awww.... but....

[HannibalsMum]

dont you hate it when you see a fish that you want but dont have the room... or you get told no by th other half... or....

yes i'm a newbi, however i have had a couple of fish before, but due to a) moving alot the fish dieing of old age (almost 3 years) or c) killing the fish due to not knowing enough. i didnt keep a large tank or as many varities as i have now.. never even breed fish.. hence the livebarers. first time even seeing a birth just 3 weeks ago.

i lived with my grandparents in new zealand from the age of five till the age of 14. i lived around anmals my whole life, if i could have it my way my house would be a zoo... ok whats the point to all that... well when i started this hobby this time round (the others were just pets to have.. more on them in a bit) i remembered all the fish we had while growing up.. i only have two of the types, afican butterfly an 3 stunning clown kahuli loaches... so far.

when my parnter pointed out a "dead fish" in my local fish shop one day, my jaw droped... there was the mose stunning fish i could remember....the afican butterfly. fond memories of how expencive that fish was when i was a child (almost $60 or $70 back then) an coming home to it being on the floor an nana almost passing out at the sight of it.. lol... as we had traveled 4-5 hours with that "damn fish" (grandfather)... i told my other half that i wanted to get one... at first he wasnt keen on the idea when he saw how much it would cost. then i had my first batch of molly fry... ah ha! a way to get my unicorn.. the afican butterfly... he ended up costing me $10... an his name is hannibal.. yay me

on that same trip as a kid, we had some discus... i thought at the time that they are the most gracefull thing i had ever saw in my life. and sill do, i wimper and almost need a towl to wipe up the drool off my chin every time i see them... but alas i've been told no. in a way i can understand, i remember the frustrations that my nana had with hers an i know they can be fickle. but i will get some... one day... tehe..

now to the fish that i had a few years back, at one time i had 3 fish... 2 were betas, red an blue, i had them in these awasome looking glasses, the red one died afer a year an the blue after almost 3 years, which i know that is their life span,, but the other fish i had was an oscar.. her name was grouch.. i know, i know, i can hear you all groaning.. but that was my nickname in high school.. i have no idea why.. anyways i got grouch from a very young age.

i had got three that day. two black tigers an a white, i say white tiger cause it had normal eyes an not red. any way one died soon after getting them.. it happends.. thats why 3. i had a bowl that held bout 20 to 25L basic water flow, air an gravel.. no filter, no testing kit... a real noob kinda stuff. so the last two were going great.. then 6 months down the track things were starting to get a little tight. now my hairdresser that was across the road were i lived had a MASSIVE tank with alsorts of afican childs, an quite large ones at that... the remaing black tiger needed a new home, he said that he would take it for me thinking that it would be large enough... let just say it didnt servive 2 mins in that tank... opps. :S

so the remaing oscar lived in that bowl, i feed her ( at least i thought it was a girl) everything from feeder fish from the local creek, bugs, to even a couple of geekos.. (that was fun to watch). i was able to put my hand in and pat her, i didnt really need the fish net to get her out when chaning the water (when i didnt really know better) i had her almost 3 years, thu all the moving i did to. but however i did a bad water change one day the water when cloudy white, i didnt know what was wrong, she stopped feeding and died 3 days later. i cryed, the only pet i had for such a long time, an was happy to see when i got back for being away for 6 months, she knew me ( the bird however wasnt to good with me, another story for a differnt time) . it was sad to see her go.

like the discus i would love to own another oscar, an have it as tame as grouch. again another fish we had when i was growing up. i think they have wonderfull personalities an are gracefull as the discus. however its another no from the other half.. at this stage i agree as we dont have the room in the unit for it.

so at one point in my life or another i've been lucky enough to have all types of fish for me to see an fall in love with. it is the first time in my life having gourami, yoyo an black khuli loaches, bristlenoses, livebarers (mollies/swordtails/ guppies), cory, tigerbarbs, and harliqins in my life. i'm looking forward to many years of joy these little guys (and hopefully big guys) will give me.

i've manage to swindle the other love of my life (partner not the fish, lol) to let me have a bigger tank, after much debate, i'll be setting up a 3f tank in the next couple of weeks, freeing up the smaller tanks for breeding an rasing the kiddies. i'm hoping to get some blue rams to go in the 3f tank to (yet another childhood fish).

so a point to all this.. if you love it, dont let anything stop you.. message to newbies, enjoy your fish as if they are your children... in my eyes mine are my kids. no question is a stupid question whe you are starting out.. and awww.. but... honeeeeeyyyyy... sometimes work..

if you have stories like mine i would love hear them.. maybe learn something to. i hope you enjoyed mine an forgive spelling errors.

[HannibalsMum]

its a shame ya cant buy fish just cause they have cool names.. like dragon blood peacock.. that sounds soo cool but they wont fit in with my tank... probably....