Ahh....
I was a serial murderer when i was a kid! Clueless and armed with a cement tank with one side of glass, i always had problems keeping anything alive more than 3 weeks plants or fish. Even indestructible swords or guppies were no match for my ignorance and nutty behaviour. [peeing in tank at 5yrs says my mom- i claim memory loss]
By puberty i quit! This was the 80's and studies and hormone control were more important.
Enter the new millenium, I had a housemate Carl who had a fascinating tank with cichlids and plants. Made me think back to the shy creatures i loved back when i couldn't afford them-Discus! Not wanting to repeat the same mistakes, I bought books and read everything i could about discus. The one picture in Bernd Degen's book that caught my eye was this picture of a group 6 discus that were under the shade of this beautiful sword plant. I thought, hey! I want that!
The Discus hunt was on, and passing by a very nice LFS, i peered in and there it was, the most beautiful tank i ever laid eyes on. A five feet tank and Bolbitis growing like a thick rainforest umbrella, lush java moss carpet and Discus! I must have asked 300 questions, looked in the cabinet sump and hung around till they shoo'ed me half hour past closing time!
Thinking back, i always despised the idea of goldfish bowls, betta in jars, and bare tanks with ugly silicone showing. So naturally, the idea of making a planted tank was on. After many failures and hardware upgrades, I finally can concentrate on aquascaping.
Nowadays, I convert landscapes in my mind into aquascaping language everywhere i go. Overseas LFS are a must to visit!
Lastly, i must say the
people in the forums especially APC and AQ have been a great source of information and inspiration.
Warm regards
Stan Chung