Do you still get excited?

[Anonymous]

Seeing new livestock? Opening the shipment each week? Setting the displays and selling stuff to customers?

...or are you burnt out and going thru the motions?

I was burnt out about 3 months ago...didn't even want to do it. However, it's been on an upswing, and I can't wait to unpack my clam shipment today.

Thoughts?

Peace,

Chip

 

[MaryHM]

BURNT. Thru and thru. This is no longer my passion, it's my job. And that hurts my soul.

 

[Anonymous]

Opening packages and checking out livestock is a lot more fun when you don't have to pay the bills.

 

[dizzy]

I still enjoy getting an order in if it contains something new that I have never had before. I got my first geometric hawk recently. My first Rhino was quite a thrill. Dealing with the public is what gets old. Dealing with disease and loses gets old. Dealing with all the politics involved these days gets really old quick. I'm burnt too, but it ain't the fish that did it to me.
Mitch

 

[Anonymous]

i will always look at the aquatic world with the same awe and wonder i did when i first saw it at age 7
crap i'm still lit up by guppies, and that's the 1st fish i ever had when i started

but then again, i can still watch clouds and goof on them for hrs and i'm in my 40's


working on large scale fish/aquatic ops is something i couldn't get tired of, anyway

no two days are ever really the same

 

[Fish_dave]

I still get all excited about new shipments. I am ususally the first guy out on the floor to open shipments, I love seeing the new items coming in. It keeps every day exciting.

The late night arrivals are burning me out a little, I am pretty tired of the late nights. But it is worth it when that one item comes in that you have never seen before and all of the hard core fish geeks come around to have a look. That makes it all worth the effort.

Dave

 

[JT]

I still get excited but was getting a little burnt out at the two larger wholesalers I worked at in LA. I guess that's why I am now down here at Fish Heads where things are a little bit smaller and I have that interaction with the live stock again which was often missing on 104th.

 

[dizzy]

How many still get a thrill out of opening a box ORA clowns, psudeos, clams, and frags? Pretty much the same stuff, time after time. Welcome to the future. :wink:

 

[JT]

How many still get a thrill out of opening a box ORA clowns, psudeos, clams, and frags? Welcome to the future.

IF there's an ORA left after Frances gets done with Florida. Current path estimates puts the hurricane landing right on top of Ft. Pierce. Not a good thing at all.

My thoughts are with Dustin, Kevin, Vince, and everyone down there.

 

[Anonymous]

How many still get a thrill out of opening a box ORA clowns, psudeos, clams, and frags? Welcome to the future.

IF there's an ORA left after Frances gets done with Florida. Current path estimates puts the hurricane landing right on top of Ft. Pierce. Not a good thing at all.

My thoughts are with Dustin, Kevin, Vince, and everyone down there.

indeed

hope everyone stays safe

 

[Kalkbreath]

Or the aquaculture farms ..........Reef Encrustations lost every bit of their aqua rock in 93 and went belly up. Actually the rock is still there but covered with twelve feet of sand. Yes! I get exited every single shipment..... You never know what Kupang or Timor are going to send !

 

[Anonymous]

How many still get a thrill out of opening a box ORA clowns, psudeos, clams, and frags? Pretty much the same stuff, time after time. Welcome to the future. :wink:

each one of those represents a possible hobbyist who gets the same thrill and enjoyment keeping them at home as i did (never did their clams though )

that, for me, is also part of the turn on

even if it's the minority, contributing to spreading the 'sense of wonder' to those that grok it is something no-one should be ashamed of, or inured to

the act of discovery can be intoxicating (even if it's discovering something in a glass box, or plastic bag)

and the business itself is really so unique challenging and complex that i fail to see how it can ever get boring

although levels do get outgrown

i think the key is finding the balance between boredom through routine, and always having to adapt, sometimes suddenly, and more strongly, as you go up a level

(hobbyist>retailer is 'up' a level,retail>wholesale, etc)

 

[dizzy]

vitz,
I think you missed my point. I'm not saying their is anything wrong with clowns, psudeos, and frags. I'm just saying that variety is the spice of life. If we get to the point where every tank, everywhere you go, looks pretty much the same, the hobby will lose some of its appeal. I believe the preponderance of posts here bares that out. If Chip gets bored now, it will surely get much worse under hr4928. I know people will try to spin the shutdown as a good thing. Once the reality of how expensive anything even remotely different has become they will sing a different tune. I'm just putting all this down in a time capsule like fashion so we can come back to it one day, and I can say: Look there it is in black and white. I tried to warn you.
Mitch

 

[Anonymous]

If Chip gets bored now

Actually most of that was due to the way the owners ran the business.

Hell, for 2 straight months earlier this year we ordered NOTHING for saltwater.

It improves every day, though, and that also is exciting.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

vitz,
I think you missed my point. I'm not saying their is anything wrong with clowns, psudeos, and frags. I'm just saying that variety is the spice of life. If we get to the point where every tank, everywhere you go, looks pretty much the same, the hobby will lose some of its appeal. I believe the preponderance of posts here bares that out. If Chip gets bored now, it will surely get much worse under hr4928. I know people will try to spin the shutdown as a good thing. Once the reality of how expensive anything even remotely different has become they will sing a different tune. I'm just putting all this down in a time capsule like fashion so we can come back to it one day, and I can say: Look there it is in black and white. I tried to warn you.
Mitch

agreed about the variety-that's why (partly) i said what i said in peter's aquaculture thread

and i don't think this hobby will be shut down

mebbe i'm an optimist

 

[dizzy]

agreed about the variety-that's why (partly) i said what i said in peter's aquaculture thread

and i don't think this hobby will be shut down

mebbe i'm an optimist

I hope your not going to MACNA then. I believe there will be an awful lot of energy coming out of the conference directed toward telling hobbyists that it will be good for them. It's not about shutting it down, that would never sell. It is about telling them shutting down the wild stuff is going to save reefs, and that cultured is the answer to all our needs. I mean who wants to be seen as against conservation? I sure as hell don't.
Mitch

 

[clarionreef]

I for one would like an open DEBATE with Len as the moderator.
Debate is a foundation of Democratic process.
The scripted, stage managed, manipulative stuff starts to fall away when the debate gets 'stuck into it.'
Phoneys and pretensious ones get ferreted out, true characters get shown and you get to see direct questions and answers without the " I'll get back to you in a few days after I ask the boss what I believe in".
I think in honor of our own countries Democracy...where we fear nothing...where we embrace diversity of opinion and where we encourage all to come forward, that a debate on the issues would be a great service to the illumination of the issues and players in this drama that affects so many lives.
DEBATE...lets do it!
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

agreed about the variety-that's why (partly) i said what i said in peter's aquaculture thread

and i don't think this hobby will be shut down

mebbe i'm an optimist

I hope your not going to MACNA then. I believe there will be an awful lot of energy coming out of the conference directed toward telling hobbyists that it will be good for them. It's not about shutting it down, that would never sell. It is about telling them shutting down the wild stuff is going to save reefs, and that cultured is the answer to all our needs. I mean who wants to be seen as against conservation? I sure as hell don't.
Mitch

nope, not goin to macna

the hobbyists don't care either way, as a whole-they're still mostly ignorant about this whole thing, and that's the way they'll stay as a whole, imo

they also aren't concerned about any of the conservation issues as a whole, fom my own experience in trying to drum up awareness on the issues :?

 

[clarionreef]

WELL...
THATS PRETTY ACCURATE.
It was the gist of John Tullocks farewell to the trade after decades of face to face experience in it.
It is the gist of Marys experience in netcaught only marines.

And its sure as well my experience after 20 odd years doing without cyanide variety. They really don't get as excited about participating in efforts to insure reef sustainability as they do opening up their FED-EX from the latest fish in the mail outfit...or driving all day from store to store looking to save 10 bucks.

Instead of really caring and acting on that concern, we find two things that justify people in what they do;
1] "I buy SOME netcaught fish also."
2] "I take care of my fish and customers. .".[ to compensate for the damage done by my subsidy and in my name. ] This is just good business and not 'environmentalism.

Its a good-time hobby and anyone with daily face time with customers must find it hilarious to hear about "demand side interventions and prepping the market to care and accept certified fish"
MAC must admit that their face time with hobbyists in this care campaign have been disappointing.
I say this because it is the cornerstone of their certification movement...one that holds that consumers will reach for the eco-product as they do w/ tuna and ...and ...and, er...and...what?
There is not one presentation possible at MACNA that will be less attended then one that involves reform and conservation topics.
Depending on the moral consumer revolt demanding a clean-up of the fish trade is not only NOT coming...its reversing.
Oh there is demand alright...Demand for full variety and cheaper prices .
There is also demand for new species. For blue zoos and rare deepwater acros.
There is demand for 30 dollar bluefaces and for $9.99 yellow tangs.
There is demand for more big chains delivering cheaper and cheaper fish to every strip mall in America.
There is demand for fish and inverts all crammed together and for a magic bullet to make everything live without good care and talent.
The consumer demands things all the time. He is not asleep.

I just wish once a customer would walk in and demand netcaught fish...just once. After decades...in this business that day has not come.
To the three customers I do have based on the ethical premise and the clean-marine way of doing fair trade fish...thank-you.
Sincerely, Steve

 

[Anonymous]

I just wish once a customer would walk in and demand netcaught fish...just once. After decades...in this business that day has not come.
To the three customers I do have based on the ethical premise and the clean-marine way of doing fair trade fish...thank-you.
Sincerely, Steve

Steve,

I did that at a LFS not so long ago. "They're all netcaught", I was told. "Poison would kill them all, so they're all netcaught".

Do you supply any stores in OKC?

Sincerely,
A Hobbyist