Poll: Converting people to the hobby? How many?

4FordFamily · Jan 18, 2018

Curious to see how many of you have converted friends or people local to the hobby. I feel like I am a big cheerleader for this hobby, and I am constantly (without realizing it sometimes) trying to find local people to share my passion with.

For me, it's one. @HotRockTarBaby is a local friend and he jumped in to this hobby HARD! Red Sea Reefer 750 XXL, quarantine tank, rock and coral quarantines, and he learns FAST. It's nice to have someone local to help (because no one else has the patience for this hobby that isn't in it or understands), to bounce ideas off of, trade with, etc.

He's a bad influence to me too, tells me we are buying Gem tangs in December 2018!

I know some people "sell" lots of people on this hobby, how many people have you "converted?"

Brew12 · Jan 18, 2018

I'm a slacker and haven't converted anyone. That may change in the near future as several people have seen my system in the last few months and expressed interest.

happyhourhero · Jan 18, 2018

I am at zero. I get to talking about it and after a few minutes its this...

4FordFamily · Jan 18, 2018

happyhourhero said:
I am at zero. I get to talking about it and after a few minutes its this...

Boy is that a fact! hahaha

Haggisman14 · Jan 18, 2018

I'm working on 2

My father and father-in-law.

My dad's a big pond guy...has had koi ponds that he's made and remade for the last 25 years. He just moved local to me, and he's trying to decide if he wants to do a pond first, or a tank...tank's probably a few years out...if he ends up doing it.

My father-in-law has never been in the hobby, but has seen pics of my old tanks, and sees my passion for it now. Especially after seeing videos of the corals from some of the guys like Battle Corals, Jason Fox, Boom Corals, Cherry Corals, and World Wide Corals...he wants to have his own slice of the ocean. Right now he's just trying to figure out what he wants, and how "big" he wants to go.

Haggisman14 · Jan 18, 2018

4FordFamily said:
Boy is that a fact! hahaha

Yup Amen to that. I feel like unless people are standing in front of your tank when you're talking about it....most lose interest really really quickly!

jsker · Jan 18, 2018

I have tried, then I get that stare, you know the one

DSC reef · Jan 18, 2018

Does my wife count? Lol.

jsker · Jan 18, 2018

DSC reef said:
Does my wife count? Lol.

Yep!!

WWIII · Jan 18, 2018

Gotta start young I guess? Hoping my daughter will be interested in the hobby! She's only 4 months, loves the tank so far. Haha.

Yeah people just don't understand. If they are there in front of the tank they think it's cool. Just talking to them about my hobby, say at dinner or whatever, they don't really have much to say. Outsiders are more impressed and intrigued when they see my basement equipment room than anything else. "All this for that tank upstairs? How did you know how to do all this?" Very common

DSC reef · Jan 18, 2018

jsker said:
Yep!!

She's got those freshwater skills like no other, it just needed a dash of salt...;Hilarious

WWIII · Jan 18, 2018

jsker said:
I have tried, then I get that stare, you know the one

Definitely have gotten this look, more than once!

4FordFamily · Jan 18, 2018

WWIII said:
Gotta start young I guess? Hoping my daughter will be interested in the hobby! She's only 4 months, loves the tank so far. Haha.

Yeah people just don't understand. If they are there in front of the tank they think it's cool. Just talking to them about my hobby, say at dinner or whatever, they don't really have much to say. Outsiders are more impressed and intrigued when they see my basement equipment room than anything else. "All this for that tank upstairs? How did you know how to do all this?" Very common

My equipment turns people off, they say it’s too much! In truth, relative to most of you my tanks are VERY minimal!

DSC reef · Jan 18, 2018

WWIII said:
Gotta start young I guess? Hoping my daughter will be interested in the hobby! She's only 4 months, loves the tank so far. Haha.

Yeah people just don't understand. If they are there in front of the tank they think it's cool. Just talking to them about my hobby, say at dinner or whatever, they don't really have much to say. Outsiders are more impressed and intrigued when they see my basement equipment room than anything else. "All this for that tank upstairs? How did you know how to do all this?" Very common

That's awesome, I remember when our toddler was just 4 months old staring at the tank. I think the true test to see if our children are into the hobby is there reaction when I ask them to change the skimmer cup

Our 2 year old can actualy name some corals in the tank like zoas, acans, monti. Lol

Lovemyreef2015 · Jan 18, 2018

Working for a pet store I have had a few people that I got to start a saltwater tank.

jsker · Jan 18, 2018

WWIII said:
Gotta start young I guess? Hoping my daughter will be interested in the hobby! She's only 4 months, loves the tank so far. Haha.

Yeah people just don't understand. If they are there in front of the tank they think it's cool. Just talking to them about my hobby, say at dinner or whatever, they don't really have much to say. Outsiders are more impressed and intrigued when they see my basement equipment room than anything else. "All this for that tank upstairs? How did you know how to do all this?" Very common

Kind of how I got started, My parents used to set me in the crib, in front of the fresh water tank a long time ago in a far far away galaxy of childhood. It was all over from there.

jsker · Jan 18, 2018

DSC reef said:
She's got those freshwater skills like no other, it just needed a dash of salt...;Hilarious

You know she reading this

;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

XNavyDiver · Jan 18, 2018

4FordFamily said:
Curious to see how many of you have converted friends or people local to the hobby. I feel like I am a big cheerleader for this hobby, and I am constantly (without realizing it sometimes) trying to find local people to share my passion with.

For me, it's one. @HotRockTarBaby is a local friend and he jumped in to this hobby HARD! Red Sea Reefer 750 XXL, quarantine tank, rock and coral quarantines, and he learns FAST. It's nice to have someone local to help (because no one else has the patience for this hobby that isn't in it or understands), to bounce ideas off of, trade with, etc.

He's a bad influence to me too, tells me we are buying Gem tangs in December 2018!

I know some people "sell" lots of people on this hobby, how many people have you "converted?"

You have a nice situation. I wish my wife and I had something similar. The few people were around give us that "I have no idea what you're talking about and don't care" look.