Why do you love your tanks?

[Lizzybxi]

Hi, I am drafting a college essay right now and wanted to write about my hobby (fish keeping). I want to write the intro with a lot of descriptive imagery so the reader can close their eyes and vividly see a beautiful reef or planted aquarium. I wanted some feedback as to why you joined and stayed in this hobby. What about the fish/coral/chemistry interested you? How does it make you feel? I know its my college essay but I wanted to make it about the whole hobby since I'm a newbie to saltwater and because a lot of people think of it as a glass box full of water with fish. I know the majority of hobbyist see them as close pets just like any other dog, cat, etc.
This is the prompt I'm using
"Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?"

 

[SPR1968]

Because it looks stunningly beautiful to have a living coral reef in your home......

To gaze at endlessly and watch the movement and life...

 

[Nick Steele]

I enjoy the struggle of keeping such a complex ecosystem in my home. Having to deal with all the chemistry is an added bonus for me and I love to tinker and figure things out. Some corals will grow but not have good color for some reasons. Others will just perish out of the blue.

As for day to day things I just love the interactions that you can see between all the organisms. Clownfish will live inside certain corals that host them (mine are hosted by Xenia). Also you can watch all the small non introduced animals pop up out of nowhere. I have found pods,worms, snails and a few unknown creatures. All those popped up from frags that I’ve always dipped so they survived somehow.

 

[WVNed]

A glass tank is like a microscope. It lets you see things in person that there is no other way to see.
Every day.
It challenges you to use the things you learned and apply them. It requires you to learn new things too.
When you are successful it rewards you with a unique experience.
Ever watched an urchin eat?

or a crab tend it's eggs

I have.

And yes, much of it is very pretty as well.

 

[WVNed]

There is also the general interest in biology that goes beyond the common things with 2 eyes, 2ears 4 appendages and a backbone. Like all the animals I see in my yard.

 

[fishguy242]

i really enjoy watching corals grow,fragging and seeing them grow on in another reef and so on ,like a seed bank

 

[dbowman5]

I like the escape of video games. for a moment, i can believe that i am interacting with strange beings who exist outside of my experience. Unfortunately the reality is that it is an AI that acts fairly predictably based on my input. conversations are stilted and repetitive. I am only interacting with myself.
Aquaria is the Wizard of Oz when it goes from black and white to Technicolor. When silents met Sound. when winter gives way to crocuses popping up through the snow. when dread is met with a smile. when a turned page ignites wonder.
call it what you will based on your own variety of ecosphere: reefkeeping, Freshwater, FOWLR, SPS dominant, Mixed Reef, planted, tidal pool; the effort to create a small slice of the world, to populate it, to be responsible for the welfare of it, to be able to enrich your life with it, to constantly learn and discover; to see, hear, and feel life is humbling, inspiring, painful, and saddening.
as for visuals: get up early, step outside, smell the darkness, as you hug yourself against the damp chill, far off the sky lightens, a bird chuckles to herself, the burble of the creek says that the flood has subsided.
oh sorry,
a reef is never still, water is moving, pushing and tickling both plants and animals, the fish chase after food and each other. war or play? both? the corals extend and retract reaching, sheltering. the ever-changing soothing sound of water caresses the ear, the greens, blues, purple, brown, red, pink, white, orange, blacks catch and release the eye. An anemone rises from behind a rock extending gorgon like tentacles searching for prey. a starfish striped like the sleeves of an inmate light and darker grey bands down its arms slithers along the sand doing his best to avoid the warden's eye. a white and cream colt like a candelabra with too many candle holders to keep lit waves for the attention of the maid. a toadstool like a rolling pasture with wheat straw waiting for the mower.
thanks for the pleasure, hope you enjoy your essay. based on the prompt you provided, your expression of the experience of a newbie is going to be more effective than anyone else's descriptions. i would be interested in reading your essay when it is finished.