How exactly did I muddle through all these years of keeping fish?

Thinking back to when I first started keeping fish, I thought I had made all the necessary preparations. I had learned from fish-keeping friends around me and online forums for several months, and I was quite confident, feeling that I could buy a tank and start keeping fish myself. After learning for so long, I still had to take action.

I bought a one-meter small bottom-filter tank and set it up, started the tank and aged the water all by myself. Although it was a bit tiring, thinking that I could soon keep fish made me incredibly excited. I aged the water for a week, put in two small goldfish to test the water for a few days, and then I started to get a little carried away. This was way too easy. I thought keeping fish was supposed to be so hard. I went straight to the aquarium store and bought 5 parrot fish, each a bit smaller than my palm, and put them in. That feeling was like standing on a mountaintop and taking in all the beautiful scenery below at a glance, pure joy and excitement. The parrots were still a bit scared when they first entered the tank. I pulled up a rocking chair and leisurely admired them from three meters away. All the previous exhaustion was worth it.

After keeping them for a few days, I felt the original light did not look very nice, so I spent a few hundred yuan buying an LED color-changing light online. It really is true that a more expensive light makes everything look much better. Here I would like to remind all beginners: no matter how nice the light looks, do not keep it on day and night. I had a new light in hand and never turned it off for a single day. Later, when algae started appearing on the tank walls, I began turning it on regularly, off at night and on for about 5 hours during the day. After that, I became unsatisfied and felt that a fish tank with only fish seemed a bit monotonous. So I went and fiddled with a few fake aquatic plants and put a jin of pebbles at the bottom of the tank for aquascaping. Tsk tsk tsk! It looked even more lively!

Did I think I would just settle down peacefully after that? A beginner's three bursts of enthusiasm are not enough to burn out. The parrot fish I bought had faded a little, so I started pondering the quality of fish food and its various effects. I also tried breadworms, dried shrimp, and shrimp-red color-enhancing food. I tried everything, so much so that whatever was left uneaten I later resold.

People just get greedier and greedier. I thought I was very devoted, but in reality, after seeing the dazzling world outside, it is truly rare to be able to hold on to your original self. I had been itching to get a golden arowana before, but I was afraid my skills and experience were not enough, and it was also quite expensive. I had kept parrot fish for more than a year, and not a single one had died. Should I say I was skilled or just lucky? Although I was very reluctant, I still gave the parrot fish I had kept for so long to a friend. I also added bacteria houses to the filter media, and spent more than three thousand yuan to bring home a golden arowana about 15cm long. I had stepped into the ranks of keeping high-end fish in one move, and my taste instantly rose by a whole level, right? Under the yellow light, it had a shimmering, rippling look. Every morning I fed it shelled live shrimp, and every half month I fed it some small red fish. Even my wife got jealous, feeling that I was not even that attentive to her.

Huh? I feel like this tank is a bit mismatched with my golden arowana.

(The image is unrelated to the content)