The joy of having a fish tank

I have been a tropical fish hobbyist since 1980. I seemed to always have had fish for pets for years. I had a black tetra named "Marvin" that lived for 20 years. It's an interesting and dynamic hobby because it is constantly changing and evolving with new "designer" fish and all kinds of new and improved filters and other gadgets. Sometimes I just like to read the aquarium product catalogs just to see all the cool new stuff.
I've heard often enough from people that" keeping an aquarium is a lot of work". This totally cracks me up. These people must never leave the couch to do anything. By up keeping and maintaining an aquarium is the easiest "chore" in the world. All you need is 30 minutes every three weeks or so to do a partial water change, scrape the algae on the glass, prune a few dead plants and clean out the filter.
I hear how people completely empty the aquarium to clean it and then wonder why all their fish die a few days later (the fish die from shock). They empty the aquarium to clean it because they haven't kept up with a monthly maintenance program so it becomes a huge production.
I have a friend who lives up in Maine. We used to work together about 25 years ago. Way back then she kind of made fun of me because of my obsession with fish. What makes this funny is that for the past 10 years or so she has been totally consumed by the fish hobby. She has at least nine up and running fish tanks. She has all these beautiful exotic fish that I've never even heard of with the newest and best filtration systems in the market. I enjoy going up to her house seeing all her fish and chatting excitedly all about them. We will set up "dates' to go out and check out pet shops sizing up the shop's fish collection.
I feel a little embarrassed now looking at my single 20 gallon fish tank with it's ancient Hagen hang filter and three geriatric inhabitants in it. Every once in awhile I get the urge to refurbish and do some serious aquascaping to jazz up my aquarium but everything seems to be stable right now. The fish are still fine, the filter works and the algae growth is under control.
It seems that almost everyone has had an aquarium at one time or another.
I remember my cousin having a ten gallon fish tank in her bachelorette apartment years ago. It was quite memorable. The background covering was a playgirl centerfold. The aqua ornaments were light houses and other "suggestive" looking objects. It was hilarious and original!
Maybe someday I'll set up marine tank. I think this would be a fun challenge.