Fish Hobbies

by: Peter Jay
Fish tanks and aquariums are a popular hobby for people of all ages. People can sit and stare at fish for hours. I remember when I received my first fish tank. It was the most exciting thing of my life. I had never had fish before and did not even think about getting any. One day, however, I was down at the local pet shop and they had a contest or drawing where the winner would receive a free fish tank. I had never one a drawing like that before, and did not anticipate winning, nor did I think they were that legitimate or that I would have much of a chance of ever winning anything, but signed up anyway, even as a little boy.One day a random phone call came and I answered the phone. It was the pet shop! They told me that I had won the fish tank! I could not believe. Nothing this exciting had ever happened to me. I was jumping up and down around the house and told my mom we had to go get it right then. We also bought some gold fish and other fish to put in the fish tank. I could sit and stare at them for hours. A hobby is a recreational activity outside of work or one’s career. What better hobbies are there then ones you could do for hours and still enjoy them? I raised my fish for a couple months, but had to learn how to take care of them. Eventually my fish all died and one of my friends was playing with a bee-bee gun in my room one day and accidentally shot the tank. But, it was fun while it lasted.Later in college, one of my friends had a huge fish tank in her apartment, with several piranhas. She invited us over to watch her feed her piranhas one day. She bought a bag of about 20 live gold fish to feed to her piranhas. All I can say is, “it was awesome!” We sat there for an hour or more, all of us, like watching TV, but staring at this fish tank as the piranhas attacked and devoured the gold fish. As soon as she dumped the fish into the tank, it went wild. The piranhas just began tearing the goldfish apart. It was one of those moments in life where you are glad that you are not a goldfish, but a human participating in a hobby of feeding the goldfish to the piranhas. One of my friend’s little brothers got a new fish tank and some fish while we were in high school. I am sure he could sit there and stare at them for hours, too, just like everyone else. The reason I am telling about him though, is because he named all of his fish “Marcus” – every one of them. Anyway, I thought that was funny, so I wanted to write it.My family has some fish right now. They have a fish tank and a bunch of goldfish. Their fish have lived for a long time, now, and the goldfish are getting huge. The tank is dirty right now, though. A couple weeks ago they brought over a friend’s “cleaning fish” to eat all of the dirty muck in the tank. It only took a few days for the fish to eat all of the muck and make the tank look as good as new. Too bad we cannot have some sort of cleaning animal around the house that would clean up like that. It would sure save a lot of trouble, but I guess for now we will have to settle with the online hobby store and more.Peter Jay is the Owner/President and CEO of Variety Access – Your online hobby store and more. For more information about hobbies, hobby products, or Variety Access, go to www.VarietyAccess.com.