Fish keepers - Who are we?

[Lloydy]

Hi everyone,

I have been keeping fish for a little over 18 months and loved almost every minute of it, except the occasional fish death

One thing I have found is that it can be quite expensive (I have a thing for fancy plecs and corys) and time consuming. I was wondering what the demographic of fish keepers on this site is and whether there are any common trends between us all

Age, Gender, Occupation, family etc.?

25, M, Marketing / Database Manager, No children but an understanding girlfriend

[MatsP]

45, M, Software Engineer, Wife and two children.

--
Mats

[RickE]

50 , M, General Manager of a chemical distribution company, partner, 1 son

[panaque]

41, M, University lecturer, wife and 2 kids.

[corybrummie2010]

41,M,chef,wife and one son.

[DJ-don]

14,m,student [wanting to be a marine biologist for freshwater some day ], girlfriend who doesnt get why i keep so many fish

[Jools]

38, M, Executive, Married with one - actually fishkeeping isn't expensive if you compare it to something like supporting a football team, playing golf, photography or windsurfing to name a few things. I always say that of the fish you are keeping are more expensive than the equipment you are keeping them with then something could be better.

Jools

[MatsP]

If you want an expensive hobby, try motorcycle racing - a very good way of making a small fortune - from a very large one...

--
Mats

[RickE]

If you want an expensive hobby, try motorcycle racing - a very good way of making a small fortune - from a very large one...

--
Mats

Are you involved in it Mats? Or just a fan? Bradley did well this year, but I'm afraid I love watching Mr Rossi more.

[MatsP]

Are you involved in it Mats? Or just a fan? Bradley did well this year, but I'm afraid I love watching Mr Rossi more.

Only as a spectator (usually via TV), but I have friends who've dabbled at amateur/semi-pro level. Rossi always pulls out a few extra "tricks" when it comes to a crunch - he lapped about half a second slower than Casey at Assen in 2008 - with most of the gearlever missing.

I'd like to see Bradley, Danny and Scott do well in 125 / MotoGP2 this year. And perhaps a 600cc championship for Laverty?

--
Mats

[andy75]

25, m, Head chef, and engagged to the most understanding woman in the world..

[Bas Pels]

43, independend trademark attorney (see www.jurimark.nl, in English, for what it is), single

[Carp37]

43, male, assistant management accountant (but failed would-be academic- First class honours degree in Marine Biology, PhD in goby systematics, but only 3 publications).

I got interested in aquatic zoology through my father's interest in fishing- I caught my first fish (probably without much skill!) when I was three and have remained fascinated with fish all my life- particularly sharks, catfish, loaches, cichlids and cyprinids. My other great interest (as a spectator/photographer, though I've not done much recently) is motor racing/bike racing- looking forward to seeing how Scott Redding/Stefan Bradl/Mike DiMeglio fare in MotoGP2, and seeing how Bradley/Nico Terol/Pol Espargaro/Jonas Folger do in Moto125 this year.

[RickE]

43, male, assistant management accountant (but failed would-be academic- First class honours degree in Marine Biology, PhD in goby systematics, but only 3 publications).

I got interested in aquatic zoology through my father's interest in fishing- I caught my first fish (probably without much skill!) when I was three and have remained fascinated with fish all my life- particularly sharks, catfish, loaches, c*****ds and cyprinids. My other great interest (as a spectator/photographer, though I've not done much recently) is motor racing/bike racing- looking forward to seeing how Scott Redding/Stefan Bradl/Mike DiMeglio fare in MotoGP2, and seeing how Bradley/Nico Terol/Pol Espargaro/Jonas Folger do in Moto125 this year.

OMG this is a bit freaky! I'm an Honours Graduate in Marine Biology/Oceanography (although no 1st!). My Dad was a keen fisherman and I caught my first bass tied to the bumper of the car when I was three. Been a fisherman all my life, kept fish since I was 12. I've was keen photographer, although not much seriously since we left North Wales in the mid-80's. And my other great interest apart from fish... Moto GP. Watch every race, have been to see a few at Donington, seriously considering going to see one in Italy for the atmosphere.

[RickE]

43, independend trademark attorney (see http://www.jurimark.nl, in English, for what it is), single

Interesting Bas. Maybe we should all put links to our company websites in this thread, we might form our own little network! Here's mine: http://www.kromachem.com

[coheedandcambriarules]

28, Male, Airline Pilot, Married with 1 daughter 18 months old

Fishkeeper of 3 years

Threatened with divorce at least once for every mention of another tank addition...

[Richard B]

41 Male, Personal Assistant in the Civil Sevice, single: no kids (that i know of)

[Carp37]

And my other great interest apart from fish... Moto GP. Watch every race, have been to see a few at Donington, seriously considering going to see one in Italy for the atmosphere.

I've been to lots of car races at Donington (F3000/F2/F3/European Touring Cars/World Sportscars plus the 93 European GP and the 1980 Procar race featuring BMW M1s) plus a few GPs at Silverstone and the old British F1 Championship at Mallory Park, but have yet to see a bike race in person- definitely on my to do list before Rossi retires. I do watch all the Moto125/250 (as was)/MotoGP races shown through iPlayer, though.

[mummymonkey]

47, Bloke, Local Government IT Manager. Married with twin daughters.

[DutchFry]

25, M, legal adviser but currently working as a teacher, single thus no kids afaik.

been keeping fish since I was eight, became more dedicated to fish keeping four years ago.

other interests: photography, philosophy, sports (especially soccer, I'm a big fan of AFC Ajax Amsterdam!) and all kinds of music!

[2wheelsx2]

45, Geologist, Software QA, then Geologist again starting last year. 2 kids and wife. Had a 15 year hiatus when I didn't have time for fish (too much moving around), but now that I have a family, I am homebound more and my interest got rejuvenated.

[L number Banana]

43 in a few days (yea! I'm still here!), Fine Arts 93, Silversmith, magazine writer, small business owner (plants/Arts, art-plants...)
Slave for mega corp in exchange for benefits 1 or 2 days a week. Anyone hiring? Waiting for pink slip at the moment
The Bigger Half has 1 son, 23, I have two cats.

Other interests, quilting, painting, pen & ink work, cartoons, macro photography, woodworking, gourd art, and bonzai

[Jools]

47, Bloke, Local Government IT Manager. Married with twin daughters.

I didn't know that, I should be selling you stuff!

Jools

[krazyGeoff]

Interesting post.
40, M, (its tricky to explain... lets try) IT manager (Technical) + complex systems integration make it go faster for no money guy. In relationship, no kids. (4 cats and 1,000's of fish, I wouldn't have the time to even think up new names for kids )
Geoff

[andywoolloo]

very interesting

45 F divorced, living with someone, one grown adult child F 25 , not living with , and I am an Emergency Services Dispatcher II

[PeterUK]

47, M, Licenced London Black Cab Driver, Partner, Twins of 24 and a 16 yr old .. all boys.

[Shane]

39 (40 this year, yikes), M, Diplomat, married with a 4 year old daughter.

My mother was a chef and and the pet store next to a restaurant she owned when I was young (about 3 or 4) went out of business. She bought several of their tanks and put them in her restaurant. She is sure this is where my love of fishes came from. Catfishes in particular, she claims, because at that height I could only see the corys and plecos on the tank's bottoms. Got into the hobby on my own in the early 90s as an undergrad buying tanks and fishes with my left over GI Bill money every month.

-Shane

[L number Banana]

andywoolloo:

very interesting

45 F divorced, living with someone, one grown adult child F 25 , not living with , and I am an Emergency Services Dispatcher II

Aha, no wonder why you're always so cool and collected

[DJ-don]

funny thing is my mum owns a successful sushi store
oh the irony! me keeping fish and my mum makes sushi!
i have gotten way too many fish jokes thrown at me
"does your mum cook your fish?"

[PlecoCrazy]

34 in two days, M, Self-Employed IT Consultant/Network Engineer, Wife and two children

Got my first fish tank around 7, started fishing young with my dad who didn't care to much for fishing. Luckily he introduced me cause I've been all fish since. He took me on a fly-in fishing trip to Canada 10 years ago and was the best time I can remember. Hope to go to SA collecting someday. Like I said was always into fish but then after my daughter was born 7 some years ago I got a job part time at a LFS to help pay hospital bills as she was pre-mature by 2 months and expensive. That didn't work to well. I spent probably 3 or 4 times more than I ever made there as everything was at cost for employees. While there I read every book, magazine, started traveling the country to fish shows and my hobby exploded out of control. It put some serious strains on my marriage at times. I eventually quit the fish store do to the stress it put on all of my life including my other job. My wife only likes discus and that is the only tank I have that isn't catfish and dither fish. I've kept and bred almost every group of fish over the years but for some reason I always come back to focusing on the catfish. My 14 year old son could care less about fish, my 7 year old daughter loves them and everything that has to do with animals.