Fresh Flow Aquatics - Who am I?
Freshwater fish, saltwater fish, corals, turtles, newts, salamanders, lizards, praying mantises, hamsters… You name it, I’ve been there! But there’s something about planted, freshwater aquariums that call to me above all else.
There’s a lot of artistic expression that goes into setting up a beautiful nature aquarium. There’s also some science in understanding water chemistry and the biology of plants or fish. Doing the math to calculate volumes of weight, learning to plumb filtration systems, wiring float switches, building stands and canopies...
Being mildly to severely obsessed with aquariums hasn’t just blown a bunch of pay checks. It’s taught me about different subject areas, kept me out of trouble and made me a better person.
Aquariums are an incredibly relaxing source of entertainment as well. It’s not all about scrubbing algae and reading up on bacterial infections. There’s something mesmerizing about watching plants flowing in the current and seeing fish darting in and out of caves. It’s easy to get lost in the little aquatic worlds that we create.
I remember going to the fish store with my parents as a kid. I lived in Japan as a kid, and the fish stores there were incredible! Those are some of my first memories. Taking the elevator to the top of the local department store called Tamagawa Takashimaya. Sticking my face up on the glass of every enclosure…
It wasn’t long before I found myself in college with almost a dozen aquariums, working at multiple fish stores and cleaning aquariums around town.
Another dozen years has gone by and my infatuation with keeping aquariums has landed on planted freshwater aquariums. There really is something mystifying about a lush planted aquarium. Life bursts at the seams. Literally everywhere you look, there’s life.
Different shades of green, different sizes and textures of leaves. Mosses, climbing plants, stemmy plants, carpeting plants. And then you look closer and notice there shrimp and snails grazing off of algae and other organic debris around. Just when you thought you had found the smallest critter in the tank… WAIT, you readjust your vision to the next microcosm and notice that the teeny tiny shrimp have even teeny tinier babies!
Baby plecos (sucker fish), even smaller than the cherry shrimp!
After earning two degrees in biology and working in every sector imaginable, I still find myself day dreaming about aquariums. I’ve always been that someone who had to stop and investigate critters in every pond or creek I come across. Perhaps a less adventurous version of Steve Irwin if you will.
Keeping planted aquariums really is the best hobby. It’s an artistically creative outlet. You get to be the creator of an ecosystem that looks exactly how you want it to. It can be as low maintenance or high maintenance as you want it to be. For those people who need to be busy all the time like me, there’s always something to be done.For those people that want a low maintenance aquarium - that’s completely doable!
And then there is the relaxation component. I love curling up with my furry animals at the end of the day and getting lost in the underwater realm. There really are very few hobbies that offer such a wide array of box checking.
Ed knows the work day is done, and that means belly rubs and watching the fish.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I just wanted people to know where I’m coming from when I talk about aquariums. My plan is to create helpful content. I’ll be blogging about topics that I know my clients struggle with, like keeping up with maintenance, picking the right livestock, punching algae in the face and most of all enjoying your aquariums while doing right by the pets that are under your care.
