Allie

It's amazing what a batch of fry can do for a bad outlook on the hobby. I was getting quite discouraged the past few months with having fish get sick, African cichlids getting murdered and having fin rot issues with 2 of my betta. My bf & I were ready to give up all the africans and do something different with the 120g. We only have a few species that we want and can't find the ones we really want. It's frustrating at times.
Since the acei mom had her babies, we're excited to watch them grow up to the size our LFS accepts them. Now we are going to find species that are available to us that may be second choice but are still a nice species. You can't always get what you want.
We are still opening our own fish store but not for a long time. Slow and steady is the best way to start. It's not something you can rush, believe me we looked into to it. Unreliable people lead us to believe it could be done sooner.
But for now we're happy to supply people with better quality cichlids than the ones at the all the lfs in our area.

luna

You quoted one of two songs that came to mind:

"You can't always get what you want...but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need."

"If you can't be with the one you want, love the one you're with."

Allie

Richard

Love the spirit of your post and am glad you guys are re-inspired to keep at it.. fishkeeping, like relationships, careers, life in general, has its ups and downs, but with a little luck and a lot of the knowledge and experience gained along the way, you get to enjoy a lot more good days than bad.

Good luck getting your fish store going.

Allie

Thanks.

It's true for the most part there's nothing bad about fish keeping. The only time I'd say it wasn't fun, is when you have illness, a tank break/leak or too much aggression. Once you learn to deal with it all I guess it's a part of the hobby. We've been lucky not to have to deal with much of it over the past 2 years. All the bad luck decided to happen over the past month. Learning from all of it at once.

susitna-flower

RICHARD the WISE, has it about covered. Just a note of encouragement from me as well...you could do all the "safe" things...livebearers and all,,but your interest is more expansive, and the ups and downs bigger...we all have them.

Just remember the fish are an extension of our lives, NOT our lives so the important thing is you and bf, and the fish just add to that.

TheEssigs

I was really sick over our 26g... it was green for 2 months, I tried EVERYTHING! I mean, from Blackouts to Algone, to 75% water changes, to daily water changes, to mega filtering and super fine floss filtering, and we could just not get this tank to clear... I was about to rip the thing down and call it a day... and as a very, very, very last resort, I mean deep ditch last resort... I threw some Algaefix into it... and WHA-LA within 1 hour (no kidding) the tank was clear (a little white tint to the water) but clear... and two weeks later, its amazaingly clear. Now we are so refreshed with the tank, all is well again...

I was so scared to use any algae meds/destroyers because I heard horror stories about how it kills fish... but we havent lost any fish! I was shocked.

Go figure! This hobby never ceases to amaze me... and just when I think I have a handle on it, something else happens....

capekate

Hang in there Allie!
You certainly have had some ups and downs in the last month. But so many of us count on your knowledge of cichlids.. and you have helped so many here. Even tho I do not have cichlids.. its by your help that I am seriously thinking of starting a cichlid tank. I still read all your posts on taking care of cichlids.. and am amazed at your knowledge of them.
We loose fish all the time.. myself, Im loosing my rainbows right now.. and its very heart sickening and I have also thought of giving up and caving in to feelings of inadequacy many times. But the alternative is a life without our fish.. and I cannot see that in my future either.
Now you have your baby acei fry to look after... and life has renewed itself once again with more on the way.
You are a great fish mom.. and you and your BF have done a fantastic job of it..
hang in there!

~ kate

COBettaCouple

Yea.. sometimes it does get discouraging when you have a bunch of setbacks, but I'm glad you had a positive with those super-cute acei fry and hope more are to come.

Allie

We could but I haven't really been a huge fan of live bearers. I just have to take the bad with the good.

Allie

Thanks for your kind words. I am glad I can help with cichlids...but as you can see we are still learning ourselves.

Allie

Isn't that the truth. Don't ever say I've never had that happen in my tank. It'll only jinx you. lol