Memories

It seems, that the greatest problem of having a hobby is to find enough time for it. And honestly, there’s never enough time for things you just like to do.

However, finally I found some time to stop being anonymous and to write this post. I’ve said, that reefkeeping and aquaristic is one of the greatest hobbies of my life a countless number of times, but I’ve never said how it all began, so today I want to share the story about me getting into fishkeeping!  Everything began when I was something about five or six years old and when I got my first tank from my father and godfather, but actually this story starts much earlier – from my great-grandfather Józef, who was literally obsessed with animals. He had a lot of them, starting from birds (yeah, particularly pigeons, because keeping pigeons was a very popular hobby in Silesia, Poland then and there are still people, who keep pigeons nowadays, take part in pigeon races like my great-grandfather and so on) and ending on fish. When I said my great-grandfather was obsessed with animals I mean… really obsessed – when he kept pigeons, he had a small house for them, when he had birds – there were a lot of birdcages in his flat, when he was into fishkeeping – he had many tanks (a three-level cupboard full of aquariums). The biggest of them, as my grandmother (his daughter) said, needed 25 buckets of water to be fully filled, so I guess it had to be like 250 liters. And obviously they were all not the “typical aquariums”, which you could met these times. My great-grandfather kept and bred neon tetras, angelfish, guppies and black mollies, what wasn’t popular and easy in those days. And being into something meant for him really INTO – tons of books, meetings with other hobbyists, hundreds of fails and trials. My grandma used to tell me, that I act exactly like him – when I get interested in something I do it with all passion and commitment, trying to keep everything as high-end as possible, spending a lot of time and… money. How irritating this could be, only my wife, parents and brother can tell.

But getting back to the main plot of this story – in my first 12-liter tank I kept some easy fish, like guppies, black mollies and green swordtails. I even bred some of them successfully (mainly guppies), which was a great adventure. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photo of my fish and my first tank and I don’t know any Polish child from 1990s, who took photos of fish just for fun. And honestly, mainly my dad was the person, who took care of this tank. I was a child, so I was still learning and getting bored almost as fast, as I got interested in something. After a few years I quitted fishkeeping just because many of my friends had hamsters and so I wanted to have one. That’s why my fish were replaced with a hamster for almost 3 years, followed by a few years break, when I had no animal.

But getting back to the main plot of this story – in my first 12-liter tank I kept some easy fish, like guppies, black mollies and green swordtails. I even bred some of them successfully (mainly guppies), which was a great adventure. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photo of my fish and my first tank and I don’t know any Polish child from 1990s, who took photos of fish just for fun. And honestly, mainly my dad was the person, who took care of this tank. I was a child, so I was still learning and getting bored almost as fast, as I got interested in something. After a few years I quitted fishkeeping just because many of my friends had hamsters and so I wanted to have one. That’s why my fish were replaced with a hamster for almost 3 years, followed by a few years break, when I had no animal.

Well, a very bad idea of a young, excited, but poorly educated aquarist. They were so stressed that they passed away soon and then I made a lot of similar mistakes again, experimenting with some cichlids. Finally I ended up frustrated, so I bought a couple of guppies and I was so happy, that I was able to breed these simple and colorful fish. For almost 2 years I had a little hatchery of this species, running 2 tanks (12l and 3l) and a number of small 1l containers for the smallest fry. I event sold some of them to different local fish stores, earning some extra money. In the meantime I kept also 3 betta fish, but on the third year of my middle school the time for something bigger has finally came.

I got a 96-liter tank for Christmas and that was the true beginning of my real fascination with fish and underwater life. I got back to keeping some cichlids, neon tetras, I’ve even bred some green swordfish. I’ve started to test my water and learn all this stuff about different species, biotopes, hardware… I even took part in a national aquaristc knowledge competition, getting to the finals. But there was always something missing. Once I’ve started to google out, if is it possible to keep clownfish at home. I was surprised, that there are people, who have these amazing nanoreefs in their houses, with corals, all these colorful fish, snails, shrimps and so on. But my dreams burned down after the first visit in a specialised reef store and estimation of the costs of turning my 96l tank into a piece of the reef. That was why I decided to stay freshwater and after death of my cichlids I bought a new fish – shark catfish. This time it had more space, but over 5 years it grew so big – it was about 30 cm long, that there was not enough space for it again. I’ve made probably the first responsible decision in my fishkeeping career – I decided to give my shark catfish to other fishkeeper, who had a lot of experience with this species and own a 1200l tank, where it definitely would have enough space forever.

And here comes the climax – after giving my shark catfish to the better place I decided to change my tank into a planted tank with the biotope of Asian river – lots of dragon stone and plants. I found a cool shop in the Internet – they had almost everything I needed, so I decided to check, where they are located, just for fun. And guess what! It turned out, that the shop is situated no more than 500 m from my home! I went for a short walk, to check if they really are there, I entered it for the first time and I just couldn’t believe my eyes! What I saw totally amazed me – a 3000l display tank, full of corals and marine fish. I was so surprised, that I started to talk with the staff and it was the beginning of kinda friendship with those people. That visit changed my life and my plans for the future – I went in planning to buy some rocks, plants and freshwater fish and went out with head full of plans for my first nanoreef. A few months later I changed my old tank to the bigger one (162l with filtration panel), spent a lot of money on hardware, live rock, corals, fish and that’s how my reefkeeping adventure has started.

I wrote the weekly updates, take photos of my tank and upload them to one of the biggest Polish reefkeeping forums (link to my diary with photostory). Then I bought a DSLR to make better photos, I started to create YouTube videos and to post my photos on Instagram. After 1,5 year of gaining experience and learning from more advanced reefkeepers I got married and moved my tank to my own flat, using this opportunity to change it to the bigger one (my present 250l tank with 100l sump). But it was still not enough. I felt, that I learned a lot and I just have to share this knowledge and my passion with others. I also started a little company, producing my own supplements for reef tanks.
And here I am – writing the first post on my blog, with head full of ideas and tank filling up with corals and other marine life! I hope to stay here longer and share the greatest hobby of my life with you. Let’s take part in this adventure together!

Yours,
Adam