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EVOLUTION OF A HOBBY
Fish keeping for me
started when I visited a local pet shop and fell head over heels in love
with a common
Bristlenose Catfish. I went
home that day with my first tank (only 2 foot) and all of the gear I
would need in anticipation of adding my first fish. I patiently
waited 10 whole days while the tank started to cycle, testing water
quality every couple of days.
After the 10 days, off
I went to buy my very first fish which was a
Zebra Danio. I was told this
was a good fish to start off with as they are very hardy and will
tolerated most water conditions. I found this to be true when I
was moving them and one fell into the cat's water bowl and swam around
till I was able to recover it!
Eventually after many
months I purchased my first Bristlenose Catfish (3 of them) and then it
was time to move on to another tank. The old 2 footer just wasn't
enough any more, I needed LOTS of fish! Next came the Juwel 240ltr
tank which at the time seemed gigantic but there was just so many fish I
wanted that it didn't take long before I had a whole community in
there.
My love for the
Bristlenoses ignited a whole new passion for other Catfish/Pleco's and I
soon discovered the amazing and wonderous Hypancistrus Zebra.
After managing to obtain a few by driving all over the country to get
them the price suddenly rocketed and they are now banned from export.
In July 2006 my group of Zebras finally produced a family of their own
and have since gone on to produce further generations.
More and more tanks
were making there way into the house until it reached breaking point.
I decided the only step I could take would be to build a fish house
which was obviously big enough for all my existing tanks plus a few
more!
On a visit to a local
store I got chatting with the manager who started to tell me all about
Malawi Cichlids and a new obsession
was born! What fun watching the antics of these fish as they go about
their daily lives. Again one tank was never enough and fairly soon
I had two substantial tanks of mainly wild caught Mbuna, one tank for
Haps and Peacocks then came the fry!! Some of the females produced
70 or more babies at one time which all needed to find new homes so
eBay, local adds and local fish stores came in really useful.
By this time it was
obvious that my three years at University and a degree in Information
systems networks was not the direction I wanted to continue with. I took
a big step, quit the IT work and found a job in a local fish store.
Not great for the budget, but a fantastic way to learn about the
aquatics business. After a year or so I got the itch to open my
own store, found a place and began to set things in motion. Just
prior to moving in I found out the shop was not suitable and that is
when the e-business became reality.
I have been an eBay
member for a number of years and have had many great experiences as both
a buyer and seller. Therefore it was a natural progression when
registering the business to use eBay as a venue.
Many of the products I
sell are ones I regularly use or have knowledge about as I feel this is
an important part of my customer service. There are many products
I would not use and so why should my customer? I am always happy
to answer any questions from buyers about the products I sell or fish
keeping in general then use the "Ask seller a question" option in my listings.
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