# I give up



## fishmaster#1 (Apr 10, 2005)

I am calling it quits. Granted I can make just about any plant grow. However I can never seem to be pleased with ANY tank I set-up. Most say my tanks look better then any they have ever seen. I take a look at some of the tanks that are posted and think my tank looks like S###. ](*,) It has come to the point where this hobby is more stress then stress relief. ](*,) So if anyone lives close by please come and take all this of my hands. I am just so tired of trying and failing to grow a perfect tank. I beat algae! I beat most of the things that plague most hobbyists. I am still not happy with the results. I will never buy another fish or plant again after this. I am about to drain all my tanks and throw them in the trash. I know this would not be a good thing to do as I would be killing alot of life. :toimonst: Shrimp snails plants fish. I just don't want any of this stuff anymore! If any of you want something and I have it just LMK and it's yours for shipping and a few bucks so I can get some of my money back out. ](*,)


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## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

What is your location and a list would be nice.

Sorry to hear of your frustration. Are you sure you want to give up completely?


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## Avalon (Mar 7, 2005)

While I understand your frustration, I think you are suffering from overload rather than true unhappiness. You aren't seeing the trees without being intimidated by the forest!

The internet can help you just as much as it can hurt you. Granted there is true talent out there, but sometimes you need to ween yourself from the likes of sites like this one and set out on your own. There are two sides to a this plant keeping hobby: one being fundamental knowledge (grow plants, beat algae, etc), and the other being the artistic side (aquascaping). I think you're beating yourself before you actually have given yourself a chance to succeed!

I've had plenty of frustration in my days. If I gave in to beating myself up over my aquascapes, I would have been out a long time ago. I can't create a 'scape to save my life, but I can dang sure create a great environment for my fish. If it hadn't been for my cichlids (my oldest being 4 years, a Green Terror), I surely would have quit. Simply put, I came to terms with the fact that I lack the artistic ability to create and award winning aquascape. But that does NOT negate the fact that I can grow plants better than most, beat algae when it pops up, and keep my fish happy and growing! That's when I decided to do this hobby for myself, not for someone else's approval.

We can't all be Picasso's or Kinkade's. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think if you never view another person's tank again, you will begin to appreciate what you have to offer. Find it and do it for yourself, not other people. Who knows...you may be a better reef keeper than plant keeper


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Sometimes we set the bar to climb over too high for ourselves before we are big enough to actually do it. Maybe you are setting the standards too high for yourself at this point. Don't ever compare yourself with anyone else but yourself. If we all try to compare ourselves to Amano we wouldn't even be here. Don't give up so easily, man. So what you don't like your set ups thus far. Big deal. Just keep on trying. The most important thing in this hobby is not about copying or emulating after those big name, famous scapers. It's about developing your own style, as you learn from others along the way. 

Again, don't give up so easily. You will 'like' your set ups one of these days. I had the same issue happening to me. I kept on telling myself that it wasn't just happening. I ain't got no magic touch....etc.......etc.......etc.... All I can say is don't give up and don't let those things stop you! Those things are there for a reason, in my opinion, to distract and stop you from creating something that's truly unique and of your style. You gotta fight it off and move on. 

So one last time, do NOT give up!


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## fishmaster#1 (Apr 10, 2005)

WOW I thought I was the only one who felt this way. Well I am working on thinning so things should get better. It is so hard to choose what to keep or not. I am such a pack rat. I have decided NOT to get rid of my crypt collection. I have already cleared half of my total collection. Probably the source of some stress.
I think my tanks look like a freshwater reef sometimes. :-s


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

Thats great to hear that you wont be giving up.. Perhaps a crypt tank of sort would be good for now.. low maintainence.. but you may have to deal with crypt rot..

Aquascaping takes sometime to learn.. i'm not great myself even after being in this hobby for 15yrs..but whats most important is that i can say i have improved along the way..

See you next scape soon when you've got things setteled..


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## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

Glad to hear you are not going to give up. 

I have thought that way several times with my Bettas, but you can't tell it by looking at my fishroom. I have several pairs that I want to breed but then when I think about the problems that I have had in the past it makes me a little gun shy. I love the satisfaction it gives when I finally get something to go right and I get a good spawn. Then when I have problems raising them, I get discouraged again. I have built a wall barracks and not used it for a new spawn yet and it just wouldn't make any sense to spend all that time and money and then give up before I give it a shot at solving some of the problems I was having prior too building it. I will be breeding a pair in the near future, now the problem is deciding which pair, red, black, black/orange, platinum, pineapple, steel. See my dilemma.  

Then I have my planted tanks to contend with. At the moment I am trying to overcome a new tank set up, and the plants in my 5 gallon dying. But I am bound and determined to figure it all out. It helps when my husband sets in the living room and looks at the tanks and comments on how a plant is growing or how it looks better than it did before. Especially when he couldn't understand why I was redoing it because "it looks nice the way it is".

If I get discouraged with one, I work a little on the other to give me some time to relax a little and get my mind off of the other, and who knows, maybe while I work on the fishroom maybe something will click about the planted tank.

Once again, glad to hear you are not going to throw in the towel.


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

fishmaster#1 said:


> I am calling it quits.


Good idea.


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## Morbida (Aug 15, 2005)




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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Tom,

My first thoughts when I read your post was *AGAIN* ??? You keep saying you are getting out of the hobby and within a day or so you are back!

That being said, I do feel your pain brother. Aquascaping gets very frustrating at times. I always have a vision in my mind but it never comes together quite the way it looked in my head! Even though I write it down on paper and plan things out, it never quite comes together for me.

You can always try to go with just one "scaped" tank and let the other ones grow wild. These can be your collectoritis tanks. The scaping part takes a lot of work for most people I think. A few are blessed with the ability to put something nice together on their first try.

I would suggest you get involved with a local plant club. If there isn't one in your area, start one! The Chicago area is huge so there has to be a few folks around with planted tanks, even if they are at the local fish club! We had an aquascaping demo at our last meeting (one of our members is pretty good at scaping) and it was a big help to most of the club. Getting together with others and having them point out things in your tank is one way to get better at the aquascaping side of the hobby also. Some simple things like "why not move the Dwarf Sag to the left of that piece of driftwood for a more natural effect?" are things that might be of help when someone "physically" looks at your tank. Photos do not always do a tank justice!

Lastly, you can learn to live with what you have. I can't aquascape worth a dang and probably never will be able to either. I have way too many species in my main tank and I like almost all of them! I don't want to limit myself to 5-10 species to create an beautiful aquascape so I have learned to live with my tank. I do the best with what I have knowing that in order to have a really nice 'scape, I would need to remove a lot of those plants that I really enjoy looking at. That's not a compromise I'm willing to make at this point for my experience level.

I think there are a lot of folks that feel the way you do (did) but most don't vocalize their thoughts. Hell, when I start feeling this way, I just let them go (well not totally, I still fertilize) for a day or two until I recover. Try it next time you get frustrated, you may be amazed how well it works!


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

*Wts*

WTS


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## fishmaster#1 (Apr 10, 2005)

I was in fact giving stuff away in huge numbers. I realized one day when I looked at my empty tank that was a jungle. I really don't want to walk away from this totally. More focus is going toward the plants I like,instead of any old plant I can grow.


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## skinns (Apr 8, 2004)

Although this irrelevant to a solid solution, but I have a rocking-chair placed stragitically in front of my tank like you would do for a fireplace in a cabin, only because my cat likes to stare for hours on end as I do to. 

But what I have found out is that sometimes just letting the tank do its thing and become an environment all in itself is almost better than tinkering under the hood and disturbing things constantly. The rocker keeps me at bay. 

My calls it my aquarium chair


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## TWood (Dec 9, 2004)

I keep just one tank - a 90 gallon with only a few species in it. Although it's recently been a source of frustration because of a move to a new place with weird water, it's easy enough to keep looking good enough. It won't ever win any awards but I don't care, that's not the point. When I look at the pictures of those tanks, all I can think of is the amount of work involved to get/keep them there. No thanks. 

TW


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