It has been a while, but I personally enjoy decorating glass tanks with freshwater fish. Whenever I gaze into the glass especially during the night time where the fish tank lights are the only lights turned on in the room.... With all the time and space that was given that day... I feel most present in the "now" at that time.
There is some sort of tranquility and a feeling of peace and calmness when looking through that glass pane full of water, with some plantation, and couple of fish.
Keep in Mind this laborious activity can only be experienced in the "Weekends" - No way in hell I can do this after work.
By adding a lot of play into your mind it really brings out the best when you can use both your imagination with what you see in reality. For example, added sound of the flowing water circulating through my water filter is like a small stream... the clear water makes it looks as if the fish are floating in air.
Its great to be like Calvin and Hobbes in this moment... :)
Visually its so mesmerizing to see it in the night. During the day not so much because the light surrounding the tank is much brighter so the effect and vibe is not much there...I show an example below of my tank setup.
I do wonder if some people have a similar experience when circumstances are the same.
I find that I owning an aquarium is unique and rewarding to look at when it all works... :)
Let me elaborate on some things I wish I knew before I got into "weekend" building fish tank aquariums. :)
#1. Cost Behind the Scenes
At first I just wanted something that was cost effective and care-free. This was the very beginnings so I didn't think too much of it and was thinking it would be temporary... kind of like how we took care of our first gold fish when we were kids. I absolutely had no idea it would grow into something I later commit my time and spend quite a lot of money actually....
What was initially supposed to be a cheap temporary desk decoration later when scaling up to a bigger size things got expensive fast.
I always wanted to get a salt water aquarium however I do know when you enter salt water territory, it expensive from the start, its very high maintenance, and if you dont know what your doing the entire eco system can just fail. Even now I hesitate when I look at even just the water filter equipment for salt water... So I will stick with freshwater for now... :)
#2. Themed Eco-System
The tank is your blank canvas and you can try decorating the environment anyway you want. It takes some practice to be honest to actually make it look good because who in the world knows how to interior design a fish tank in the first place? My experience is, all truth... I had a dream... an imagination of underwater paradise.... I bought whatever I thought would fit the theme and carefully arranged the sand, rocks, plants, props... and finally poured the water.
Looked like a circus.
I imagined Lord of the Ring kind of place and it ended up looking like Circus Circus from Las Vegas. Waters already in... just live with it until I get a new tank or something, and yet you keep buying props to try and fix the circus... it actually did pay off eventually. Literally paid off after several hundreds of dollars of buying props that has absolutely no use for other purposes.
HOWEVER!! I did see an aquarium where I was TOTALLY MIND BLOWN... Let me show you.
I remember when I used to live in Shanghai there was an aquarium store where they made the aquarium look like almost another world inside with real plantation and carefully arranged interior.
It looked so natural!!! Like as if they cut a perfect square slice off from the amazon freshwater lakes!!! Whoever made these must really took their time observing every detail of the real thing....
#3. No One Really Cares, But You... so Enjoy it!
At the end of the day the fish tank should be enjoyed 100% through you. I often showed my aquarium to my friends when they came over, they never see it in the same detail as I do... so I am guessing this is more of a inner personal hobby in contrast to a more social "bring the dogs to the doggy park." kinda of vibe? Ahhhhhh who cares... I placed mine next to my sofa, next to my work desk, and other various locations often to find the best spot. I think next to the sofa was the best configuration because you can lay back and really just get into it... with a beer or a joint. :) or both.... and just Chill.... That was some good times.
Can anyone explain to me what these two are doing? They do this a lot... kind of rub each others head and swim in sync. Are they mating or fighting? Good times~
Thanks for reading my honest blogs :)
Hope to come up with more topics you might be interested.
Set Da Tone!!