Knowing when to say "when"- and how quickly...

[Tannin Aquatics]

Do you ever have an idea in your head that you want to get out, which you just KNOW will be possibly misinterpreted, leaving you vulnerable to attack from "critics?"  Yeah...I think that this might be one of 'em, lol.

Let me relay to you an experience and a philosophy I've acquired that may or may not be applicable to your fish keeping experience.

Here goes...

I was talking with a friend several months back, who has a 30+ tank fish room, and he was sort of complaining about the lack of space he had to attack all of the projects he wanted, while in the same conversation complaining about 3 or 4 tanks dedicated to projects that have not played out well for the last couple of years. A rare killifish breeding project. He was holding on to them, out of "habit" more than anything else, and was now starting to lose fishes, and clearly felt bad about it. He's a patient, compassionate, and skilled hobbyist. But he was becoming increasingly frustrated with this venture. He asked me what I would do.

I told him that I'd move on.

Those of you who know me well as a hobbyist understand that some of the traits I cherish and uphold the most are tenacity, persistence, and patience. I practice and preach these...And I've been a "master" of pushing it...sometimes too hard. I mean, I'm the guy that has maintained perpetually understocked large aquariums for many months, even years at a time, waiting for the specific fish I wanted to become available, often with little hope of ever obtaining it. Deliberating every change and tweak ad nauseam. I've stayed with tank concepts that, if evaluated objectively, just weren't working, despite numerous tweaks, revisions, and iterations. (click to read more)