Greetings, and just a little about myself.

[Rick Bunn]

Greetings one and all!

I have been in the chat on various of Cory's live streams, as well as others in the fishkeeping community, and finally decided to check out this forum.

My name is Rick, and I am from Utah, though I did live in Virginia several years while serving in the Navy.

I just turned 50 a couple of days ago, and have been in and out of the hobby since I got my first tank in 1979 at the age of nine. I still remember that first tank well. It was a new fangled all glass tank, with a shiny metal hood and duel incandescent light bulbs. 10 gallon capacity, and was a gift from my father, along with several bags of fish purchased at the same time, mostly various tetras, and several zebra danios. 

Of course there were heavy casualties, in the beginning, though I believe I owe it to the danios, who were the only survivors in those days, and at times were the only activity in that tank besides the bubbling treasure chest, and hopping frog, for keeping me in the hobby in the beginning.

As time went on my success rate increased, and more information became available, and that one tank turned into a few more over time.

I also developed an interest in reptiles, and tarantulas, along with various other pets, although growing up on a small ranch, there was never a shortage of animals in my day to day life.

After High school I joined the US Navy just in time for Desert Storm, and was home ported in Norfolk Virginia. As luck would have it my first apartment was within walking distance of and amazing family owned pet store With a huge fish selection, both fresh and salt water. It was the first time I had seen a store with quarantine tanks, and each tank had its own filter. I hung around there so much I almost became part of the family and would do odd jobs around the store for fish. This is where I transitioned from freshwater to salt water tanks, I also had a new wife and son who had to learn quickly how to maintain my tanks while I was deployed overseas for months at a time. 

After I got out of the Navy I returned to Utah, and discovered just how bad dry desert air is when trying to maintain proper salinity in saltwater, as well as just how few fish stores care for fish more than money. I ended up getting out of the salt water and back into keeping freshwater fish. 

Over the years since, my involvement in the hobby has ebbed and flowed, I have bred angel fish and bettas, and had huge collections at times just to give away most of them, and only keep a small betta tank or two at times while focusing on other hobbies, or life events, but I always come back to fishkeeping in time. 

For me one of the major draws to this hobby is the never ending opportunity to learn and to experiment. I dont always do things the way people say you have too. I try to look at things from natures perspective and make things work with nature as much as you can in a glass box. I learned a lot of things over the years, before the internet existed to tell me it couldn't work that way, and in a small town where my closest pet store was, in the beginning a two hour drive one way, I learned early to make my own foods, and find my own solutions to common problems, and to this day I look online for solutions and then come up with my own way of making things work a lot of the time.

I am also an avid gardener, and have learned that much like a fish tank you treat your garden as an ecosystem, and things get easier, and have found that gardening and fish keeping are very symbiotic. My compost and worm bins, are loaded with hornwort, and as soon as I can get another start I will be adding duckweed again, water from my tanks goes on the garden, and produce from the garden feed many of my fish, as do my worm bins, and inhabitants of my rain water barrels.

As this has gotten to be rather long winded, I will wrap it up by saying I am glad to be a part of this community of hobbyist and other NERMs, and am always glad to share what I have learned with others as I continue to learn myself.

And for those that need to hear it, Don't forget to clean off your hoods.  

[Streetwise]

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you bring a lot of experience to the community!

Cheers

[The nano tank man]

Seems like you will make a great addition to the forum.

[Andy70VWBus]

Ahoy to a fellow Sailor!  It truly is a TINY world:   I was a young officer stationed in Little Creek, VA (just a short way from Norfolk) during Desert Storm I, and lived across from a shopping plaza that had an AMAZING family-owned pet store!!!  Mine was in Virginia Beach 🙂  I was single, so limited in my ability to keep fish during deployments, but the store owner was always happy to take my fish in when I had to leave, and in a few instances I was able to actually get some of the same fish back when I returned if it was a shorter deployment.

Nice to "meet" you.

- Andy

 

[lefty o]

welcome aboard. i was a west coast guy myself.

[Ken]

Hi Rick. Just curious does TOCDF mean anything to you?

[Rick Bunn]

15 hours ago, Ken said:

Hi Rick. Just curious does TOCDF mean anything to you?

Yes sir it does! I spent 17 years out there.

 

[Ken]

I was there 1995 through 2009. BRA, PAS with a side of Utilities, Warehouse and was Materials Manager when I left. Good times in the early years. I used to see a lot of the guys when I still lived in Rush Valley, not so much now.

[Rick Bunn]

1 hour ago, Ken said:

I was there 1995 through 2009. BRA, PAS with a side of Utilities, Warehouse and was Materials Manager when I left. Good times in the early years. I used to see a lot of the guys when I still lived in Rush Valley, not so much now.

I was there from 1996 to 2013 when they laid off most of Operations. Was in UPA on C team. then went DSA for a few years, then day shift DSA for a year then back to the UPA on A team.

[Rick Bunn]

21 hours ago, Andy70VWBus said:

Ahoy to a fellow Sailor!  It truly is a TINY world:   I was a young officer stationed in Little Creek, VA (just a short way from Norfolk) during Desert Storm I, and lived across from a shopping plaza that had an AMAZING family-owned pet store!!!  Mine was in Virginia Beach 🙂  I was single, so limited in my ability to keep fish during deployments, but the store owner was always happy to take my fish in when I had to leave, and in a few instances I was able to actually get some of the same fish back when I returned if it was a shorter deployment.

Nice to "meet" you.

- Andy

 

I spent about 2 weeks on the AMPHIB base in Little Creek VA. in a TPU unit until my first ship got back Norfolk from doing some exercises, and I could report onboard. It was rather entertaining watching the SEALs play in the bay....lol

Always a pleasure meeting a shipmate.

-Rick

 

[Alesha]

Welcome to the forum. We are glad to have you here!