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When I stop and take a look back, to remember when it all started I
am always surprised by how much was done in such a short time. I am
always astonished by how little it takes to take a fish bowl and
make it 2500 liters of aquarium water with Malawi cichlids. Which
drives me to the next stage.. What comes next ! To cut a rather long
story short, yes, it was a goldfish. A black oranda to be more
specific. A sick black oranda to be precise. Which was saved and
needed some company. Thus, the first 100 liter tank was setup only
it was not for the oranda but a community tank with tropical fish.
Some red blood parrots (any beginner makes some mistakes – the
word hybrid didn’t mean anything to me back then), a dozen tiger
barbs, some tricolor sharks, some blue botia and many plants. Many
hours spent there looking at them swimming, eating, chasing each
other. Re-arranging the plants, adding a small stone here and there..
A nice contrast between their colors and the solid green of the
plants, a perfect living picture. As they grew up they needed more
space (or I needed a bigger tank – can’t really tell). The fact
that I didn’t lose any fish at the beginning assured me that I
could manage a bigger display tank so there is comes. A 500 liter
heavily planted tank which soon received the first Malawi cichlid; a
Maylandia lombardoi !! The rest is history.. More tanks, more
Africans, more color ! Thousands of pages in my library, hundreds of
hours of discussions.. A new world was revealed. A world of beauty,
flashing colors, strong personalities and interesting behaviors.
After all that time, I am still thrilled when I look at them, every
time I take a look at their tanks there is always something new to
see, another observation to make or another smashing photo to take.
Every time I feed them we always have the kind of rare interaction
which makes them pets and not just “fishes”. The sensation of
them allowing me to touch them, the sudden bites on my fingers, all
make up for a hard day. You just live those moments. And then come
more thoughts about having a bigger tank to house more of them, use
another aquascape, breed more species. Create a place where only
them and I would be, enjoying each other’s company for as long as
possible. One of my best moments is when I have the time to make my
plans for the future.. Which involve hundreds of species and tens of
tons of water. One thing I surely learned is that the word
“addict” has many meanings.
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