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Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and why?

George Farmer

Founder
UKAPS Team
Joined
30 Jun 2007
Messages
7,098
Location
Cambridgeshire
I thought I'd start a new series of discussion threads. Depending on how they go I'll create a new discussion thread every week or so.

So to start -

What's your favourite part of the planted tank hobby and explain why?

Do you prefer the gardening aspects, maintaining and pruning plants, or do you prefer the creative side, planning and implementing new design ideas?

Perhaps you're into the science, calculating and mixing your own dry chemicals.

Maybe you're into the fish?

Personally I like it all, but these days prefer the creative side of implementing new design ideas, seeing aquascapes develop and mature, and photography.

Whatever it is, discuss it here and hopefully we'll create an interesting thread.
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

For me it's the hardscaping, as that's what I feel is my strongest ability in this hobby :) I love the initial vision, and trying to scribble ideas onto a scrap of paper. Then, playing with rocks or wood until I get something I like the look of. I like that process, and the way it can either just click into place or require days of tweaking and fiddling with the that one stone until your happy.
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

I prefer the creative side i think. Starting a new layout is my favorite thing in the world.
Using stylish equipment to compliment the layout and it's surroundings is also a favorite of mine

I also like some of the science behind it, finding out what benefits or hinders growth in a particular plant etc.
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

Apart from the overall beauty of a nicely planted tank I enjoy the fact that it never stays the same, watching a tank adapt into a mature display, and having a little bit of my own mother nature to tend to is great.
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

i prefer the planning/scaping. i love drawing out designs, and then making them, but i always start fiddling after i've finished, which annoys my mum. :lol: i also like to take pics every so often, so i can see how the tank has progressed.

cheers :D
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

I like the fish side and the prunning and planting side :D .
I like the fish side because it's interesting to see how the behaviour and how they breed.
And then I like the prunning and planting side because I find it fun :lol: (you all think I'm wird now) :lol:
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

For me it's the scaping and the artistic side of it, but also the satisfaction from the gardening side. It's the best feeling to have healthy plants and know that everything is as good as it could be. I love watching it mature too, something I've never really got to enjoy unfortunately.

I love watching the fish and looking after them and seeing their behaviour, I've always liked breeding fish but i'll admit It's something you either have time for or don't and more often than not I don't have time for it.

There's only really one aspect I don't enjoy and that's photography, but I understand it's importance to the hobby. If I was better equipped both skill and equipment wise, I'm sure I'd enjoy it more but for me it's not the be all and end all, a photograph can lie and a great scape can look terrible in a picture and vice versa, a photograph tends to be for other peoples enjoyment and not my own and that aspect I don't really like. I understand that if it wasn't for photography none of us would be in the hobby and it's how our hobby progresses but if it were up to me I'd like people to see my tanks in the flesh, every time.
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

For me - its watching the fish. I relate it too an underwater world that cannot be normally seen. For example you are walking on the tow path of a canal or river or lake or even the sea and wonder "what is actually happening beneath that surface water" and with having a planted tank + fish gives you an in-site into the underwater world.

TV has helped giving an in-site but is nothing like having / watching the real thing.

Regards
Paul.
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

For me its both the design and aesthetic aspect. I love the surrealism of seeing a lush green cube of nature in amongst a very 'manmade' living room. Its also nice to be able to design in materials and textures from nature as I'm more used to making things with paper, ink and a computer. The whole natural science is fascinating too, just like having your own episode of BBC's Life in your house.
 
For me each aspect brings it's own challenges. The initial layout I find particualrly enjoyable as I am trying to get an image in my head into a real environment. With this also goes the evolution in that what one has in mind may change and naturally develop of it's own accord. Which reminds me of all things Japanese tea ceremonies
( long story).
The planting stages I find difficult as I cannot as yet visualise growth and so I tend to get the balance wrong.
Dosing and Co2 bring about their own challenges in trying to find the correct balance between all the variables, this for me is enjoyably frustrating and currently in pratice.
I could go on but shan't
Cheers tel
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

Hi all.

Healthy plants is what it's all about for me. I find it so satisfying when you get it right :D
Whilst I like the 'scaping' bit, and I'm in awe at some of the stunning scapes around here. I'm not very good at 'scaping' at the moment :oops:, but still learning.
Also, I might be imagining this, but a healthy planted tank certainly appears to be conducive to good fish health too. Win, win situation :D .
I've come a long way with the help of you guys and gals in the past 12 months :D .
UKAPS rocks :thumbup:
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

For me the favorite part of the hobby is learning how to keeping aquatic plants, from little plantlets to massive Amazon's.

I still do not understand much about scapes, and how to go about with them, hence of my plants are on pots, and growing like mad. :D

I am really enjoying keeping hard plants and doing my best to bring the best out of them.

A steep learning curve, but I am getting the hang of it, thanks to the forum and posts, learning all the way.
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

Its my life! Iv been interested in fish as long as I can remember, fishing, keeping fish, growing plants and mixing different things together to see what would happen since I could walk, I started working in aquatics when I was 15 went to Sparsholt when I "finished" my A levels and the rest is history!
Iv always been into plants, fishkeeping, chemistry, taking things apart, re-building them and DIYing new things it only made sense that I put them all together and I ended up with this! I love what I do and I love everything about the whole scene be it aquatic plants (my main interest), ponds, marine fish and just about everything else there is to do with fish!
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

I would see myself as quite knowledgeable but not successful or 'good' at the whole aquascapilng/fishkeeping hobby. I like the initial stage of an aquascape, e.g. planning it and hardscaping an aquarium. It's usually downhill from there for me! :lol: I like just thinking up new ideas and how they might work or look in theory.

I also love the fishkeeping side of things, or at least just viewing a tank with fish in etc.
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

For me its seeing how close the 'end' result is to the original idea. At the moment I am enjoying seeing how long it can stay 'within' the original plan :)

AC
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

For Me its the experimentation of using different things/ideas. Looking at things and thinking how they can be used in the scaping.
Looking/scouring for hardscapes and then, what can be done with them.
Watching your scape evolve after the inital scaping and frustration.
Finding new fish and watching how they live and thrive in your tank.
I find the High tech, pristine tanks kind of drab, I much prefer a more wild and natural feeling, to the overscpaed and tweeked tanks.

I enjoy the Challenge of Scaping Smaller Tanks, and seeing what can be done withing the restraints of the size.

Walking along in the park or along the canal towpath and wondering what that plant is and how can it be used. looking at rocks and wood on the banks and also thinking the same.

Another Aspect I really enjoy is Breeding and seeing what mixes produce what. Like at the moment i am breeding the red tiger endlers with Japanese blue feathertail guppies. The result so far is very interesting to see what gentics are stronger and which are weaker. So far Jap Blue is Showing less dominance over the Tiger, But somehow there is Red Chested/Black Bar Endler in the Mix. This I will try and remove, as Black Bar/chested is a Very Dominant Gene and will dominate the other Genes.
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

Hi.
For me I think the most important/exciting aspect is science behind the hobby. Biology and chemistry. From simple articles on Internet about PMDD, I'm going trough wiki photosynthesis definition, to more complicated description how actually everything works, trying to find some books about that. Because I'm engineer it's like discovering new ocean of information, previously I had no opportunity to really look on that side, really exciting. That's probably why for me always the most important question at the end of the day is "why" ("how" is also important, if you need to act quickly :D ).
Cheers
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

At its very simplest, my favourite part of the hobby is - glitter lines! For me the movement they provide brings the whole scape to life in a way the fish and swaying plants can't - weird I know.

More seriously, like Luis I really enjoy learning how to grow plants well - in fact, learning generally. Getting to grips with a new discipline is always a great challenge, and aquascaping brings together plant-husbandry, technology, aesthetics, artistry and home-making in a wonderfully novel and engrossing way.

Finally, I like being able to share a thoroughly nerdy pursuit with other enthusiasts via UKAPS. While anyone visiting our home will appreciate my pretty box of light, colour and movement, the work that goes into creating it can only be properly appreciated by other addicts - thanks UKAPS!
 
Re: Discussion: What's your favourite part of the hobby and

I think it is safe to say I like all aspects of the hobby.
I don't say that casually! ...The very fact that there are a number of varied aspects goes are instrumental in making the hobby so appealing.

A couple of aspects of the hobby that I do not think have been touched on (I could be wrong, sorry if I missed this)...

Collecting.
Being able to grow and swap plants is a great outlet for my geeky urge to collect. (I'm a geek and not ashamed to admit it!)

Socialising.
I really enjoy meeting up with other hobbyists. The internet allows you to transform a quick pop down to the LFS into an enjoyable day out with other hobbyists.
 
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