Where My Ladies At?!

revsgirl · Oct 29, 2011

I know this hobby is predominately men, but I'd like to see how many ladies are out there! So let's go ladies, post your story here about how you got into the hobby and your role in it.

I'll start.. My husband pretty much handles all the technical things about the hobby. I, however, like to share in ideas on new projects. Like right now, we are going to start a species tank full of clown fish and nems! So excited! While I don't get my hands dirty, I enjoy the tank and all the beautiful colors and creatures. :angel:

revsgirl · Oct 29, 2011

Really? No one?

Mike&Terry · Oct 29, 2011

Tonya, I'm right there with ya! Mike and I have been in the hobby since the 80's. When we first met, he and his college roommate had a 55g freshwater and a 29g marine tank. From the start, I was really fascinated with the hobby and was probably more involved than most GFs :) Flash forward to today, and Mike and I pretty much share almost everything that needs doing. We now have a 300g sps-dominated reef display with close to 500g total. While Mike still handles most of the heavy duty projects and construction aspects, I'm the "chief maintenance officer". Mike likes to call me "Reef Girl"! (e.g., I take care of daily feeding, water changes, water tests, etc. It took a while, but I even clean the skimmers now...). Mike puts up with a lot of surprises from me like when I decided we needed a new skimmer and purchased a new Reef Octopus 6000-SSS. He came home from work and found me in the garage assembling it, LOL. He has also been pretty good about supporting my Coral and Wrasse Addictions... and I keep reminding him that at least I don't have a shoe addiction, LOL.

KSzegi · Oct 30, 2011

I'm here with ya too! My husband Mitch is great if I need help - like with plumbing the new upgrade - but for the most part the tanks are my thing, i'm responsible for all the maintenance - he just wants to enjoy them and buy livestock for them!! :bigsmile:

FaviaFreak · Oct 30, 2011

Mike&Terry said:
Tonya, I'm right there with ya! Mike and I have been in the hobby since the 80's. When we first met, he and his college roommate had a 55g freshwater and a 29g marine tank. From the start, I was really fascinated with the hobby and was probably more involved than most GFs :) Flash forward to today, and Mike and I pretty much share almost everything that needs doing. We now have a 300g sps-dominated reef display with close to 500g total. While Mike still handles most of the heavy duty projects and construction aspects, I'm the "chief maintenance officer". Mike likes to call me "Reef Girl"! (e.g., I take care of daily feeding, water changes, water tests, etc. It took a while, but I even clean the skimmers now...). Mike puts up with a lot of surprises from me like when I decided we needed a new skimmer and purchased a new Reef Octopus 6000-SSS. He came home from work and found me in the garage assembling it, LOL. He has also been pretty good about supporting my Coral and Wrasse Addictions... and I keep reminding him that at least I don't have a shoe addiction, LOL.

I need to find a girl like this! hahaha

JOANN · Oct 30, 2011

Im here too. I started the hobby in 2007 with a fresh water and since I have graduated to 3 Saltwater Tanks. A reef tank, a predator tank and a nano reef. I have be ome a coral addict and I absolutely love the hobby.
I have a tank service come in every other week to help me out but I am doing more and more as time goes on.

Salty Dog · Oct 30, 2011

Not many women In Ct that are into the saltwater game, wish there were more.

spscrazy · Oct 30, 2011

hey ladies! I got my first tank when I was 10 for Christmas think my parents wanted me stop straying into the woods for hours exploring creeks & ponds only made me wonder which one of the things I found could be brought inside! that was 44 (yikes!) ago. there have only been short periods of time that I haven't had a tank of some sort set up but they were all freshwater I finally got the nerve to set up my 95 reef almost 4 years ago. my husband has no interest unless one of his friends are over then suddenly hes all up in it lol! I do everything myself which even included building the stand I just built a stand for a 40b that I am getting ready to set up as freshwater after Christmas I'm in the planning stage right now thinking over the possibility of a planted tank

shells4 · Oct 30, 2011

Spscrazy--I was 10 also when I got involved with saltwater. My dad wasn't home alot when I was little because he was always working 2 jobs to support our family. When I was around 10 he cut back to one job and set up a saltwater aquarium. I was facinated with it and he taught me everything about it, it was how we bonded. That was 32 years ago. I was without a saltwater tank for a couple of years in college and then about 4 years when my kids were really little. I took my tank down to "upgrade" and life got in the way. I got remarried and my husband had never been around saltwater tanks before (but he did grow up by the ocean) and he was very supportive of my decision to get back in the hobby. I set up a 120g with mostly fish and a few corals. He was facinated by the corals and decided to set up his own reef tank, he started with a 29g and upgraded to a 56g tall and his tank is beautiful!! He is in love with the hobby--I created a monster--LOL. I am so glad because my ex didn't enjoy it at all, it is much more fun when you are with someone who enjoys it as much as you do. We have his and her tanks. We even have our own budget for each tank and we each take care of our own tanks. We give each other feed back (when asked), but we stay out of the other persons tank unless asked. We do however now share QT tanks--one for fish and one for corals. He has posted on here a few times, he is called SurferDude.

Not too many females in the hobby in our area either. There is one married couple we run into frequently that they both seem to enjoy to hobby, but still mostly men.

denihogan · Oct 30, 2011

SPS crazy sounds like me...

I started out with my first freshwater tank when I was about 6 (1979...gasp). A few (plural) tanks later, I got my first saltwater tank when I was about 12 (1984)...my how time flies. My dad got me into the 'hobby' - thanks Dad! And, I am quite sure I have lost count of how many tanks I have had since then... I remember the times when I used to bleach my (dead) corals to keep them white...(gasp, again.)

Last year I down graded my 100 gallon reef tank to a Red Sea Max 250 (66 gallon) - to make my life easier (3 kids (4 counting my husband)). One thought - Why does anyone ever downgrade? Take my advice...don't do it!

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the love for fish is not shared by my husband. I think I had him interested at one point (in college, with the 2- 55 gallons) and let him go pick out a fish of his own - unfortunately a few days later the fish fell prey to an anemone...I think that summed up the sport for him. He now says he is a tank widow (I guess that is bad for him, but good for my tank.) So, all of the wiring, plumbing and upkeep is done by me. I guess I do not know the difference, since I have been doing this long before he came into the picture. :) And all of our friends know that if they come over (unexpected) on a weekend night that the chances of me having my hands in my tank is a pretty good bet. And, unless they want to come in and carry on a conversation while I have my fun - that I will probably not make it out of the room. (at least I have them trained :) )

My 8 year old daughter is on her 3rd freshwater tank - (and, almost 4th). Much to her father's dismay. As I posted earlier, his comment a few nights ago (in regards to the upcoming 4th tank) - 'Some poor guy is going to meet her in college and have to put up with 2 - 55 gallon tanks.' I said, 'well, you still married me :).'

So...moral of the story - if your husband does not share in the sport...make sure you train your kids well!

And, very nice to meet you RevsGirl! You are correct, there are not many of us in this sport - so it is always fun to hear the backgrounds of those who share in our love.

efrain torres · Oct 30, 2011

I've alway had tanks ,but about 12 years ago my wife which was my girlfriend at the time was the one that got me in the hobby.She is a biologist and she gets down and dirty with me when it comes on working with our tanks.

shells4 · Oct 30, 2011

My 12yo daughter has 2 freshwater + 1 saltwater tank as well. She had a 29g biocube with 2 indian dwarf puffers (full grown they are about 1/2" long, could barely see them in there). She was at the LFS with us one day and heard the owner say he had gotten alot of fish in from someone tearing down their tank. One was a cream angle with very advanced HLLE, he offered it to us for free and said if we didn't take it, he would flush it :sad:. After much begging, she ended up pulling out an old 10g out of storage for her puffers and changing her biocube to saltwater. She put the angel in our QT while the tank was cycling. Turns out the angel is mostly blind so she requires hand feeding and frequent water changes from the frequent feedings required to keep her alive. 6 months later, the free fish has cost alot of money and time! LOL--it has been a great learning experience for her. She has the angel, a very quite possum wrasse, cleaner shrimp, hermits, snails, and several small non-stinging corals--its a nice little tank!

denihogan · Oct 30, 2011

That is awesome! (about your daughter...) Great work on getting her into the sport. I read that kids with fishtanks do better in math...worked out for me and so far it is working out for my daughter too.

I have been debating a biocube for my daughter...but I think I will give her a couple of more years of freshwater before I switch her over. With that said, I 'gave' her ownership of 1/2 of my saltwater tank - so she gets to share in the fun. We recently started fragging and just sold our first frags, made $100 and now we are ordering new fish this weekend.

Mike&Terry · Oct 30, 2011

Great stories! We just threw our annual Reef Party a couple of weekends ago and it was nice to see that we had quite a few more ladies join us this year. A couple of them even came without their husbands. :wink:

-Terry

lps1212 · Oct 30, 2011

I have been workin with my kids since like borth it seems my oldest being 5 likes that hobby and has gone to acouple of reefers homes with me everytime gettin back home tellin my wife about our trip none the less she will be gettin her own nano once she is a little older and hopeing the little one follows in her foot steps. As for the misses well I'm just glad she came around to likeing my nanos little does she know the money I have invested in them :crossedlips:

herefishy · Oct 30, 2011

Okay, I'll play! I have had freshwater tanks for about 25 years before venturing into saltwater. It's my baby, as my husband likes to say, and so he supplies the support (and the cash!) and has been the saltwater"backseat driver"! Most of the work I do myself. Tank set up, beginning to end. He lifts the tank into place, with help, of course, then sits back and lets me at it. Stand and canopy builds, lighting and wiring to DIY on protein skimmers and such, I have done it all and have LOVED every minute of it. I currently have a 40 breeder mixed reef and a 6 week new 125g FOWLR I have just started to slowly stock. Been at the saltwater for 5 years now...

revsgirl · Oct 30, 2011

Wow! This is awesome! I couldn't imagine running our tank by myself, much less building it like some of you have done! I am very proud! Way to go girls! Let's give these guys a run for their money! :xd:

Tabasco1 · Oct 31, 2011

I'll play too. :) Had freshwater set ups as a kid. Got the saltwater bug in HS when my bf's boyfriend was super into salt and had a couple tanks. We'd always go scope pet shops and the fish were amazing. So set up my first tank then with just a couple damsels. When I got to college I worked at a pet store as their "fish specialist" ;) It was pretty cool, I wasn't really all that much of a specialist, but I took care of the whole system and did all the ordering, maintenance and feeding. I learned a ton. There were three tiers of tanks that were divided into another 3 tanks on each tier. There were probably 6 sets of these tiers. It was pretty cool. I kept an oranda tank for a while, til they got about softball size and re-homed them and got back into salt. Kept a fowlr for about 6 years then had a big move and got out. That was about 10 yrs ago. So I am getting back in, and this time it's a reef.

My husband is not really into at all. He's nutty about fish, but the kind you catch at the end of a fly. So I am doing everything myself. Which is pretty cool, just takes a bit more time to figure it all out. I build the acrylic sump that is running now, it is pretty sweet and actually works and I am super stoked! Also have learned a ton about plumbing and fittings. Getting pretty good at that too. :)

Pretty funny though, when I read threads about the guys having to hide purchases from their wives... I feel ya! Of the 2 grow outs I am in, he's only aware of one. Hey... it's not a lie... just a little omission. :nerd:

cdness · Oct 31, 2011

My 7 year old daughter wants to set up a seahorse tank. I have not tried one of them myself so it would be a learning experience for both of us. She loves my 75G and has renamed all the fish (a couple times) and has a starfish in there as well.

My wife is really getting into the hobby and is the one who suggested the upgrade to the 125 I am in the process with right now. She wants another tang so I told her we'd have to upgrade. That was all it took for her to be up and looking for a larger tank...lol. She feeds and helps pick algae. I do the dosing and coral stuff as she likes the fish more than the corals.

Neither one frequents the forums though so it's ust me for internet presence.

steamer51 · Nov 1, 2011

Our club is blessed with a lot of ladies. One is single and does everything herself, including breeding sharks in a modified hot tub in her basement and traveling the world speaking about fish diseases and their cures. A few of our ladies are obviously the members and their husbands are just along for the ride and to do the building although one builds her own stands etc. She is just not allowed to do anything electrical since the fire but she gave it a heck of a shot before she was banned from wiring. Many of the members wives are just as much into it as their husbands and it is a joy that they can share the hobby. Many have wives who don't care much about the hobby but are not against it either. My wife tolerates the hobby as she does many things about me and I about her but that is how you stay married for almost 35 years. She is never negative or argumentative about it but I know not to make it our only topic of conversation. She smiles and shows interest because she loves me but it is rarely "wow"'ed. by things I show her.