A Letter to C.A.R.E. And ACO (Thank You)

[FLFishChik]

I wanted to start off with a huge THANK YOU to ALL of you here on this forum! To some, it may not seem like a big deal, but for me (and a lot of newcomers or “re-starters in the hobby), having a place to go with questions, issues, advice, panic moments or simply to share our photos of goofy fish and algae ridden tanks without judgement or harsh treatment is such a wonderful thing!

 

I started this hobby 30 years ago ( pre internet and YouTube) and had to learn on my own through books or misinformation by other people. I had some success, but a lot of failures and do gave the hobby up. Then, a year ago I caught the aquarium bug again, but this time there was a wealth of websites, videos and social media groups that were created (in theory) to help new fish keepers. But my experience with most of the latter wasn’t very positive. I was made to feel in adequate and witnessed others being treated the same when asking questions on a “beginner” group page. I was ready to quit the hobby again.

 

 Completely by accident, I stumbled across this forum. I was hesitant to join. I had watched many, many… sooooo many ACO vlogs  and was sure that anyone in the forum would be super experienced and would likely talk “over my head” about information related to fish keeping. I wasn’t necessarily afraid they would be mean, but I did feel like everyone would be on “Rocket Scientist” level with fish knowledge and I was only on “Paper airplane” level.  But I quickly found that that was definitely NOT the case.

Everyone here has been so extremely helpful and informative. Even if they don’t know the answer, they e either tried to help me figure it out or point me in the direction of someone who can. I can’t tell you how extremely appreciative I am for such a fantastic group of people and for the endless wealth of knowledge I have learned in my short time here. Thank you for never having felt “judged” or looked down upon for my lack of knowledge in fish, plants or any other aquarium related topic! You all have been so gentle, helpful and most importantly… welcoming. THANK YOU all for re-establishing my passion for the hobby! I hope I will be able to pay it forward to someone whose new and just looking for that gentle guidance!

Sincerely,

FLFishChik

[Guppysnail]

Glad you are here. I started long before internet as well and learning was trial and many many failures. I also notice on other forums people being not so kind to folks who did not know something. I think they forget every new thing is over everyones head until they learn it. In this hobby so much new stuff is always coming about.  This forum is definitely a safe learning space which is a priceless gem. It feels like fish friends sharing. Thousands of brains with a plethora of experience is so much nicer than a few folks who think they know everything especially in this hobby where there are so many correct answers to the same question. 🤗

[Anjum]

The whole Aquarium Co-Op organization is top notch. It's a rare thing these days. 

[PineSong]

I was a "rocket scientist" twenty years ago but now I'm old enough to know how much I DON'T know, lol.

The forum is a valuable teaching space and I appreciate it, too. I'm one year into keeping guppies and I feel like I have some experience and nothing too unexpected is going to happen.... now I got my first angelfish and I'm back to being a total newbie: is he eating? is that position normal? is he ever going to move? why is this fish so weird? I know I can trust the folks here to be helpful and informative! 🙂

 

 

[lefty o]

On 8/11/2022 at 9:58 PM, PineSong said:

I was a "rocket scientist" twenty years ago but now I'm old enough to know how much I DON'T know, lol.

The forum is a valuable teaching space and I appreciate it, too. I'm one year into keeping guppies and I feel like I have some experience and nothing too unexpected is going to happen.... now I got my first angelfish and I'm back to being a total newbie: is he eating? is that position normal? is he ever going to move? why is this fish so weird? I know I can trust the folks here to be helpful and informative! 🙂

 

 

amazing isnt it, the older you get the dumber you feel.

[JettsPapa]

On 8/11/2022 at 9:59 PM, lefty o said:

amazing isnt it, the older you get the dumber you feel.

For me it's more the older I get the more I realize how many stupid decisions I made when I was much younger.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still capable of making them, but not on the magnitude I did 40 years ago.