Though in many ways keeping a marine aquarium is easier today than it’s ever been, entry into our hobby is still fraught with confusion. To a large extent, this can be attributed to the incredible variety of choices available nowadays for meeting the husbandry requirements of marine livestock as well as solving various problems that arise. Heck, the reef-lighting options alone are so diverse that if I were just starting out in the hobby today, my head would probably explode trying to process all that information! And, of course, there’s still a pretty hefty learning curve to mastering the fundamentals of the hobby.
That’s why I urge all you experienced salties out there to share your wisdom with at least one novice hobbyist as a marine aquarium mentor. Here are 4 other good reasons to do so:
1. It’s refreshing
Ask any teacher, and he or she will tell you that explaining a concept to students or guiding them through a step-by-step process is the best way to refresh your own knowledge on the subject. Not to mention, if the flame of your passion for the marine aquarium hobby has been burning a bit low as of late, mentoring an enthusiastic newcomer might just be the spark to reignite it.
2. You’ll help eliminate costly trial and error
Every hobby newcomer learns that missteps in this hobby can be costly—not just from a budgetary standpoint, but also in terms of untimely fish and invertebrate deaths. Learning how to do things right the first time under the tutelage of an experienced hobbyist can save considerable cash while preventing a lot of unnecessary livestock losses. That’s good for our hobby in general as well as for the mentee in particular.
3. You’ve been there yourself
回想一下您在海洋水族馆业余爱好中的最早日子。也许您完全独自一人,不得不在设置和放养第一个坦克的过程中盲目地感觉自己。或者,也许您从一位经验丰富的业余爱好者的智慧中受益,他对他或她的时间和专业知识很慷慨。如果前者适用,为什么不帮助新来者避免您只是试图找出基本知识所经历的所有加重呢?而且,如果后者是真的,那么这里是您回馈一些东西的机会。
4. It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!
There’s no reason your mentor-mentee relationship can’t ultimately transform into a long-term friendship based on mutual interest, each offering the other someone with whom to share successes and failures, discuss ideas, trade coral frags and equipment, attend hobby-related conferences, etc. After all, this journey is much more fun and gratifying when someone else is along for the ride!