# Do people notice your tank(s)? Does it matter to you?



## TankPlanter (May 31, 2015)

Do people notice your tanks? Do you care if they do?

EDIT: I have zero interest in showing off, and frankly my tank is nothing to write home about. I'm just curious as it's kind of that 'bear that crossed the stage but you didn't notice because you were otherwise focused' thing, that these "little worlds" are strangely easy to miss.

I have a low tech, low light, somewhat heavily planted 20g that is set up in the living room by the front door so that you literally cannot walk into my house without walking by it. We have a busy household- kids, playdates, their parents, etc. It is _so_ rare for an adult to ever notice the tank. The kids that come over occasionally notice- ?1/10. (Aside- I'm currently battling fish diseases, very frustrated with BBA that I'm barely keeping in check, and considering giving up). 

I'm not at all interested in bragging or boring people with details. I just kind of would have expected that the green, brightly lit thing with the purple betta wagging for food would get a "oh you have an aquarium". 

Just curious to hear other perspectives.

PS: I didn't set it in the front hall to be showy- it's just the only place in the house that I could stick one (Ikea shelves are not great at bearing weight, my husband has claimed the basement...etc.)


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## sfsamm (Apr 3, 2017)

Alright. I'll bite. But first I'm playing devils advocate with a personal experience. 

I've kept freshwater tanks for a very long time. Since I was 8. I had a very good friend start her first experience in aquariums at all in her mid 20's with two small girls and she went all out saltwater. She put the tank right by her front door. And two things she did made me stop saying anything about her tank. No matter what I said, good bad neutral (I never offered advice I know nothing of saltwater) she went in a terror complaining for 30 minutes about the tank. If I said nothing I got an insulting look for not noticing whatever she'd added removed died and some brief comment about the change. Too which I could respond in look you did! Excitedly and not have to listen to 30 minutes of complaining. Second she was one that always had to be better than the Joneses and she'd kill herself trying... I don't care how expensive your "insert sw inhabit or accessory here" was. I could not just give a compliment ever... I do not comment on personal aquariums ever anymore. 

On the other hand I don't make my aquariums to be noticed. They do get noticed though, the neighbor kids think they are awesome. I get compliments and snide comments about how much work they are or expenses or whatever too. I appriciate people's concern or enthusiasm either way. But I never take it personal and I never dive into aquarium talk unless someone else starts it lol my sister and I can go for hours  

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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

TankPlanter said:


> Do people notice your tanks? Do you care if they do?


No one notices my tanks unless I know them and they know me.
They are in the basement filled with plants and shrimp.
I also could care less if they even recognize what is going on around them.

At one point my wife had 2 tanks in the corner, living room, first thing anyone would see walking into the house.
Might as well put a tarp over them since no one ever said a word.
CRS and blue shrimp and no one batted an eye.

Did they not wish to enquire?
Avoid questions?
Who knows!


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## Willcooper (May 31, 2015)

The thing people always say when they see it is "are those all real plants?" "Wow that's so cool". When I had gbr's in the tank people always commented on those as well. My wife always adds some comment like "all he cares about are the plants" and "he spends so much time with it" 


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## AngeltheGypsy (May 2, 2017)

My friends notice, simply because they know I enjoy it. Other than my sister (who said "oh now you have fish") and mom, who loves fish tanks, none of the family have mentioned them once. My bff's 5 yr old LOVES my snails. Couldn't even care about the fish. He has to go count them every time he comes over. 
The first get together we had after I set up my 38, everyone ooh and ahhed over it. Made me feel like I did a good job, but I'm glad they noticed. But then they tapped the glass. At that point I wished they hadn't noticed...
We're having reno done and the contractor's brother had tanks growing up-he hated them. So he makes kinda snide comments. "Oh another tank! Bleh!" "More fish, huh?"
So it can go either way. If you see it and appreciate it, great. If not, that's fine too. I have them for me anyway. 


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## AbbeysDad (Apr 13, 2016)

Well I don't have a steady stream of people marching through and that's fine. For those that do come by, some notice and comment and some don't. Those that do comment are usually impressed with the lush plants and all the fish. As for me, it's nice when people ooh and ahh, but I'm not in the hobby for show 'n tell or braggin rights. Same for the Dog, turtles, and rabbits. They're all just part of the family menagerie that lives here!


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## Smooch (May 14, 2016)

My tanks are hidden from view when people walk in the house, so unless I mentioned it, they wouldn't know I have tanks. I'm not ashamed of my tanks, I just like to keep them in areas of the house where I enjoy them most.

When I had my 55, that was set up in the living room. People didn't care whether it was there or not, which is fine by me. I'm in the hobby for myself. Hubby enjoys the tanks as does my son, but beyond that, the less 'noise' I hear about tanks, the happier I am.


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## katas (Jan 12, 2015)

Don't really care what others think of my tank. Maybe feedback from other planted tank guys & gals as far as design, plants, tips/tricks. I do have proud co-workers that show my tank off to customers at the shop. I would say most or all the people that come by sit in front of my tanks rather than the tv. However I have known a couple of friends gf's to say how disgusting the fish/snails/shrimp are. Needless to say they were of the nasty personalty genre. Who cares what others think of your tank good or bad just enjoy YOUR hobby not theirs. Unless it is one of these fine educated folks telling you to try something different! 

Side story I did have a friend who would walk people to his tank to show it off and do similar of what @sfsamm mentioned. Too draining of a personalty.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

I feel like most people cannot imagine a planted tank when thinking of "fish tank" or "aquarium". When I show them a picture of this subculture, their minds blow. And when they see it in real life, their minds blow even more. about 90% of the people are [0.0] about the tank and a few will say that looks nice. 

All the beauty of plants, fishes, ecosystem of nature and human abilities and intelligence gives glory to God. I do not deserve any praise from other people.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I don't really care if people notice/comment, BUT with that being said, it's nice if someone does and compliments my tanks. Well.. it used to be nice when my tanks looked much better lol. We really don't have a lot of guests over though.


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## Deedledee (Sep 13, 2016)

Question 1 ) Yes people do notice my aquarium. Probably because I have made it the focal point of my living room. To me it is a living piece of furniture. I do not have a television in the same room.

Question 2) No I don't think I would care if people didn't notice my tank, but you can't help but see it if you come to my place. I spend about an hour a day tweaking it (OCD) so it does look very lush and tropical. I get a lot of compliments ,but I do it for my satisfaction, and don't feel I need validation from anyone. It's a great hobby & I believe you get back, whatever you put into it


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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

Yes they notice my tank!!! and if they don't I sit them in front of it on a 1 legged stool with a dunce cap until they can repeat all the scientific names of plants, fish and inverts. They always compliment it upon return visits. Come to think of it, its been a while since anyone has come over.

For me its nice when people notice but sometimes they don't and that's ok too. I can say when I go to someone's house they could have a mud puddle in a glass box and I will be like "Hey what you got in there" while I ignore the brand new cute little puppy they have. I'm sure they feel the same way if I don't notice the little puppy but we all have our different interest's and that's why we come here and go to aquarium clubs etc. to be with people of the same interest. 

Dan


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## TeamTeal (Mar 31, 2010)

The only reason i got the ADA tank is to put it in the living room as part of the decor. I see it as a piece of furniture. I want it to look good because i am the one that lives with it. 

Its good if visitors notice the tank but if they dont thats fine too.


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## LegumeWeirdo (Apr 24, 2017)

People do notice my only display aquarium which is on the living room and say something like "oh cool" or "help me with my fish" lol. The last one is the more common one. Not many people that arent into the hobby know about high tech tanks so usually my "normal" display tank which just consists on pretty fish and a lot of easy to grow plants that growth thick and bushy coupled with the vibrant green susprises them. 
As others have said, I dont really care if they notice or not. 

I do think its okay to bring up the topic as long as it is connected to the conversation you are having. At the end of the day it is something I like doing and that I am proud of it so Im fine with healthily "bragging" a bit. I wished I had thought like this before because there was a really cute girl that I liked back in early highschool which used to try and talk with me. I usually just did crappy small talks and she eventually stopped talking to me. Turns out she liked fish. If I had only answered to her "so what did you do yesterday" by saying "Oh, I dug a 40 cm deep hole at my yard and threw a potato in there to see if I could get some microworms to start my cultures to condition fish" I am sure we could have had some interesting talks.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

No one notices my tanks, I have no friends


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

It feels good when someone notices my tank because I did put a lot of effort into it and I am kind of proud that it is finally looking nice. Some people aren't interested though, or they say nothing because they think the tank is stuffed with fake plants- they just have no idea. Oh well. Most of the admiration comes from kids, and I am happy to answer their questions. (I've learned though, if it's tank day, to skip cleaning the glass until after the kids have visited- they are pretty good about not tapping on the glass but I do always find nose- and fingerprints.) Best compliment I ever got was from a five-year-old. She said, after watching the tank for a while: "if I was a fish I'd want to live in your tank. It looks like fun in there!"

Worst comment was from a neighbor who said very casually when I showed her my progress (she'd seen it when it was newly setup and pretty bare with lots of diatoms): "oh, so you just threw a bunch of stuff in there and it grew up like that, how lovely!" As if I had just seed-bombed my tank and left it to own devices. I felt kind of irritated, as this totally dismissed all the arrangements and trimming, study and work with water parameters and lighting I've done to get it balanced right. Oh well. I didn't bother explaining any of it to her. She didn't care.

Most people are just surprised and impressed to learn that yes, those are live plants in there. They never knew you could grow plants in an aquarium. I didn't either really, before I discovered this side of the hobby. I'm happy to enlighten them, to whatever depth their interest in that conversation will guide.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

My aquarium is in my office/sitting room. It doesn't see much traffic, and we don't get many new visitors. When I had a planted tank, I got a lot of compliments, and the usual question of the plants being real. Of course, my response was real fish, why not real plants? 

When I switched to a blackwater setup, people look at it initially like something is wrong, with the "dirty" water. When they see my approximation of a backwater Rio ***** tributary, there is a telltale look on their faces. Unfortunately, I think most people expect an aquarium to be filled with rainbow gravel, a scuba diving diving Mickey Mouse, a blue plastic plant and a piece of bleached coral. That's when I explain to them what they're looking at is not what they expect, but rather my best shot at replicating a natural environment. Then, some get it, and some don't. But by that point, my hand-sized angelfish comes out to see what's going on, and he makes them forget all about their preconceived notions of what an aquarium should look like. 

Overall, I am of two minds about their reactions. First, I set this aquarium up to be my shot at a 30 year dream of a real blackwater setup. I set it up for me, and that's pretty much it. I love how it turned out, and I'm really proud of the feedback I've received here and in person. But because of how I feel about it, combined with the compliments I've gotten online, I feel a little bummed that my friends and family doesn't appreciate what I consider my art.


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## bigbadjon (Aug 6, 2015)

I've had a few people seem to not notice them at all until a denison barb swam by and I got the question "what kind of fish are those?" Truth be told everyone that comes through my place notices the tanks just very few mention it.


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## ice9 (Aug 15, 2016)

Both of my first planted tanks are in my office, not at home. Started with a 5 gallon with 2 or 3 anubias and a couple endlers. I asked my boss if he was ok with me setting up a 20H (med-tech?)... no prob.

We're all engineers, so the rest of the office really has no choice other than to help me over-engineer it  So it's more of a group effort.


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## slythy (Sep 1, 2015)

Its hard to hide a 180g with a 40b next to it.


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## jnboone (Aug 1, 2011)

TankPlanter said:


> Do people notice your tanks? Do you care if they do?
> 
> EDIT: I have zero interest in showing off, and frankly my tank is nothing to write home about. I'm just curious as it's kind of that 'bear that crossed the stage but you didn't notice because you were otherwise focused' thing, that these "little worlds" are strangely easy to miss.
> 
> ...




Mine is a focal point that always gets noticed, but some people are much more interested than others. It is a 120 gallon though, and I'm sure that makes it stand out a bit more. Like you I don't care. The tank is for me. 


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## evil nick (Oct 20, 2014)

yes, usually people love them. They ask about the plants etc. Its funny because me and my buddy both have planted and now reefs and people are always more fascinated with the plants, even my girl. She hates the saltwater I put in for us lol, says it looks like a rock garden.
Me and my friend also joke because we are so hard on our tanks yet people walk in and are amazed all the time.


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## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

If I leave my blinds open people slow down and stop on the sidewalk and street infront of my apartment to peak in at them. Everyone who comes to our place see our tanks and always stop to check them out. From afar the tanks are bright, vibrant and flowing in a current. Up close you begin to appreciate my fondness for micro critters and the scuttling and scurrying about grabs attention. A well maintained planted tank gets as much interest as a reef tank. The most common question I get is "Are those saltwater?"


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

I had a 5g tank on a dining room side board. I got a 20g tank to replace the 5g on the side board. I put the 5g on the dining table right in front of the 20g. 

My neighbor likes fish tanks. She came to my house and went straight to my old tank to look at the fish as she is familiar with it, and for about 3 mins didn't even realize there was a new tank that was 4x larger in the spot where the tank she was looking at normally was. It didn't crossed her mind that the 5g was out of place on the dinning room table rather than on the side board.


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## Frank158 (Oct 1, 2013)

I had a pizza deliver guy get excited about my tank when he saw all the cardinals tetras swimming around a nice planted tank. He did not think cardinals were "hardy" enough to keep. I set him straight. LOL

Yes it is nice when someone notices my tanks.


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

Many kids have aquariums. They are not impressive to them because they have seen so many and a child really won't appreciate the work and artistry that goes into aquascaping.

Adults generally don't care about aquariums. It won't get much attention unless it is big and visually impressive.


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## nicoleah (Mar 18, 2017)

I have a 60 gallon cube reef tank and a (currently a month old) 29 gallon planted tank in my living room. Most people notice the reef tank due to it's size and bright blue lighting plus it's closer to the front door so I love it when people appreciate the little plant tank, too.


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> No one notices my tanks, I have no friends


Fish are friends


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## Splashfast (Jun 11, 2017)

When I moved into my apartment this summer, I asked my landlord if pets are allowed. I told her that I have a fish tank. She told me that fish aren't real pets and that her child has one. If only she knew the amount of time and knowledge that goes into a planted tank. Smh.


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## blink (Feb 22, 2012)

People notice and generally comment favorably but I also cheated... It's in the living room, right out in place of pride and it's 8 feet long.

I've never really had any negative comments, even from non-fish people so I consider that a win


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## Tetragal (Jul 16, 2017)

I have noticed that there are people who notice fish tanks and other people who walk right past them like they don't exist. It's always interesting when we have someone new to the house to see whether they will be fishtank noticers or not. I have never had any negative comments. I do get the "are those plants real?" question. Though I do it for my own pleasure, it's fun when someone does take a genuine interest and wants to talk about it.


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## TormentedFishTank (May 21, 2017)

I keep both my tanks I have now in my bedroom(which doubles as my home office), so nobody ever sees them.

But when I had my 75-gallon reef tank, it was in my living room and not only did everyone notice, most everyone would spend lots of time looking at it, asking questions and taking pictures. Especially all the little neighbor kids coming to visit. 

I can't really think of anyone who didn't pay attention to it, but interest level varied.


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## Brian Rodgers (Oct 15, 2016)

I love it when people notice, I like it even better when people ask questions, unfortunately the latter rarely occurs. Then again I see the same thing with other hobbies I've had over the years, such as my biodiesel processor, only ever got an occasional comment which usually concerned the person asking it, like "do you pay taxes on your fuel?" Homemade wind turbine same type of responses. Koi pond gets more comments I think because people have seen Koi ponds in real life or on the television. I have one 50 gallon tank in the living room which I like to play with and watch while my wife prefers television. So it's all about what I like not too much about what others think, but I gotta say when a friend came over who also had a planted low tech tank I was thrilled to learn that someone else was interested and involved. 
Brian Rodgers


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