Anjum]

I think this is a great topic; both to help you out @Deadbrain & to help out others, experienced & inexperienced alike. 

I'm relatively new to the hobby. I learn something new every day from this forum, blogs & youtube. And it makes me want to do all the things. But I know at some point I'll overload myself. And then what? If I have live animals in my care, I will continue to care for them. But I don't want it to become a chore or something I resent. So I think it's good to talk about it ahead of time. What sort of factors contribute to burn-out? How can we avoid it, or rectify it once it sets in? 

Wishing you all the best!

[drewzero1]

I haven't had a 100% shutdown burnout like some have, but I've definitely experienced seasons of extremely low enthusiasm. I've adopted a strategy of restraint when I'm 'high on fish' so I can keep up when I'm low. When I learn about a new fish or idea that I want to try out I've been adding it to a list for the future (when I'm ready) instead of starting another tank, and when I do add another tank I have an exit strategy planned out. Last summer I was starting to have trouble keeping up again so I went down from three tanks at home to two, and gave away some fish that I realized I couldn't care for properly. This spring I've added a patio pond (which will fold into an existing tank in the winter) and a tank on my desk at work (whose inhabitants would go into my 40B if I decided that tank was too much).

I guess my best advice would be to cut back tanks if you have multiple that you're taking care of. Fewer, larger, understocked tanks have been good for me (and my fish) because of the stability of more water.

[BeeD]

Yea I think @drewzero1kind of covered my strategy as well. I've just never tackled the kinds of projects that so many people here have. It's impressive what people do, but even if I tried to do something really complex and demanding, I would have to keep it limited to one tank. I try to easy mode everything as much as possible, so that when I go through my down phase I can just feed, test water, top off, clean sponges. Pothos/other plants, plenum, deep sand/gravel all seem to be keeping my nitrates at zero. I'm neck deep in guppy fry right now, but that's because I'm in project mode and just separated dozens of males out of the main tank.

[Flumpweesel]

I definitely agree with a simplify to enjoy strategy  But tell us what is getting you down in particular and what you actually have and let's see what we can suggest.

[Guppysnail]

I have gotten that way from time to time.  Whether it is to many tanks, taken on to many projects so none get done, life gets in the way, incompatible fish. Tanks that just won’t cooperate.  I end up wanting to avoid working with my tanks rather than looking forward to them as something’s become a giant frog sitting on my dinner plate. (Book reference EAT THE FROG I can’t remember the author)

I track down what that frog is too many tanks projects, lack of time, other interests have taken priority  etc I scale them all back and eliminate all nonessential.

Tank issue algae/dying plants etc  I just pull them all out and go with some easy care ones for awhile.

Financial strain I again scale back to non essentials and in the inflationary economy of now that can be a huge burden.

I have had travel for work or severe medical issues and general lack of quality time that for a time I entirely tore down ALL my tanks as just a break time or out of not having time or other things consume my interest for awhile.

I hope that helps.

 

 

Book reference. Eat That Frog Brian Tracey author. 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Ken Burke]

@Deadbrain, I think you have some great thoughts here, and hope it helps.  I can think of 3 basic strategies:

1. Try something new: whether it’s a new breeding project, or aquascaping, or joining a local club, or whatever.  Find something you can get excited about.  This is useful if you think you are in a rut.

2. Scale back: fewer tanks, fewer fish, less maintenance.  This strategy is most useful if you are running low on the time/energy money scale.  

3.  Step back: take down you tanks, sell the fish, and explore other things.  Over time you may come back renewed.  If not, it’s better than having a hobby that has become a drudgery.  
 

others may come up with other strategies, these are just the ones that came to my mind.  I would try 1 first, then work my way down.  

 

[Atitagain]

Burnout is a real concern for me. The fish in my tanks are my pets, I feel the same responsibility for an ember tetra as I do for my dogs. I brought them into my home and now if I don’t care for them correctly it’s the same as mistreatment of any other pet. These fish are part of my family now, I keep that on my heart to help from laziness and burnout.

I have a fishroom with 19 systems running right now. I’m cutting back at the moment, I had 24 running systems and I’m cutting back to 16. The tanks will stay empty until I’m inspired to set them up again. I try to keep a balance between family, work, and fishroom. So that changes frequently, so I keep a plan for these fluctuations, back up plans for every fish I purchase. Right now it’s summer mostly the reason for the cut back.

Another way I keep from burnout is this forum! Talking with other aquarists and/or seeing their new set ups. Reading about new breeds (to me), habitats, plants, ect… 

i can and do add tanks and projects if I’m starting to get burn out. A good example I was in a rut of “feels like work” and I was at a LFS and found some blackworms. This turned into 2 BW set ups and me getting super pumped about their benefits. Now I’m breeding RNTetra, GBR, and a couple others. Such an amazing change when feeding these for general and breeding behavior.

BUT I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BEHAVIOR it will lead to chronic MTS! A step back or a break would probably be the wise choice, for some.

[Torrey]

On 6/13/2022 at 3:27 PM, Deadbrain said:

I'm having trouble with aquarium burn out and I wanted to reach out to a community that I respect and love and see if there is somthing I can do I still love the aquarium hobby but I'm just not feeling the same way about it but I want to get back in to the fun can anyone mabey that has dealt with this and bounced back help me out with this?

I've been there, especially when I was recuperating from a covid induced stroke last year. Over the past 4 decades I've had everything from breeding fish room to no tanks and only an outdoor pond, to only breeding feeders for reptiles, to my current 13ish in an apartment.

The hardest times with burnout have consistently correlated with depression for me, and I now treat burnout like a check engine light in the car. Sometimes I need to downsize, sometimes I need to rehome living animals that require more care than I am capable of giving at that point, sometimes I need a new challenge to reinvigorate my brain.

The consistent issue is I need to check back in with my body because I've fallen into disassociation as a coping skill, due to external stressors. The solution isn't the same every time, even if the symptoms are identical.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

 

[KeeganKeepsFish]

While I may be relatively new to the hobby I don't think burning out is necessarily a bad thing. I have tons of hobbies that I love doing but I cant give my attention to them all at once. The cool part of the hobby is most people have the ability to find stasis in it. It shouldn't be too hard to get to a point where you're pretty much just feeding and cleaning every once in a while. Maybe you even downsize for a little while while you focus on something else. I think it is unreasonable to always want to do something and we see that in all aspects of our life. I love pizza but I don't want to eat it everyday. I would suggest slimming down to prevent maintenance and feeding to feel like a burden. As for sparking your interest again, what usually helps me is getting someone else into something I am struggling with. Nothing makes me want to start playing an old video game more than when other people ask me or talk to me about it. Of course breeding projects and new animals could be exciting but with that it can also be hard to breed or even keep some fish which could lead to frustration and even more burnout. However, successfully breeding a fish could be the jump you need to feel the spark again. I think it really comes down to you asking yourself how you got here and what made you fall in love with fishkeeping in the first place and maybe try to get back to your roots. I hope you find a way to maintain a healthy relationship with the hobby but at the end of the day you should do what's best for you and if that's taking a break or slowing down I would not look at that as a bad thing its just what us humans need every once in a while. Good luck!