Things I Miss About the Hobby

[psychobilly07]

I still mostly trade frags rather than purchase but it is more difficult nowadays as must people are more willing to overpay than I am. Hobbyists use to go out of their way to help others flourish and succeed but now alot of people seem more interested in one upping each other. I miss calling corals by their real scientific name but now the same corals have 5-6 different made up names as the hobby has become about making money for alot of coral keepers. You can make a strong case for the internet hindering more rather than helping the hobby. You were required to learn so much more through research to succeed. Now so much more bad info is out there, pictures are manipulated for profits leading to unrealistic expectations. Having said all that it is just as great a hobby as ever that I am fortunate to be a part of as I have learned so much and met so many interesting and unique people that I otherwise would not have.

 

[Squamosa]

A wonderful trip down memory lane.

I disagree slightly in that there are still great discoveries being made and huge excitement to be had in the hobby, look at the real science being conducted now and how that feeds back into the hobby, the focus on nutrition of corals and the supplementation of elements, using bacteria to reduce nutrients and other novel ways of exporting waste.
My heart always takes a leap when I or someone else cobbles together a hybrid piece of equipment that works from ideas that have come before. Excitement for me is also reading a new published research paper and what we could apply to the animals in our care from the knowledge contained therein.

My fondest memory is walking into a fish shop in 2000 by chance and in one corner stood a huge beacon of bright, shimmering hot light illuminating a small cube of what was probably brown softies but at that moment looked like the whole reef system on earth. Wherever I went in that shop my eyes were always drawn back to that tank and I would inexplicably find myself standing in front of it with my mouth open, that was when I wanted a marine system. I sometimes get this feeling when going to visit fellow hobbyists tanks in their homes, but these visits are extremely rare now.

I'm afraid all we'll get soon is an online storefront or Instagram page with pretty pictures and 10 mm "frags" costing hundreds of $$$ sent through the post from someone that has tanks in a mini-factory of garage in the back.

My opinion is also that people never grow frags into colonies because they can't keep them alive for so long and chop up while the growing is still good!

If you happen to be in my part of Australia one day, feel free to walk through the door and leave with a belly full of coffee and croissants (or beer) and frags :)

 

[tsav87]

My goodness what I would do for an LFS to open back up in my area. It’ll never happen but here’s to hoping. Our last LFS closed its doors nearly 10 years ago. I’d have to drive 3 hrs+ round trip to visit one.

I don’t know how we are going to continue the hobby if the LFSs keep closing. How are new hobbiest going to start with the hobby?

Although, I remember a ton of LFS bashing when the ‘forms’ became a thing. That seems counterintuitive now.

 

[Pauley]

What an awesome thread! Back in Japan, I was introduced to the concept of mono no aware, which is sorta like a bittersweet appreciation of the way things are, knowing that they are bound to end. After 20+ years, that’s how I feel about the hobby.
IMHO, it’s definitely gone from community to capitalism. Living in Orlando, I’m surrounded by some of the largest reef stores in the business, all started by “hobbyists”. But, it seems like those roots have been lost. Now, colonies are fragged out and sold at ridiculous prices in order to pay for expansions, in order to increase profits. These days, vendors are more like drug dealers than fellow reefers. So called “frag swaps” are just a collection of the same vendors selling overpriced frags. I’d love to get back to a community - but it seems like a lot of folks put profits in front of long term relationships. Thank god there are still forums (like this one) where people can genuinely connect for no other reason than a mutual respect & love of the hobby.

 

[Walts O]

It's like that in anything you do when it's fresh and new always new excitement I've been keeping fish since 1970 I was 10 years old and still doing it still love it!

 

[CoralCache]

I am with you on many accounts here Mike. I don't have the best tank you will ever see but I have always believed in a good mix of fragging and growing.
Stop by if you ever get near Tampa and you can see a few larger colonies. A couple Basketball and dinner plate size.

 

[TheLadyCrash]

I never got to experience the “good ole days” (only started reefing back in 2015) but I long for them too. I wish more people in my area were open to monthly meetings to discuss, learn, or even just visit. I wish frag swaps where $$ wasn’t the priority still existed. I will sometimes frag my corals that are overgrown and just hang on to the frags; letting them grow on a rack in the hopes of being able to trade or even just give them away.

 

[Frogspawn74]

I remember actally having to read real books. I remember being new in the hobby back in 1999 and getting that good liverock and freaking out a week later when I found sime crazy creature living in my tank and thinking I did not buy that. Things have changed so much but my love for the hobby has only grown.

Same year and sentiment for me too.

Very nice write up Mike.
I am one that does love a more natural stag tank. Thou I feel it’s time is coming to change it up my system. I’ve grown some of these stags for ten years.

I wild grown reef is what does it for me.

 

[FlamingGrapes]

Always enjoy your articles Mike.
I certainly can agree with your points of view. Having kept fish for over 30 years myself, I remember the excitement of the next monthly addition of an Aquarium magazine.
However at the end of the day, I think thinks are just different. I grew up on a dairy farm a good 1.5 hours from a decent sized city. Although I miss the trip into town with my friend to go to the fish store, I don’t miss the lack of information. To be able to access expert opinions, such yourself Mike, was almost non existent in my world preinternet. I just didn’t have the time or connections to meet like minded aquarists. So from that perspective, I enjoy the hobby so much more now with the World Wide Web than pre or early internet. Instead of being frustrated in my own black hole of ignorance, I can get ideas and help from people.
Best Regards,
John

 

[Mikemccafe]

Great read Mike, I started my reef journey in 1994 seems like a long time ago, when we would get live rock from Fiji and Tonga still teeming with life. I miss those days also but do realize that at that time the coral reef was being damaged. I'd love my midnight trips to the LFS buying corals and fish right out of the box. The wonder of experimenting with a new technique I had read about in a Reef Mag. or trying out a new piece of equipment like my old nitrate reactor that dosed hydrogen sulfide. I miss those days when I sat on the couch with my young children and see their faces pressed to the glass to see the newest fish or coral

 

[squampton]

I started my first marine tank around age 14 in the mid 1990's and back there so many LFS and I would literally spend my entire weekends at one store or another. I am lucky that I have 1 good LFS left that sells marine aquarium dry goods and livestock, they were early to embrace the internet so that has helped them, as has the fact they keep their prices fair and don't try and rip people off.

I miss live rock, real live rock from the ocean, pretty much impossible to find in my region now, it's all real reef rock, or rock that has been shipped by boat from some far off land and dumped into a holding tank devoid of all life. Being in Canada we don't have easy access really to the Florida aquacultured rock, dang international borders making things difficult.

 

[PmCarbrey]

I miss hobbiest made foods and supplements. For years there was a local product called 'reef crack' that I swear out performed every other frozen food I've ever used. Everything ate it, the coral loved it, and I always saw amazing colors and growth with it, unfortunately it is no longer made, and despite my efforts to buy the recipe, no one has taken up remaking it. I dug up what may be the last sheet out there from my freezer this morning, I'm almost tempted to feed it, despite it being at least 4 years old

 

[Maritimer]

Ha! I bet its initials were GA. Brought my girls there this weekend and they loved the “snacks.” They sat on the couch for a while and watched the critters in the big display reef.

I see you know the place! Always worth a visit, even on the smallest pretense.

~Bruce

 

[ca1ore]

I remember actally having to read real books.

..... and that new ones were constantly being published. I haven't added a new book to my, now aging, book collection in close to 5 years .... maybe even a decade. It is an occasional source of irritation to me that the wonderful Reef Fishes series by Scott Michael has unpublished volumes (bet it irritates him even more).

 

[ca1ore]

Jaubert's plenum, Berlin Method....Yup I am old.

No, no ...... long tenured .... LOL

 

[James Johnson]

Great read Mike, as a hobbiest that is fairly new to reefing(about 6 years) I did not get to experience much of that, sounds like a lot of fun, but I have made friends through several LFS and really enjoy the hobby.

I know of shops here in California that sell frags starting at $5, you're not going to find something crazy colored or huge but a healthy coral is a healthy coral. Which I find crazy considering the cost of living around here. I think that one thing left out of the equation though is inflation, $5 now does not equal what $5 equaled 20 years ago. I remember getting gas for $1 a gallon but now it's three times that on a good day. So to me a $20 frag is the same as a $5 frag 15-20 years ago. Our dollar is not worth what it used to be. But like with anything in this economy demand drives the price. If someone is willing to pay that much for it then it will get sold for that much.
I also think that in the past trading worked better because there was no market price set for anything, everything was new and exciting you hadn't seen it a thousand times yet so everything was cool. Trading any piece for any piece probably seemed much more fair at the time. But not every coral is as easy as the other to keep and grown. As technology and understanding of the hobby has gotten better we are seeing more and more colors come out of coral that was simply green or brown before. Corals like acropora can't be kept by even beginners. Hobiests are putting their time and effort into coloring these corals even paying crazy power bills just to keep everything alive and growing. At some point this starts to add value to the coral, your time, effort and the money you spent starts to become a factor. For some it's an investment they buy a cool or named coral with the hopes of growing it out and selling frags later to help support their hobby, some even do it for a side business to help out their family or some extra money when they're retired.
Although I do not buy these "high end" or "designer" frags myself I can certainly see why people like them, they sure look pretty under those blue lights. Sometimes much better in person than a picture can capture.
I believe the hobby is evolving, into an industry that caters to both regular customers( like me) and people that want to be in a "high end market". You see it everywhere else, why not in reefing. There's always gonna be rich guys that wants to brag about the expensive things they buy, why can't they have their fun too lol.

 

[Myk Verified Sponsor]

Really refreshing to see the discussion here as an LFS owner myself! My shop is small and not at all flashy, but we do have some really nice needles in the haystack and a strong focus on quality and individual time for our customers. Sometimes you wonder if it is even worth all the work sometimes the way the industry is going when it almost seems like folks think of the LFS as villains.

We used to do a monthly get together in the shop where we would bring in a guest speaker or take turns speaking on a topic from a member of the group. Everyone would bring in a pot luck dish and drinks and we would eat and talk and have Q and A after. We would occasionally break up the in store meetings with a field trip like a behind the scenes at the New England Aquarium for example. We kinda trailed off due to lack of participation and the group dwindled a bit over time. Might be a good time to try and start that up again. :)

 

[NS Mike D]

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters.

— Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It


thanks for sharing - a good follow up on your MACNA presentation on then v now change

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Thanks Mike,
I love the trip down memory lane. I too wish we had real "live rock" and remember the days of opening LC's of boxes of fish, inverts, and live rock. I made acrylic tanks, trickle filters, light systems, and central filtration systems for aquarium stores for years and delivered to all my favorite aquarium stores in the Northwest and beyond. I miss the friendships with my customers and getting to see or help develop a store owners dreams. It was a blast...but alas I had to make a living and the hobby was not all that. Great story and I remember talking to a young man named Julian when he worked for J. P. Burleson and I was a distributor for Reef Lake Systems and others. Great times and lots of fun. Miss all the trade shows of that era as well.
Lowell Lemon

 

[mike werner]

I got my first piece of liverock in 1994.my buddy did some electrical work for a guy with a startup business importing the rock and selling wholesale.he managed to get me a few pound rock as a favor.i already had a 29 gal swt and under lots of florescents it bloomed with lots of little things I had never seen before or sense.
I had not thought about that amazing piece and how It peaked my interest in this hobby sense then.thinking now it was probably the reason i'm still in this hobby today.it did cause reefer madness in our house.
thanks mike for bringing back those memories of the good ol days.