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Today as I was prepping my setup for a contest, I thought about how far I have come over the past three years since I got my first real aquarium.
It all started when I was 8. My mom came home one day with a bag full of Dollar fish from Petsmart. A platy, a black skirt tetra, a plain ol' pleco, a neon and a tiger barb. We unknowingly put them in a 1g tank, with a air pump, black gravel and a "plant." Suprisingly, they lasted about 6 months before they eventually gave in. We took the tank down and stored it for about 3 years.
One "fateful" afternoon, me and a freind caught a small crayfish. I brought it home in a styrofoam cup thinking I would keep it as a pet and use the 1g tank as its home. I knew nothing about fish, or aquariums in the slightest, but thought it would be the coolest thing to have a little piece of nature next to my bed. Well eventually I got bord with the crayfish, so I got some minnows to keep him company. They all got eaten of course, but it was still fun.
This is when the ball started rolling. I started reading a little, got my hands on an old copy of "Aquariums For Dummies" and a huge (to an 11 year old me) 10g tank. I set her up using some money I had earned shoveling and eventually got rid of the crayfish. After reading and rereading "Aquariums For Dummies" about a hundred times, I decided to get some tropical fish. I came home from Petsmart not long later with a bag full of black skirts and a siamese algae eater. About a week later, ick came and our toliet claimed its first victim. I cried a little, yes, but kept going. (For those of you who are snickering, I was 11, give me a break!) I used some medication and the ick receded.
About this time I yet again got bored. Spent some hard earned money (no allowence for this guy!) on a brand new 20g high tank with a florecent strip light. I was super excited and spent an entire Saturday setting it up. A week later, I saw an add on Craigslist for some free convict cichlids. I ended up betting six (three pairs). Even with the six convicts (the others fish got eaten...) the huge (atleast to a 12 year old me) 20g tank needed something more. I got some plastic plants, but wasn't happy. I ended up getting a book from our local library that had dozens of pictures of planted biotope aquariums in it. I was enthrawled. The book had, under the heading "Central America" a picture of a cool looking tank with lots of slate and java ferns in it. That is what I wanted to shoot for I thought. So I did. Yet again I scourged Craigslist, this time for slate. I ended up finding some, thanks to a hobbyist taking down his fishroom. I put the slate in the tank, stepped back, and smiled. It looked pretty good. But it was missing something... Plants! I had this new fancy florecent light, so why couldn't I grow plants, right? I went to Pestmart, purchased some almost dead java ferns and some fertilizers that the Petsmart associate promised would perk them up. I took 'em home, planted them in the cracks and crevices and the slate and smiled. This was it.
Pretty soon after, I started getting worried that my six convicts were not getting along. Torn fins were, according to "Aquariums For Dummies" a bad thing. In vain I trolled the internet to find some miracle cure to let my fish get along; And boy, did I find it! I stumbed upon a forum. And not just any forum, The Planted Tank.net. I started my first thread, "Convict Cichlid Bullying" and the ball really started rolling. I look back on that thread, on everything I did for the first couple months of being on the forum, and laugh: I was an idiot! I bet I annoyed countless people with my stupidity and my horrible spelling. Anyway, with the help of the kind members here I progressed with my knowledge of the hobby. I learned that only one pair of convicts could possible fit in a 20g tank, and that I should stop using the "fertilizers" given to me by the Petsmart person.
At about this time, I saw an amazing tank. It looked like everything I could ever want out of an aquarium, and more. Who's tank was it you ask? Well, it was Hydrophyte's. A 65g planted riparium. So I decided to take the plunge and turn my setup into a riparium as well. I purchased my used Riparium Supply planters and rafts from Sewingalot. I got them and again spent an entire Saturday setting things up. After I was done, I stepped back, and smiled. It wasn't as good as Hydrophyte's, but it was a start. I loved the riparium plants though.
My tank really started to look like a piece of a river. Over the next months, I grew plants, and killed many more. I got a new light fixture, and my first canister filter. My tank evolved, just like I did (atleast when it came to my knowledge and wisdom of the hobby). At this time I also started my own aquarium blog, "The Planted Fish Bowl". I wanted to be like Hydrophyte, and Jason Baliban: The alpha hobbyists (atleast, they were in the mind of a 13 year old me). Pretty soon though, as usual, I got bored. A 20g tank wasn't that small anymore now that I was 13. I soon found out about the the Petco Dollar per Gallon sale. One August afternoon, I splurged and bought a 40g breeder. My (amazing) father built me a bulky and ugly, but usable stand, and again I spent a Saturday (and Sunday afternoon) setting the tank up. Everything I had was dwarfed by this new tank. But, I used what I had (as usual) and spent the very little amount of money I had on new equipment. The tank started to look good, and I was happy.
My blog "flourished" in my mind. I got a whopping 17 veiws per day, and got some compliments about my writing skills. All was good. My tank kept evolving as I did, I learned so much and my tank changed even more. In the spring of this year, someone (I am not sure who...) got it into my head to write an article about ripariums. Not a blog article this time, but a magazine article. A huge step up for a 14 year old. I had stuck with ripariums for along time now, I knew the ins and outs, and loved them just as much as I had when I got them. So I started writing. With the help of Hydrophyte and a freind of mine (who is a published author) the article started to shape up. Late this summer, I sent it it to Tropical Fish Hobbyist: The first aquarium magazine that I had layed my eyes on and my personal favorite.
Earlier this month I got an email with a contract: They had accepted it! I was bouncing off the walls exited. Maybe I am not being clear here: Me, a 14 year old gets to have his work in one of the biggest and best aquarium magazines in the world, next to the work of some of the "alpha hobbyist" of the modern aquarium hobby. I know that this isn't that big of an accomplishment, in the scope of things, but for a 14 year old homeschooler who had a 1g crayfish setup as his first aquarium three years earlier, it means alot.
WOW. You just read through all that? Oh, you didn't? You skipped through all of it? Ah, well, I don't blame you. It was pretty much a big mushy, boring "rant."
I really don't know why I wrote all that. Just thought I'd share on the spur of the moment.
It all started when I was 8. My mom came home one day with a bag full of Dollar fish from Petsmart. A platy, a black skirt tetra, a plain ol' pleco, a neon and a tiger barb. We unknowingly put them in a 1g tank, with a air pump, black gravel and a "plant." Suprisingly, they lasted about 6 months before they eventually gave in. We took the tank down and stored it for about 3 years.
One "fateful" afternoon, me and a freind caught a small crayfish. I brought it home in a styrofoam cup thinking I would keep it as a pet and use the 1g tank as its home. I knew nothing about fish, or aquariums in the slightest, but thought it would be the coolest thing to have a little piece of nature next to my bed. Well eventually I got bord with the crayfish, so I got some minnows to keep him company. They all got eaten of course, but it was still fun.
This is when the ball started rolling. I started reading a little, got my hands on an old copy of "Aquariums For Dummies" and a huge (to an 11 year old me) 10g tank. I set her up using some money I had earned shoveling and eventually got rid of the crayfish. After reading and rereading "Aquariums For Dummies" about a hundred times, I decided to get some tropical fish. I came home from Petsmart not long later with a bag full of black skirts and a siamese algae eater. About a week later, ick came and our toliet claimed its first victim. I cried a little, yes, but kept going. (For those of you who are snickering, I was 11, give me a break!) I used some medication and the ick receded.
About this time I yet again got bored. Spent some hard earned money (no allowence for this guy!) on a brand new 20g high tank with a florecent strip light. I was super excited and spent an entire Saturday setting it up. A week later, I saw an add on Craigslist for some free convict cichlids. I ended up betting six (three pairs). Even with the six convicts (the others fish got eaten...) the huge (atleast to a 12 year old me) 20g tank needed something more. I got some plastic plants, but wasn't happy. I ended up getting a book from our local library that had dozens of pictures of planted biotope aquariums in it. I was enthrawled. The book had, under the heading "Central America" a picture of a cool looking tank with lots of slate and java ferns in it. That is what I wanted to shoot for I thought. So I did. Yet again I scourged Craigslist, this time for slate. I ended up finding some, thanks to a hobbyist taking down his fishroom. I put the slate in the tank, stepped back, and smiled. It looked pretty good. But it was missing something... Plants! I had this new fancy florecent light, so why couldn't I grow plants, right? I went to Pestmart, purchased some almost dead java ferns and some fertilizers that the Petsmart associate promised would perk them up. I took 'em home, planted them in the cracks and crevices and the slate and smiled. This was it.
Pretty soon after, I started getting worried that my six convicts were not getting along. Torn fins were, according to "Aquariums For Dummies" a bad thing. In vain I trolled the internet to find some miracle cure to let my fish get along; And boy, did I find it! I stumbed upon a forum. And not just any forum, The Planted Tank.net. I started my first thread, "Convict Cichlid Bullying" and the ball really started rolling. I look back on that thread, on everything I did for the first couple months of being on the forum, and laugh: I was an idiot! I bet I annoyed countless people with my stupidity and my horrible spelling. Anyway, with the help of the kind members here I progressed with my knowledge of the hobby. I learned that only one pair of convicts could possible fit in a 20g tank, and that I should stop using the "fertilizers" given to me by the Petsmart person.
At about this time, I saw an amazing tank. It looked like everything I could ever want out of an aquarium, and more. Who's tank was it you ask? Well, it was Hydrophyte's. A 65g planted riparium. So I decided to take the plunge and turn my setup into a riparium as well. I purchased my used Riparium Supply planters and rafts from Sewingalot. I got them and again spent an entire Saturday setting things up. After I was done, I stepped back, and smiled. It wasn't as good as Hydrophyte's, but it was a start. I loved the riparium plants though.
My tank really started to look like a piece of a river. Over the next months, I grew plants, and killed many more. I got a new light fixture, and my first canister filter. My tank evolved, just like I did (atleast when it came to my knowledge and wisdom of the hobby). At this time I also started my own aquarium blog, "The Planted Fish Bowl". I wanted to be like Hydrophyte, and Jason Baliban: The alpha hobbyists (atleast, they were in the mind of a 13 year old me). Pretty soon though, as usual, I got bored. A 20g tank wasn't that small anymore now that I was 13. I soon found out about the the Petco Dollar per Gallon sale. One August afternoon, I splurged and bought a 40g breeder. My (amazing) father built me a bulky and ugly, but usable stand, and again I spent a Saturday (and Sunday afternoon) setting the tank up. Everything I had was dwarfed by this new tank. But, I used what I had (as usual) and spent the very little amount of money I had on new equipment. The tank started to look good, and I was happy.
My blog "flourished" in my mind. I got a whopping 17 veiws per day, and got some compliments about my writing skills. All was good. My tank kept evolving as I did, I learned so much and my tank changed even more. In the spring of this year, someone (I am not sure who...) got it into my head to write an article about ripariums. Not a blog article this time, but a magazine article. A huge step up for a 14 year old. I had stuck with ripariums for along time now, I knew the ins and outs, and loved them just as much as I had when I got them. So I started writing. With the help of Hydrophyte and a freind of mine (who is a published author) the article started to shape up. Late this summer, I sent it it to Tropical Fish Hobbyist: The first aquarium magazine that I had layed my eyes on and my personal favorite.
Earlier this month I got an email with a contract: They had accepted it! I was bouncing off the walls exited. Maybe I am not being clear here: Me, a 14 year old gets to have his work in one of the biggest and best aquarium magazines in the world, next to the work of some of the "alpha hobbyist" of the modern aquarium hobby. I know that this isn't that big of an accomplishment, in the scope of things, but for a 14 year old homeschooler who had a 1g crayfish setup as his first aquarium three years earlier, it means alot.
WOW. You just read through all that? Oh, you didn't? You skipped through all of it? Ah, well, I don't blame you. It was pretty much a big mushy, boring "rant."
I really don't know why I wrote all that. Just thought I'd share on the spur of the moment.
haha
