Is your hobby distracting you?

[Justice]

I can not get Discus out of my mind even when asleep, I have them in my dreams. and I spend 99% of my online time on Discus related sites.

[chhabi19]

Phew! Looks like I am in for the long run...So far so good, let's see if priorities change in the future. Till then, I guess I am "determined"....

[erikc]

When you move more than five times in under six years and still have some of those original discus with you, no, it's not a distraction, just part of your life.

[machine77]

Ya i have to agree with eddie, my girl was not to into the discus thing for sometime, me telling her i need to do a WC today, shes would say, those fish get more attention and eat better then she does ha ha.. it took awhile for her to catch on.. One time, i actually got her to make a seafood mix with me, i had her cut up all the fish and what not, when we were at the store i told her, hmmmm.. lets try this type of fish along with are others in the mix this time. Once we got it going she non stopped said how NASTY the smell was, i was laughing the whole time.. I secretly had 2 cups of prime reef, formula one and freeze dried brine shrimp, that i mixed up with my bullet befor she got home, and had it setting in the pantry where she couldnt see it.

She ran outside to say hi to a neighbor, i quickly added it to the mix and whipped it up really good.. I have not used this befor, but i thought it would work great. When she came back i told her i bet the fish will love your motherly touch in there food and she laughed and said, Nolan, there just fish, they wont tell, i said just watch, i bet they can taste the love you put into it.... When it came time to feed them, i said, drop this in there and lets see if they like your food. The fish MURDERED it! I was like WOW.. look at that. Shes like, man they really like that stuff i made.. Now she makes all the seafood mix. I convienced her that she does a better job at it then me.. And she knows how much i like my fish.. The words out of her mouth where something like, GOD DAMMIT! ha ha
Thanks prime reef and formula one!

Nolan

[ZX10R]

It's almost a year since I got into this hobby (plants+fish). I am getting distracted @work and @home. Whenever I have some time, I go online for hobby related info. I know there is a learning curve for fish, plants, water, equipments and diseases. But, I wonder what happens down the road - say 5 years, 10 years etc.

So, here's the question for you experienced folks out there.

Do you still get distracted?
On average, how much time do you spend weekly on your hobby?

I have always wanted discus now I have been keeping them for about 5 months now and my fiancee is already sick of hearing about them. I don't have a lot like most people do but I spend about a hour or two every day on them. She keeps telling me if I am online it is either looking at motorcycles or fish. Little does she know 99% of the time it is fish

[darkknight87]

To To Funny Eddie and Chaoslite.....I'm still amazed you can go from one tank a year ago and have multi tanks and a fish room a year later...lol
Also, if the partner really loves you, they should do that for you........lol

Times like this makes me think of how nice it is to be single .

[srusso]

Ya i have to agree with eddie, my girl was not to into the discus thing for sometime, me telling her i need to do a WC today, shes would say, those fish get more attention and eat better then she does ha ha.. it took awhile for her to catch on.. One time, i actually got her to make a seafood mix with me, i had her cut up all the fish and what not, when we were at the store i told her, hmmmm.. lets try this type of fish along with are others in the mix this time. Once we got it going she non stopped said how NASTY the smell was, i was laughing the whole time.. I secretly had 2 cups of prime reef, formula one and freeze dried brine shrimp, that i mixed up with my bullet befor she got home, and had it setting in the pantry where she couldnt see it.

She ran outside to say hi to a neighbor, i quickly added it to the mix and whipped it up really good.. I have not used this befor, but i thought it would work great. When she came back i told her i bet the fish will love your motherly touch in there food and she laughed and said, Nolan, there just fish, they wont tell, i said just watch, i bet they can taste the love you put into it.... When it came time to feed them, i said, drop this in there and lets see if they like your food. The fish MURDERED it! I was like WOW.. look at that. Shes like, man they really like that stuff i made.. Now she makes all the seafood mix. I convienced her that she does a better job at it then me.. And she knows how much i like my fish.. The words out of her mouth where something like, GOD DAMMIT! ha ha
Thanks prime reef and formula one!

Nolan

Hahahaa thats great, for the first time yesterday I got my wife to help with a WC!! Just had her filling the buckets with water... its a start...

I feel its only a "Distraction" if your wife doesn't care for fish...
but I can tell, she's breaking down! I see the way she stares at them lately! She says she doesn't care about them... only a matter of time

[kitykatfunkiehat]

I had a party the other night, and my boyfriend pretended to pour beer into the tank (after it had been thoroughly washed out and cleaned and taste tested and filled with water) to make me "laugh". It took me literally half a second to run across the house, grab the bottle out of his hand, point it at him, and tell him to get the hell out of my house, in front of all our friends. He nearly gave me a heartattack with his little prank and at the end of the night, he was constantly apologizing to me, AND my fish. Honestly, the whole thing made me cry! He promised to do water changes for me to make it up. And the tank is fine, thank god. I think one drop of water made it in before the bottle was in my hands.

I've been with him for almost 4 years and I would definitely throw him out before anything with my fish So maybe unconditional love and passion for this hobby describes it better than "distracting"!

[setarei]

I guess I have it lucky. My husband not only encourages me, but he is giving me his bonus from work to set up a tank and buy discus. He's also gonna drive down to the states for me to pick up said discus.

But back to the topic. I haven't even gotten the discus and I spend most of my day on here. I know after getting the discus I'll be here more often to make sure I keep up to date on the most "trendy" ways of improving the lives of my fish. Also I'm used to my pets getting better treatment than me. My dog and cat have had new zealand lamb, north american bison, and quite a lot more exotic foods that I couldn't afford for myself.

[Eddie]

I guess I have it lucky. My husband not only encourages me, but he is giving me his bonus from work to set up a tank and buy discus. He's also gonna drive down to the states for me to pick up said discus.

But back to the topic. I haven't even gotten the discus and I spend most of my day on here. I know after getting the discus I'll be here more often to make sure I keep up to date on the most "trendy" ways of improving the lives of my fish. Also I'm used to my pets getting better treatment than me. My dog and cat have had new zealand lamb, north american bison, and quite a lot more exotic foods that I couldn't afford for myself.

Wow, your other half is a keeper BIG time! If that ever happened to me, I would have died and gone to heaven! lol

Keep us updated on your tank/fish!


Eddie

[setarei]

Will do once I have something to update. Right now I can just post a bunch of pics of empty tanks. Not too interesting...

I think I'm passing the bug since my husband did decide to try his hand with his own tank (zebras, ADF, and a betta). So far I've had to do the water changes/feedings since he keeps forgetting to do things when left alone. Given time, he'll be taking care of the discus.

[brewmaster15]

The Discus Hobby for more is an intense one...thats saying it lightly... between the forum and the fish....luckily, its part of my Family and they all enjoy what I do and what we do together.. My lkids are very involved and my wife enjoys the fish I keep....shes not always thrilled with the forum aspect of things but she knows where my heart is after all these years.

I'm pretty sure its distracting me though...I know if it wasn't for the forum and Discus I could become a rocket scientist or a beach bum somewhere in the world.

-al

[Tito]

Just be careful that you don't use fish like a drug or any other addiction. Do not use fish to escape from the realities of life. I pretty much altogether stopped posting in any forum. Sometimes I browse like this morning and saw this post - felt it was worth posting in. And with the fish themselves I look at the tank for 10 minutes or so then move on with something else in the home. I'll come back to the tank for a few minutes monitor the situation but that's about it. I had to be honest with myself and realize that the so called "fish hobby" of mine was some sort of crutch. It can happen and I bet it's happening to more people then you may think. I bet some people are even justifying their addiction by saying things like - I don't gamble anymore, or drink anymore, or cheat anymore, or ___ ____ ___, anymore. But you don't replace one addiction with another. And, you don't deal with your relationship problems by looking at fish all day. Just felt like posting this after being in the hobby real hard for a few years and checking people out and their behaviours. So my answer is NOPE! My fish hobby is no longer distracting me at all. I enjoy them when I can on my terms.

Edit: Oh, and let me say this too - if you're spending tons of money on fish and you work for a living - perhaps you should really re-evaluate the situtation.

[setarei]

Hey to each his own. As long as you're happy with yourself at the end of the day.

[mmorris]

Well put Tito.