# You know you are a little too into aquariums when...



## Osteomata

So I'm driving to work this morning, and I spot a flock of parrots winging through the palm trees on my left. My first thought:
"Hey, they SCHOOL pretty tightly." No, really, I thought "school". hey. I'm actually imagining parrots in my fish tank. Schooling.

How about some other examples? Anyone want to chime in?


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## Jason Baliban

.......I see the landscape in the circle of a I95 offramp as a possible aquascape.

jB


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## Bert H

Everytime you drive by a ditch you wonder what aquatics might be growing in there and how they might go with your tank(s).


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## kimbm04r

I have a pond that I drive past every morning on the way to work. I often wonder what is growing in it but it will have to stay as a wonder (its a private neighborhood development pond). If only......


We do have a creek that runs behind the house at the back of our property but I would have to wade through over waist high weeds to get to it and I don't want the stuff that bad (it is marshy ground we have snakes in the higher areas).


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## JanS

LOL! I did the bird thing once myself. I was at the nursing home looking at their aviary, (this was right after getting back from a fish convention) and blurted out "look at that fish carry the piece of straw to it's nest".... 

I also have recurring dreams that I find all of these set-up tanks with fish and the whole nine yards in places like the garage, or corner of the basement, and had forgotten about them for years. Amazingly, the fish and plants are always in good shape.


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## fishmaster#1

When you wake up blinded in the morning by all your fish tanks lights going on at once. Happens to me everyday at 6 am. I don't need a alarm clock. 

When you look at a plant and wonder will it live underwater. Palm trees in a tank???? 

When you go fishing only catching plants and are happy about it.

When you think one of your plants is going to eat you in your sleep because it is so big. Think little shop of horrors here.

When you throw out your couch to make room for one more tank. 

When people call you up at 3 am to save a tank and you go.

When you have more tanks on your porch then most sane people have in their whole house.


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## Fosty

When you walk by your neighbors yard, see a couple of nice rocks from his gardens that will fit in your aquarium, and think to yourself, "Do you think he will notice them missing?" .


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## brianclaw

When all the hard furnitures in your new apartment has to be able to withstand weight, just in case you decide to put in more set-ups in the near future.
When you first look up the local fish shops of the country online ahead of your trip instead of looking for lodging.
When you go for walks and end up with really heavy pants because of all the "hey, those would look nice in my tank" rocks you end up with.


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## ranmasatome

When you go to ikea and think.."wow!! those make great breeding racks!!"

When you dump every single plant, you find in a ditch or near water, Under water to see if it'll survive.

When "Shrimp" at a cocktail party brings new meaning...


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## fish7days

When you agree with all of the above, and truly think there is nothing wrong with it !!

 

André


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## Phil Edwards

What fish7days said and:

* I see my overgrown and weed infested backyard and a beautiful foreground and think of Amano's "He who can't see her smallest things cannot stand before nature." quote when I go back there.

* You realize that you've got a whole load of Polygonum growing in your backyard and can't wait for it to be tall enough to trim and put in a tank. 

* When people suggest that you charge admission to your house because you have more tanks than the local science museum/public aquarium and they look better than said location.


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## An t-iasg

All good replies! Here are some of mine:

The Citgo Bassmaster Classic was just in Pittsburgh...I thought, "Do they put Amquel in the livewells?"

All the ambulia in my tank died. I was trimming my _Artemisia schmidtiana_ 'Silver Mound' in my garden and thought it would be nice if it would be a good substitute for the ambulia.

At the mall I saw a sweater with light blue and dark blue stripes and I thought of _Pseudotropheus demasoni_!


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## travis

Your idea of "working in the garden" doesn't involve leaving the house.

You take vacation time to "re-aquascape."

Running your A/C all summer did not cause a "significant increase" in your already sky high electricity bills.

"Water changes," is your reply when asked what you did this past weekend.

You have a long, meaningful discussion with the owner of your local tanning salon about the bulbs they use in their beds.


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## Nymph

When nothing got you excited about a trip to Japan until you remembered ... no wait ...... ADA Gallery!!!!


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## frozenoak

I forgot what day of the week it was today (a common problem with me for some reason) and to logically deduce it I thought "I dosed CSM+B yesterday so this has to be Tuesday."


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## travis

I'm laughing so hard right now because my dosing schedule is set uo so that I dose traces on the 'T' days. I think the same way


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## baj

....when your only motivation of hiking in the mountains is to look for cool rocks.
....when you drive down the interstate and look at a shrub framed by rocks and cant wait to get back and try out the new aquascape.


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## waterchange

...when you have to start eating out because all available kitchen counter space is occupied by fish tanks;

...when your car won't fit in your garage because of buckets of rocks you hauled back from the mountains because they might look good in a tank;

...when you reply "waterchanges," to the questions "What did you do this weekend?" or "What do you do for relaxation?"


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## Dewmazz

I agree with baj. I spent almost 2 hours outside of my school in the lava field looking for unique rocks 8-[.


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## DiPpY eGgS

When you have no place to put your garbage, because you got some really cool driftwood soaking in it for your next 'scape..  

When you dismantle your towel racks in the bathroom for that new 75g to fit 'just right'  

when you have so many CO2 cylanders around the place, your friends think you are a scuba diver..


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## neonfish3

.....when you have panic/ anxiety attacks when APC is gone for a day!


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## standoyo

when you work abroad and spend every spare minute hunting for plants fishes rocks and driftwood...

when your vocab is consists of acronyms nobody else understands except those in plant and fish forums. wc, mh, fl, hma, po4, pmdd...
haha

when you lie to your spouse/mom and dad about how much you actually spent at the lfs.

when the science of it becomes important to you...


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## Porkchop

..when you bring your date to the lfs (the good ones, of course), and give her every detail about every fish that you see.

BTW, my girlfriend still call me a "cheap date"!


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## urville

when you start a tiny farm in your basement.
8-[


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## Simpte 27

When you have more fish and plant food in your house than people food....

When you see a fountain at the park and wonder "Whats the GPH on that thing?"

When your tanks get more time than your significant other.


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## jimjim

When the only porn you have is an avi of Enantiopus Kilesa breeding


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## JanS

When you hear an ad on the radio for a free LG flip phone and wonder why they have algae phones now....


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## Chris S

When you hear ,"You've got mail!" and hope it is a reply from APC!


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## joephys

When you almost feed your guinea pigs shrimp pellets.


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## T-Bone

When you drive by a river, and you think; what rocks, and or DW ,and or plants could I get from there.....Then you atually stop and take a closer look!

You are a chef, and are using nitrate salt to make sausages, and you think to yourself how much can you take before they will notice?

When you are fishing and you get snagged, get unhooked and come up with a weed, then try and identify it. Then think if it will work in your tank


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## jeff63851

when...you bring bags along a camping trip hoping to find some clippings in some pond.



> I also have recurring dreams that I find all of these set-up tanks with fish and the whole nine yards in places like the garage, or corner of the basement, and had forgotten about them for years. Amazingly, the fish and plants are always in good shape.


Hey!! I had those dreams also! interesting ...


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## donmartinr

when you login to APC first thing in the morning before washing your face/brushing your teeth......


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## DataGuru

When you don't have to turn on the lights in your living room at nite because the tanks provide plenty of illumination for the room.


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## Jane in Upton

LOL at Betty's comment- - or the flip side, when you're sitting in the LR talking on the phone, when all of a sudden all the tank lights turn off and you're left in total darkness!

When you've walked by a little rockwork stream-pool tableau day in and day out. Finally the homeowner is there working in her garden, and you compliment her on how lovely it all is. You boldly ask it you could take a cutting of an aquatic plant, and she starts naming all the exotic terrestrials surrounding the stream. "No", you reply, "the one UNDER water, attached to that rock there. I want to see if it will grow in my aquarium.". The momentary look of confusion was priceless. But, she's a plant person through and through, so I've got my little aquatic to try!

When you're puttering around the Chinatown supermarkets, and see the packaged bags of tiny dried fish and shrimps, and your first thought is "whoa! that's a WAY better price than the stuff marketed for Cichlids! I gotta mention this to the Aquarium Club next meeting!"

When your boyfriend mentions a trip to Florida to meet his family, and your first thought is where you last saw your WADERS and whether you should hand carry any plants back, or ship them to yourself via parcel post. 

Or when you're in Home Depot and completely forget what you came in for because you're brainstorming about whether the foam insulation material you just noticed would make a good pre-filter layer to keep baby shrimp out of your power filter. 

I guess we're an obsessive...... er, I mean FOCUSED bunch, eh?
-Jane


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## hooha

When you go to friends'/relatives houses and have tried to convince them so often about putting a tank in their living room/kitchen/bathroom/bedroom that as soon as you open your mouth to say something they scream "No! No fishtanks in my house!!!


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## anthonysquire

When you're on your honeymoon in florida and you try to convince your wife that that plant growing in the ditch is found in aquariums and we should get some before we leave.


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## therizman1

When you are in college, and rent a house solely because you can fit more tanks in it even though it costs twice as much.


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## Chris S

When you are at the grocery store and you have 10 lbs of white sugar and a 1/2 pound of bakers yeast and a box of fleet enema in your cart. And oh yeah some bread peanut butter and jam ! haha


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## erijnal

you look at the word "log" and wonder why the zero in 10g looks so weird.


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## cydric

I find myself staring at the ground more looking at plants/weeds growing and wondering if they'll grow in my tank and try to compare the plants/weeds to my already exisiting plants in my aquarium. 

Picking up dead oak leaves while walking through the parking lot where you work for your RCS.

The first light you turn on in your room when you wake up is your aquarium(s) lights.

Day dreaming at your desk at work about which plant you're going to buy next. 

I dreamt the same thing as JanS - finding misplaced or forgotten tanks in my basement, or a dark corner of my house and it's in perfect condition and thriving full of life.

My girlfriend is getting an aquarium just so we have more to talk about.

I'm guilty of all of the above.


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## dennis

standoyo said:


> when the science of it becomes important to you...


When it sparks you to change careers and go back to college for Environmental Science and Wetlands conservation. Wait, maybe that is a good thing


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## fredyk

> Or when you're in Home Depot and completely forget what you came in for because you're brainstorming about whether the foam insulation material you just noticed would make a good pre-filter layer to keep baby shrimp out of your power filter.


Where in Home Depot? I want some insulation to for a prefilter.

LOL
Mark


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## Burks

jeff63851 said:


> when...you bring bags along a camping trip hoping to find some clippings in some pond.


LOL! I did that on our trip to Gatlinburg. My portion of the trip was centered around plant collecting.

Too bad it all died. 

When you go to Home Depot to buy shoplights and the worker asks what you need them for and your reply is "Aquarium Lighting". Man I love that look!


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## Marilyn1998

When you are driving through the mountains to see your son and his wife for the first time in a year, and all you can think of is how much driftwood you are passing by!!!

When instead of going to the quilt places, you make a detour to That Fish Place That Pet Place to see it!!


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## sarcare

When your mom doesn't ask what you really want for Christmas because she knows it will be fish related 

But when she breaks down and ask what you want for Christmas you answer I'd like to go to pressurized co2. To which she says I already got you something else.

When cleaning your appartment means doing water changes.


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## VITARTE

When inside every house you go to you start thinking, " if they move those two sofas (bookshelves, tables, etc) a little to the left (or the right, center or to take them out completely) they could fit an aquarium tank right there" .


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## Yukilovesfish

VITARTE said:


> When inside every house you go to you start thinking, " if they move those two sofas (bookshelves, tables, etc) a little to the left (or the right, center or to take them out completely) they could fit an aquarium tank right there" .


I second that except it's your 1 bedroom apartment!

I also second what travis said "You take vacation time to "re-aquascape." except it's "sick time" cough cough. lol

You call out of work because your fish are having fry and you must save them all!

You're thinking about buying a house based upon the necessity of a "fish room" of course it must have an accessible sink.


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## rhodophyta

JanS said:


> LOL! I did the bird thing once myself. I was at the nursing home looking at their aviary, (this was right after getting back from a fish convention) and blurted out "look at that fish carry the piece of straw to it's nest"....
> 
> I also have recurring dreams that I find all of these set-up tanks with fish and the whole nine yards in places like the garage, or corner of the basement, and had forgotten about them for years. Amazingly, the fish and plants are always in good shape.


I've had that dream, or my version of it. Some of the tanks are about 120" by 120" by 120", made from bank glass like I used to see inside some malls. All the fish are in great shape, sometimes herding around schools of their fry, but the plants are usually sticks with only a few chewed leaves left. I find these tanks in an imaginary addition to my house that goes on forever and has lots of drywall finishing left to do. (My most hated job assignment.) I think one reason the plants are always chewed is because we actually did leave a planted tank alone for months when we lived in an appartment while we went off to graduate school hundreds of miles from home. Neighbors in the building cared for the tank according to our instructions, but we had seen how newbies overfeed the fish, so we had emphasized that so much they actually underfed them a little and the fish made up the difference by nibbling leaves.


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