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View Full Version : You know what is so limiting in this hobby?


fishgate
03/06/2015, 08:30 AM
Coral! I have made the decision not to go with Coral anymore. With no coral, the hobby not only becomes way cheaper, it also allows you to get all manor of very pretty and interesting "non coral safe" fishes! So my new 120g tank will be FOWLR and debating to do the other one too. Probably will do it!!

It also seems the only people that really care about Coral are fellow reefers. The average Joe when looking at your tank is primarily interested in the fish.

Who's with me! :bounce1:

tzylak
03/06/2015, 08:35 AM
Do what makes you happy!!
Try it, evaluate the results, then report back to us.
HAVE FUN at it!!
Good luck.

kenpau
03/06/2015, 08:35 AM
Haha, not me! But good on ya! I prefer the challenge of building a successful reef....however you're absolutely right that without coral the fish choices are so much greater. If I was going to go FOWLR though I'd have to get a 300 gallon tank minimum, any smaller and it wouldn't be the coral limiting my fish choice but my tank size

Tdog208
03/06/2015, 08:47 AM
Haha! I was going to guess the wife, after seeing the bank statements!

pyithar
03/06/2015, 08:49 AM
i think money is so limiting in this hobby. :D

Dmorty217
03/06/2015, 08:53 AM
Haha! I was going to guess the wife, after seeing the bank statements!

i think money is so limiting in this hobby. :D

+1 these are the two most limiting factors in this hobby without a doubt;)

AdamNC
03/06/2015, 09:52 AM
I got into this hobby for the sps, fish are just a side project in the tank.

FraggledRock
03/06/2015, 10:00 AM
I got into this hobby for the sps, fish are just a side project in the tank.

i started the other way, now i am WANTING SPS and an amazing AQUASCAPE and I could be ok with 1 or 2 fish LOLOLOL

SaltyDoug
03/06/2015, 10:06 AM
Haha! I was going to guess the wife, after seeing the bank statements!

This is definitely it, apparently I can't spend a couple hundred bucks on more fish while she is busy spending well over 15k on a 5 hour party (wedding):facepalm:

Goldndoodle
03/06/2015, 10:11 AM
... Who's with me! :bounce1:

Not me ... anyone that comes to my house is normally here after the main lights are out, so the fish are "asleep" and I'm running the moonlighting. They are all constantly amazed by my coral, and love to see them being fed. Fish they see everywhere, and most people don't know the difference between a Goldfish and a Anthias.

But when I tell them coral have to eat, and they see a plate coral pull in a pellet on that invisible conveyer belt, or see a sun coral "bloom" then start to capture food, or my giant hairy mushroom close up like a balloon to eat, or watch acans, favia or favites slowly pull food in, they are completely captivated.

Then to really cap it off, once I start feeding - the shrimp, emerald crabs and hermit crabs all come running - then they're really interested to watch them clean up.

Pruss
03/06/2015, 10:20 AM
What I find, personally, limiting about this hobby is the breadth and depth of the variety in tank builds available to the hobbyist. Deciding what I want to do with my first salt water tank is, really, the toughest decision to make.

Fortunately I have a partner in this, and my wife REALLY wants a jewel box coral garden, so that answer gets solved. Next comes the equipment decisions, sump design, and the painful decision around what kind of lighting to run... all decisions which are informed by cost, space, time for husbandry and personal energy.

Exciting? Definitely. Daunting? Certainly. The number of tank build threads I've read here and elsewhere that either end with, or include, a, "My entire tank just blew up," theme is truly terrifying.

I'm enjoying getting salty. but it isn't for the faint hearted.

-- Pat

Dmorty217
03/06/2015, 10:25 AM
Also knowledge is a very limiting factor in his hobby

ardsman
03/06/2015, 10:58 AM
My better half and I keep our finances completely separate, She don't ask I don't tell. Occasionally she will make a comment like all of a sudden there was a new electronics board with a new Apex, my reply? it makes it all safer Hun. lol every few weeks I give her some extra money to go to the Casino and that makes her a happy girl and my hobby eeeeaaasssy!

Dmorty217
03/06/2015, 11:50 AM
My better half and I keep our finances completely separate, She don't ask I don't tell. Occasionally she will make a comment like all of a sudden there was a new electronics board with a new Apex, my reply? it makes it all safer Hun. lol every few weeks I give her some extra money to go to the Casino and that makes her a happy girl and my hobby eeeeaaasssy!

This is a huge plus, my wife and I practice the same

igot2gats
03/06/2015, 12:09 PM
This is a huge plus, my wife and I practice the same

How do you determine who pays the bills?

I think the most limiting factors in this hobby are space, and money.

cincyjim
03/06/2015, 12:12 PM
My better half and I keep our finances completely separate, She don't ask I don't tell. Occasionally she will make a comment like all of a sudden there was a new electronics board with a new Apex, my reply? it makes it all safer Hun. lol every few weeks I give her some extra money to go to the Casino and that makes her a happy girl and my hobby eeeeaaasssy!

Same here. Separate accounts. My wife really doesn't care though... I guess since it isn't her money but she does shake her head once in awhile and tells me I spend way too much on this hobby. I just tell her, would you rather I be out running the streets ;)

65Stang
03/06/2015, 12:31 PM
+1 on money and knowledge being limiting factors. My wife and I have a joint account that pays the bills then we also have separate accounts that get fed an "allowance" automatically each pay period for us to do what we want with. It has really helped the bickering over individual spending. She can buy however many shoes she wants and I don't *****, nor does she when I buy what I want.

theblennyman
03/06/2015, 01:45 PM
i will be content with 2-3 fish and lots of beautiful corals.

mmittlesteadt
03/06/2015, 04:09 PM
I spent years, no, decades in the freshwater hobby, and aside from some necessary equipment prices, it really wasn't all that much cheaper of a hobby. Not when I was buying huge tanks and Discus, or Altum Angels and large quantities of schooling fish living in heavily planted tanks with CO2 supplementation and lighting.

I figured that as beautiful as so many of the saltwater fish are, what is most captivating to me about saltwater is the reef and all the varied creatures that live in it...not even counting the fish. To me, saltwater is ALL about the reef. Heck I might even be happy with just snails, crabs, shrimp, corals and anemones. A few select fish are just icing on the cake to provide a little more movement to the scene. But that's me. We all have our preferences.

Dmorty217
03/06/2015, 04:33 PM
How do you determine who pays the bills?

I think the most limiting factors in this hobby are space, and money.

We each have our bills we pay, right now the accounts are taking a hit from building a home so we are more joint account at the moment.

ardsman
03/07/2015, 12:25 PM
Well we add up the bills and I give her 75% of the cost and she leaves me alone LOL, she figures it is my money and I can do what I want with it, tho I have 2 expensive hobbies, I collect tactical firearms as well. gets expensive at times.

kmbyrnes
03/08/2015, 06:54 AM
For me the limiting factor is SPACE! I would love a 300 g FOWLR to have the fish I can't have in my reef. Have to settle on the 125.
But I also have a partner and she learns a lot more than she lets on, until she shows the tanks off to friends. Then she surprises me with what she has retained from our tank talks.
The only issue is that she is also a 'DOER' and 'PLANNER' and has a habit of getting what she wants.
The current talks are a room dividing 400 - 500 g mixed reef...
HELP!!!!

Fishmommy
03/08/2015, 06:56 AM
space is my limiting factor, and time.