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I really work at NOT adding more tanks. I like to be able to take time to just watch my fish for awhile each day. I like to prune the live plants and do maintenance as needed. I keep my tanks as natural as possible with plants, snails and fish so the balances are good. I don't like feeling overwhelmed so I work at the enjoyment part. I choose my fish tank enjoyment over yardwork. The fish are inside and I enjoy them all year long. I also only keep fish that I really enjoy.

You are absolutely correct Cory. I recently went through a very similar process with my aquariums. When I got into the hobby 4 years, I planned to have 3 125 gallon tanks, one for discus, one for cichlids and one as a general community tank. I ended up with just a 150 gallon and a 25 gallon and has been contemplating on getting rid of my 25 gallon. I enjoy watching fish but not so much excessive amount of maintenance and due to family circumstances often has only a hour or two to spend with my fish on the weekend. These days, I enjoy my discus but most of all plecos which is a major contributed to me getting rid of the 25 gallon as I don't really enjoy fish small enough to fit into it. I am also currently going through a burn out phase with both my discus and my plecos. I used to go, ohh a type of discus I don't have, got to get it, oohh, this plecos is extremely rare, only 1-2 are imported per month. Then all of sudden, I just stop, I was blowing through more cash than I like, my 150 gallon was getting too crowded with multiple plecos that get 50-60 cm and 20 discus. One day, it was like a string that snap, I just went full stop and said, wait a second, what is the point of all this? what is the point of getting all these species of plecos that I was going to get? Honestly, like you said the thing that finally did it for me was my love for my fish, I realized that I can't keep all of the fish that I got and are planning to get all the way through to adulthood. Not without doing something drastic like two water changes per week, which I refused to do. I went through my list and shorten it, from now on, every fish I get would be because I really really want it, not because of the I want to catch them all mentality I was having. Sometimes, we just got to stop and think carefully about what you are doing with the hobby, it helps put things into perspective. Honestly, as funny as it sounds, my perfect number of aquarium might just be one, I enjoy the fish I have and provide them with the best, within reason, care I have and my undivided attention. Occasionally in life, simple might be the best thing for you

Resonates with me! I've got 6, and I'm moving towards 3. Tanks I want to keep - 1 26g reef at home, 1 75g high tech planted at home, and 1 15g high tech planted at my office. The 15g at my office is by far the one I enjoy the most, yet I only spend about 30 minutes a week maintaining it besides daily feeding, and it always looks immaculate.

I have 4 tanks, the largest is 29 gallons, and one of them is a reef. I probably spend about two hours of full maintenance per week, which includes gravel vacuuming, water changes, and plant trimming. I would like to transfer the reef to a 40-gallon breeder, but other than that, I'm happy with what I have.

thank you for the transparency in which you run your business. Life is a journey full of ups and downs.

I have one aquarium. It homes discus and clown loaches, and I love it, but I can't imagine having more. 1.5 hours of maintenance a week is my limit. Any more would ruin the hobby for me

I have 2 tanks, if I could downsize I would but my species that I keep can’t be kept together :/ and I love them too much to get rid of one or the other ❤

Imagine taking your fish for a walk 😅 I want to someday just for the ❤ of it. I’d put him in a clear container with an aerator, me in a small boat, I’d gently put the container in the water 😂 watch him interact with wild fish 😂 🎉

I spend about 30-60 min each week just the cleaning part. 😊 The enjoying part is a lot more than the cleaning part but I’ve stumbled upon an issue! I’m moving to another country and I want my frogs to move with me, I have to figure this out 😅

My right number has been 3 since I started this hobby. Two 55s, and one 5. I get the enjoyment out of two "big" tanks that are different (one's a corner 55 tall, the other is a standard 55) and one nano tank. Sometimes having two of the bigger tanks can get overwhelming for me when there's a lot going on in my personal life, but when I do take the time to maintain them again, it brings me such a sense of pride and relief and reignites my passion for the hobby.

You will downsize and a couple of years or so later you will want them again. Its a cycle.

I love your videos and wisdom. I recently scaled down from two aquariums to one - I could not be happier. I love this one, can dedicate to it all the time it needs and IO do note need to split my time when i want to enjoy it. No regrets

I understand burnout can make the things we love a hassle. I sometimes get burnt out but I’ve found that it’s not my magnitude of tanks that’s the problem. Always change your perspective and you’ll make the grass greener. If I want more tanks for more species but want less maintenance, I renovate an aquarium so it’s self sustainable and I don’t have to do water changes as frequently. The Walstad method is great for helping me achieve that. Out of my 30 tanks I only have to do maintenance on half of them because they’re for quarantining.

anyone know the name of those fish at 0:28?

Such an important video for most people, me included ,thank you for your honesty .😊

Thanks for excellent information and video. 👍🙏

I remember your multi-row cinderblock setup. I was always confounded at how you would bring in fish, stock a tank with them, and it would seem as if half of your tanks were still sitting empty. Personally, if I have to use more than 2 5-gallon buckets for a water change, I tend to burn out fast. Maintenance feels like a massive burden to start and to clean up after. For freshwater, a 20-gallon long balances joy and burden. For saltwater, nothing larger than a 5-gallon tank, with 2.5 gallon being the sweet spot. I was keeping pico tanks back when having a tank smaller than a 75gallon would've gotten you crucified. Back in high school, I could do it all. 20 10-gallon tanks and climbing. If there was an empty tank, it'll get filled with water and fish. Then the burden of keeping all those tanks became too much.

I realised after 17 years of fishkeeping that ultimately I just enjoy watching my aquariums. The builds, maintenance, etc etc that goes along with it is the necessary stuff to get through..... to then just enjoy watching my aquariums. The end game didn't match up to the time commitment I would have to spend on a regular week which used to be most of a day. So now I just have 3 tanks. 20G rimless and two 8G bowls all with different fish and vastly different eco systems. Maintenance now takes about an hour to 90mins once a week for all 3 tanks on a regular maintenance routine which is perfect for me. Less time mucking about and a lot lot more time for enjoying. That's how I just cut down and completely revitalised my hobby.

It's a lawn , and it's growing and looking darn good but wouldn't it be even better if most of the cutting and trimming was supervised by you while the next door neighbors dog walker's boyfriend and occasionally his twin brother are like the greatest people ever and they do care about the quality and always just a couple of well mannered young kids

This is just straight up life advice. Thank you Cory!

I just started in the hobby. Did a 5 gallon planted tank for a betta. But after seeing how active he is I've decided to upgrade him to a 10 gallon. I'm thinking I want to get a 29 gallon as my last tank some time this year simply because I discovered kuhli loaches and have fallen in love with them. The plan is for the 5 gallon to become the quarantine tank/cat tv tank.

Cool story bro, can i have all the tanks and equipment you are no longer using? Just ship it over to Canada. Thank you in advance.

Perhaps a good video idea would be what to do when you need to downsize. I plan on moving within the next 5 years and sadly can't move five tanks of fish with me. I have no LFS nor do I have social media to find new homes for the fish & their stuff so I will need to find online solutions.

i had as many as 8, now i have downsized to 4 and i am vey happy with them

i think you are a bit biased because it is your job. but most of us dont get that experience so we want more more more. there's a comfortable middle ground somewhere

its not about acuariums, its about FISH and as many of them do not mix well, there is the need of many glass boxes, but I totally get the "too many" argument👍🏻

I think you are over stating the obvious from the wrong perspective. Not that you are wrong; you aren’t, if you aren’t Aquarium Co-op. Your balance as a successful business owner isn’t at all comparable to the average aquarist. Which, of course, you know.

i cant say i wont touch any fish but im definitely done buying fish online!!!

Corey this video is 6 year's old and I knew of Twin Cities K Lee. I visit his channel but hasn't replied to me yet, I know he is very busy. I love those females they have. Great colors. I joined his channel too.

G'day guys greetings from down under I just wanted to drop in and say there is anyone was wondering work anyone was sceptical that Corey doesn't read the messages I can wholeheartedly testify that he does and only that but replies as well Glory you are truly a credit to the aquarium hobby

What's the name & brand of that shirt & the other shirt you had last stream that looks like fish scales

Lol. Right now I have 13 tanks. To maintenance 12 of those tanks, it's maybe a couple hours a month. They're very stable, low tech so the plants arent growing out of control, and I'm on top of my stocking so they're mostly just top offs. But dang it if I don't regret putting ludwigia in my high tech tank. 💀 I got lazy on trimming for no more than 3 weeks and it's completely taken over the entire top of my tank, blocking out all the light, and it's probably going to be at least an hour project hacking it all back without also destroying my beautiful hygrophila pinnatifida that was finally taking off. 💀 I cut a bunch out to plant my new 10 gallon. Can't even tell. I'm half tempted to rip it all out and just start again with slower growing stems. CO2 injection will be the death of me. 😅🫠

I spend about an hour a week on maintenance. Any more than that and I wouldn't have aquariums. I brought fish into my house to look at them and enjoy not spends hours doing tank maintenance. I don't mind tank maintenance but too much and I wouldn't do it.

I just went through the same thing. I allowed my family to talk me into 12 tanks which I loved at first. A year later not so cool, I began breaking down and giving away tanks and am now down to 7. I still feel I would like to get down to 4, there aee still 3 tanks being neglected….to my standards. So I know where your at mentally and emotionally just you are on a much larger scale than I. Good luck to you Cory, at the end of the day you just want to make your surroundings comfortable and enjoyable….

I'm down to three, A 40-gallon breeder with a single Betta, a 75-gallon with an African Side neck Turtle, a convict, a rainbow shark, and some danios, and lastly an outdoor 100-gallon goldfish tub pond.

this is the same with reptiles. it all becomes an addiction, newer and more is often the desire so we get more. eventually they own you instead of the other way around. youtubers are often about new and more for views. i have been without pets of any kind for several years and have been okay with it for the most part. i have plants and garden now which makes things slow down in the winter so i can miss it and be ready for spring. i used to do a lot of reptiles. bred them, resale, and interest. it became to where it wasnt a joy.

If it were in the video itself, I missed it. But I was wondering if anyone knows the average PH and hardness of this body of water. After keeping African cichlids for quite a few years and several generations of them, they began to die out. I ended up switching to mollies because of the fact they are one of the few mainstream tropical fish to thrive in a similar environment. Namely alkaline and hard water. After seeing how milky the pools were I can't help but wonder if it is exceptionally hard and perhaps these fish haven't been succesfully cycled very well at home is because it is too great a step apart in water chemistry from the original environment. Even if the tank water were at what is considered ideal for mollies yet shock sets in nonetheless? Just a thought.

Great video!! I have a single 40 gallon planted community tank. I'm thinking of getting a nano betta tank but don't see myself getting much more than that.

I always look at from the perspective that when I start to resent something or the amount of time required, it's a hint to pull back. The hard part is admitting it to myself or others.

Subject I was just contemplating today.

I have been keeping fish since 1962 and enjoy everything about the hobby including maintenance etc. Each person must and should make their own decisions

"One man's ceiling, is another man''s floor"

I highly suggest looking into native planting and lawn alternatives 💚

What a timely video, not just regarding aquariums, but life in general. Trying to resolve how many tanks and how big versus how much time I have to manage them given all the other responsibilities that eat up hours in the week.

Thank you,Cory, this did resonate with me as I’m sure it will with a lot of people. Always appreciate your insight. Keep doing what you’re doing and thank you very much.

👍

It’s funny I just got back into the hobby, seriously this time. And I have been heavy into watching “Fish YT” to learn. And I always wonder when I see people with lots of tanks (usually over say 5/6) I wonder do they get to enjoy them. Especially the people breeding them. It just seems like constant work. No time to just sit & watch. I have 2 tanks a 10 & 37 gallon. One is in my home office I just sit & stare at it throughout the day which is kind of what I thought having a was about.

Finally something I can suggest to Cory about my hobby plant parts of your field native wild flowers and grasses only mow once in the fall at the end of the season

2 aquariums is a great number for me! 20 and a 65. Community and a fancy tank. One heated, the other not. One planted and the other not. It's a good balance for me, for sure! 😊