Very interesting.
I'm new to saltwater, but not fish keeping. I'm 53 years old and I've had freshwater tanks most of my life. That said, I've not taken care of a tank of any kind for the last 9 years although I have had a 300gallon stock tank outside with a few goldfish and koi. Stock tanks are what cows drink out of, not a 4 sided glass box. In that time I've bought a house, changed jobs twice, got back into parrots and lost several pets to old age or cancer; dogs, cats, ferrets, rats, birds, etc. Confession, being an LVT I tend to take in the surrendered & unwanted pets. My first tanks were when I was 6 years old and my father bought every tank he could find in the classifieds. Freshwater only. We had every imaginable fish you could get in 1968. When we moved, dad was military, he'd sell most everything and restart when we settled into the new location. When I was 16, I was able to talk my dad into letting me keep cichlids, they weren't very popular where we were in 1978 and getting reliable info was challenging. We moved our fish from Maryland to Virginia, that was interesting. I did well with my cichlids, had babies several time that I raised and sold in the classifieds.
Once again we moved, this time from the east coast back to home in WA state. One of those tanks from 1968 was actually in grandma's attic when I was 18 and I dug it out, set it up in my little basement "cave" that I had in my parents home and cared for them. Moving them from the cave to my own apartment, where I was informed that I had to get rid of it due to living on the 5th floor of a 70 year old building. So I sold my set up. The manager was worried it would crash through the floor. Whatever! Moved to a house a few years later and immediately found someone giving away a tank and got things rolling. Lost several of those fish, except a Jack Dempsey. Jack went through one more move and lived for about 8 years. Just before we bought our house he died. That tank has remained empty since. It will be my SW hospital tank.
In the mid 70's I saw my first saltwater fish tank in a fish store located in Baltimore, MD. That's when I went home with my cichlids. It was a compromise with my parents. Because dad always said about SW, "NO!, too difficult to keep, not worth the money, too expensive," blah blah blah
A few months ago when he learned I had my heart set on finally having a SW tank, he said the same things. For the past year I've been reading books, magazines, online articles about the subject, hanging out at the local saltwater only fish store in the area whenever I was in town and lurking in saltwater, reef, and marine forums. As well as picking the brains of sw keepers I know personally. It was one of them that gave me the 29g set up w/fish. 2 weeks ago.
Bored? Never. I have several other hobbies and I work full time.
Bored? If I haven't gotten bored all these years, it's not likely to happen.
Sorry folks, you're stuck with me. I probably won't post a lot, but I'll probably be here, reading. Unless of course, like the koi forum I used to frequent, ya'all disappear and the forum closes. That sucked.
