[Morainy]

Hi All,

Recently, I decided to try for an MFA and went back to school (UBC). One of my courses is in journalism, and I'd like to write a feature article about our wonderful community of aquarium hobbyists because I've been an aquarium enthusiast for more than 30 years and have never seen a story about this community that does it justice.

I have a few weeks to work on this project and I'm wondering if you have any stories that you'd be willing to share with me, here in a post or by PM. I'm looking for your favourite anecdotes about becoming addicted to fishkeeping, meeting other hobbyists online through BCA or in person through VAHS or local pet stores, or things that people in the community have done for you (or you have done for others). Has being an aquarium owner helped you overcome depression or loneliness? Meet a partner? Got you kicked out of an apartment?

Over the years here at BCA, I've met in person or online some wonderful people, including CRS Fan, who introduced me to planted tanks and has given me lots of advice as well as plants that would work for my tanks, Seahorse Fanatic, who helped me rehome my tanks when I was ill, and Charles, who helped me set up a big tank at my son's school as well as (with a friend) take down a part of our deck that was threatening to topple over any day. People have been amazing.

In 2012 I had 18 tanks and was breeding killifish and endlers. Currently, I have just one nano tank but I'm pretty sure that number will increase once I have finished my classes.

Thank you,
Maureen

 

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

My favourite BCA/Canreef "story" was how the local & national reefing community came together to help a young boy in Powell River get his "bucket list" reef tank a couple years ago. I posted his "story" on here & on Canreef to see if anybody wanted to donate some small frags or anything and we ended up getting massive support from all over Canada. If you search "Jasper" or "Bucket list" you'll probably be able to find his thread. Sadly, he passed away from his cancer just a few weeks after Felicia and I went up to PR and set up his bucketlist reef system, just before we were going back up to bring some new frags and fish. He was a very brave boy and even though I only met him that one time, we still think about Jasper and his lifelong fight against cancer.

I was extremely proud of how our fish communities came together to make Jasper's bucketlist wish come true in time to check it off his list.

Here's the threads:

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/tank...w-reef-tank-donated-biocube-14-g-build-44674/

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/mari...-jaspers-reef-now-up-running-pics-soon-39833/

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/mari...shf-jaspers-bucket-list-reef-june-15th-41954/

Jasper's project really restored my faith in humans and Canada's reefing community. I wish it had a happier ending but as so many people reminded me, we were able to put a smile on Jasper's face and give his family something to smile about in those last few weeks, which is really something we can hold on to.

Anthony

 

[Morainy]

Anthony! That is an amazing story! So heartwarming. I love that photo of your child in the backseat on the road trip and I can't even begin to figure out how you managed to transport frags all that way. Thank you so much! I will read this all through and work it in.

 

[MEDHBSI]

Not to mention Anthony is always willing to help someone out in a jam. Like when I was moving and he lent me a bunch of equipment and water storage tanks so I could keep everything alive

 

[Morainy]

Thanks, Medhbsi. Anthony and his family helped me out, too. A wonderful family at the heart of the wonderful BCA family.

 

[mikebike]

I got raided by Surrey's grow op team for my Tropical fish grow out.
see the link on my home page http://www.mwm.ca

 

[Morainy]

Mike -- I remember reading about that when you went through it. Would you mind if I included that in my article? It seems like a humorous anecdote, but must have been frustrating to live with.

I had your experience on my mind when we were given a sudden inspection by our insurance company. It was shortly after I found the BC Hydro guy staring in my basement window at my brightly-lit "tank" room. He may have been looking for a reason that our power bill had shot up. This was about a year after I'd increased the number of tanks and started growing plants in them, but I think that the reason our power bill spiked was that the contractor who was building the house next door plugged into our electricity for several months (with our permission). The insurance company said that they had the right to do an inspection with only a few hours' notice, even though we'd never filed a claim in more than 25 years of home ownership. We ended up being ordered to do some major rewiring and even then they kept coming back and taking photos of the room in my basement where I was looking after some BCA members' tanks. I stopped keeping fish - and they stopped coming. Coincidence?

 

[mikebike]

I have no problem with your sharing it.

Merry Christmas

 

[Morainy]

Thanks, everyone. If you have any more stories to share, please let me know. Did you meet your partner on this site? Discover axolotls?

 

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/aqua...but-heading-hospital-update-17234/index6.html

I had an older thread about Felicia's birth, including pics of the placenta/after-birth and the cutting of the umbilical cord, but that was lost when the server crashed on the old BCA site.

We've had multiple birth announcements and threads of newborns from members over the years. You could track those down for your article.

Anthony

 

[Morainy]

Oh, great idea, Anthony! I laughed when you wrote, "Read through it and had to laugh that I actually took time to post on BCA before driving Irene off to Children's Hospital. What was I thinking????" I totally get what you were thinking.

I remember the births of some other forum member's kids -- Claudia's little one, and CRS_Fan's (about 3 now, I think).

 

[Atom]

Now I'm nervous about someone knocking on my door because of my 8 tanks!


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[Morainy]

Atom! I just read through the entire thread about your 4 gallon Eheim with chills. Do you still have that one running? What are the other 7?

I only have a five gallon ADA with shrimp and a couple of endlers at the moment.

 

[Atom]

I don't have that tank up anymore, but I've grown from my little Eheim 4 gallon to 2 goldfish tanks, a livebearer tank, a nano fish tank 4 betta tanks. Yikes. Really hope to downsize.

 

[Morainy]

Two goldfish tanks! How did that happen? That's a whole new addiction all by itself! And, four betta tanks!!! Are they Ebis?

 

[onefishtwofish]

couple years before I got into fish I had a disabling fall from a horse and was basically bedridden for many years. Along with that all came depression and fear of leaving my house.Then i got a 10g with a couple angels. that didnt go to well 1died. so i got a bigger tank but it came with a flowerhorn, only to find it needed to live alone so then i needed a bigger tank for him, then the next tank i got came with the fish so then there was now and angel pair who immediately bred and gave me almost 200 babies, then i met tom and he got me into africans which i diligently got separate tanks for each species the i got up to 11 tanks but it truly was an obsession......poor Dave i have had him help me get tanks and or fish from abbotsford to nanaimo. It got me out of the house and even if i didnt feel like getting up, I had to feed the fish and check ph and do water changes etc so it really made a big difference. Im down to 2tanks now and although i am still on alot of bedrest, I still use looking at my fish as therapy for the depression and anxiety. As you can see bca has made a big difference for me,

best tho is I met both Davefrom bc and Claudia on here, friends i will keep for life if they want me that long. Alot of great people on here.

 

[Morainy]

Thank you for your wonderful story, Onefishtwofish. Fish therapy! Could be a good name for my article. I've definitely taken advantage of that kind of therapy, too. I'm going to send you a PM.

 

[Morainy]

Onefishtwofish, it is going to take a little time for me to send you a PM. I wrote you one, but received an error message saying that I was over my limit for PMs. It seems that I'd lost my premium membership overnight. I have renewed it, but it may take awhile to kick in. I tried erasing some old messages, but it wasn't enough. I will send you the PM once I have that magic power again. M.

 

[April]

Well my story is from the other side of things . A sponsor for about 10 years. But I actually started out in bc aquaria as
A friend of mine moved from ontsrio to an empty shop beside me. I was a grooming g shop but had many discus collections and met discus people locally from a discus forum. They I. Turn told
Me about bcaquaria. So we did discus group orders from USA.
My friend opened his fish store next to me and I helped promoting and helping . Another discus friend and importer. It did t work out as he went back to ontsrio so I figured I'd sell discus and compatible fish and plants to go with them. A few tanks which grew to more and more and added the fish side of company to pets beautiful.
Moved across the street and added more and began importing high quality discus shipments from forest. Eventually passed the rights over to Rick and sold
My grooming shop. One month later had my current shop open in north Burnaby as fish only. No more grooming .
In all of this I met a lot of great fish hobbyists over the years through bc aquaria and a great network. I've kept fish since I was 12 years old but I mainly learnt a lot of
My info about all kinds of tropical fish and plants through the forum .
The good thing about forums is everyone has different successful ways of keeping fish and you see successes and errors.


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[Morainy]

Hi April,
What an amazing story. I used to visit your store on Dunbar sometimes and have always noticed how much respect and affection you have for the community and the community has for you. But, I never knew that the fish hobby community had influenced your business plans and life this way. That's pretty profound. I wonder if you'd mind if I came out to Burnaby some time and interviewed you? Or even just by phone?