One on One with TheRick2325 and Pondguru

Hey guys, it's Rick here bringing you another one-on-one. Today we have a very special guest, he is Richard, a pond guru. A big thanks for taking the time to do this video with me, Richard. Hi Rick, thanks for having me on your one-to-one video. I must say that's a smashing hat you've got there, very John Cena. Mine's more Stone Cold Steve Austin. Everyone gets this question, How long have you been in the hobby and what do you love most about it? So how long have I been in the hobby? Well, I'm 40. I'm 40 or 41, 41 now, and I've had fish since I was probably about six or seven, started with ponds and really continued with ponds. The only time I've got into doing aquarium fish is with the shop, and that's in the last 10 to 12 years. So what do I enjoy most? I would say probably guiding people through initially starting up. To create a full community of fish, to then them progressing on to owning huge tanks, really nice setups, far beyond what I've got. Really a case of fostering and nurturing their interest, them developing their interest, and then them taking that interest far beyond where I am. Now how does it feel to own your own fish store? So how is it owning a fish store? You might think I'm going to say it's absolutely awesome and everything's rosy, but... I have good days and bad days. The bad days, you get people asking advice, and when you're halfway through explaining it, they interrupt you and ask something else, and you're left thinking, these people aren't listening. That's the worst thing. The best thing is when people ask advice and take it. I've never told anybody this is what you must do, but I always say, this is what I do, and this is why it works for me. I kind of hope that they take that on board and try that. Yeah, so on the face of it, owning a fish store is pretty good, but by the time you get taxed and you've got rent and rates and all sorts of things, like staff taxes and everything to pay, sometimes it's not so good. Very good to get all the different beautiful types of fish in. Not so good when it comes to the financial side, but I've never been a very financially motivated sort of fella. Oh well. Now what are some of the most commonly asked questions you get from your customers? So what's the most common question? I would say probably, do I get chips with those fish? And every time somebody says it, I wish I could just strangle them. But it happens every single day, especially at the weekend. Do you do chips with them fish mate? That'll be funny the first two or three times I've heard it, not the 10,000th time I've heard it. But I think, sensibly, the most common question I get asked is, will this fish go with that fish, or with that fish, and this fish, and how many of these I can have? There's just so many different options with fish that the compatibility question is probably the most common one. And that's fine whilst I'm in the shop, because I can show people the fish, I can say, look, this is a fully grown one, it gets to this big, you really only want four or five of these in the tank. But these little lads, you can get a shoal of 25 to 30 in your big tank. When people ask that question by email, it gets really confusing because it's like the what fish do you recommend question. There's so many different fish. It's easier if they ask those questions in the shop. I can say, what about these? These are bonnie fish. These will go well with them, but they won't go with them. I can't do that by email. Now your channel isn't all about fish keeping. What can a new subscriber expect to see from your channel besides fish? Yep, I've got quite a lot of different topics on my channel. And new subscribers can expect regular videos, but they might not necessarily be the videos that they want to watch. There's loads of different topics on there, from indoor aquarium stuff, to ponds, to metal detecting, that's one of my hobbies, I'm going to be putting some more fishing videos on there, but one thing I am intending to do is put a lot more bushcraft videos on, and whether you want to watch those particular videos or not, there's always going to be something on there for new subscribers, and if somebody has just stumbled across my videos... What they can expect more than anything is about 1100 and something more videos. I don't expect people to watch them all, but on my channel I do have them all split up into different playlists. So I've got a playlist for each different category of fish for the indoor side of things. I've got a playlist for the pond construction, playlist for metal detecting, playlist for bushcraft and wildlife, And... I find that's pretty good because some people only subscribe for the bushcraft stuff, some only subscribe for the fish stuff, and some only subscribe for metal detecting. There's all sorts on there. Having all those fish tanks at the store makes me wonder if you have any fish tanks at home. Uh, I get asked that question a lot. You might think that with all of these fish and all of the different experiments that With regard to filtration and everything that my house would absolutely be racked out with fish tanks, there isn't one. My wife won't let me have a fish tank in the house. So the answer to how many fish tanks do you have at your house is zero. I do, however, have a massive pond. It's approximately 30 metres long, which is roughly 30 yards long by 25 to 26 metres. Again, 25 to 26 yards or thereabouts. And it's about 15 to 20 foot deep. It's got fishing platforms on, it's got a boat on there, and it's fantastic because we'll get a real wealth of wildlife in and around that pond. So I think my wife's worried that if I did get a little fish tank in the house, it would start with a little fish tank, just like it started with a little pond, and then it would go into a gigantic one. So that's why she said no fish tanks at all. Aww yeah! Now we see your kids sometimes in your videos. Do they share the same interests as you? My children aren't really bothered about fish tanks. They do like the pond because they like the wildlife that comes and is associated with the pond. But they're not really bothered about fish tanks. I did actually put a fish tank in my daughter's room, but she didn't like it. And my wife made me take it out. It lasted a day. My children are more interested in, well, my daughter is interested in wildlife and also survival skills. She's been bugging me this year to do more bushcraft like shelter building, building traps, finding wild food, making fire, all that sort of thing. And you would think my son would be interested in that. He does like it, but he's not as interested in that as my daughter. He's banging into his football. By football, I mean soccer for U.S. viewers. He's really excellent at football, and I hope he goes all the way with that because it's a good sport to be in. It teaches him discipline. He has to be disciplined and committed to the sport, and it'll also keep his fitness levels up as well. Now, I have a series called My Top Three, and what I want to know is what is your top three hobbies? The top three hobbies I'm involved with are probably metal detecting. I like bushcraft because I think they are very important skills to learn, not only now but also for the future, for when society breaks down and there's some sort of apocalypse, you know. It's always good to have those skills. And I like cycling as well. I'm banging into mountain biking. But I don't really like the downhill mountain biking. I actually prefer going uphill, off-road. I like it really difficult and technical. So metal detecting, bushcraft and wildlife and What the hell was the third thing? And cycling. They're my top three hobbies that I do. I have got quite a lot of other hobbies. I go fishing. I like to go out for walks. Oh man, I'm quite a busy guy. Now my last question is, are there any plans, projects, or series come to your channel in the near future? Ooh, future plans and projects for my channel. Well, there's gonna be quite a lot more videos this year. I'm gonna add to the thousand and odd that I've got on there. And really, with regard to the videos, I want to try and make them more informative and make them slightly better quality as well. Make sure that I present them better, edit them better, and just make them more viewable. And as far as the subjects go, there's going to be a lot more bushcraft videos. There's probably going to be less pond videos because I've actually given up putting ponds in. And that's because I've got an internet business. Which is selling stuff, and that's grown to the point whereby I don't have to do the landscaping. I can work from home, and I can be there for the kids in the morning and on a night. I can have the house tidy, and I can still be earning money whilst the dinner's cooking. So it's spot on. It's a really, it's a good business to be in. I also intend, with the help of some companies, or a company. Developing a filter using a special sort of pump that hasn't been seen before for use in aquariums. And when people see it, they're going to say, that's just so obvious, why has nobody thought of it? I always like to innovate, and to be honest, I don't watch many aquatic videos. The ones I do watch tend to be ones that people have sent to me. Have you seen this idea? Have you seen that idea? But I like to come up with my own ideas, I mean quite a lot of you have probably seen the internal moving bed filters, I came up with that idea years ago and people have taken that and run with it and more often than not passed it off as their own ideas, which doesn't bother me. As long as the idea is out there I'm fine with that. Recently I came up with an idea for an invisible internal filter which seems to have gone really well and I want to develop that with this new pump. and create something that's really special, so if and when I do that, there's going to be some very interesting videos coming up. I'm the sort of guy who, because I work from home, on the internet, and although the shop's mine, I pay somebody else to run it for me, I don't have a very structured life. It's very structured when I'm there with my wife and kids, in the morning, and on a night. Between that, I never really know what I'm going to do, so as far as future plans go for my channel, I couldn't say exactly what I'm going to do, and I really like that. I would hate to have a 9-5 job, knowing what I'm going to be doing tomorrow, the next day, the day after, that would absolutely kill me. So as far as what's going to happen with my channel and what videos are going to come up... I do have some vague ideas which I've explained, but it's probably just a case of watch this space. Big shout out to you, Richard, taking the time to do this video. Really do appreciate it. Yeah man, thanks very much for having us. I much appreciate it. It's good to get out there and spew my nonsense. I never plan what I'm going to say, so if I did plan it, it wouldn't be a surprise. I like what I'm going to say to be as much as a surprise to me as it is to the viewer. Problem is with that, when I'm making my own videos, it takes a hell of a lot of editing. But I'd rather do that than have a set list of exactly what I'm going to say because that will be so boring. Thanks very much for having us and I do wish you the best of luck with your channel. Alright guys, it's been another one-on-one with the Rick. If you have a suggestion for another one-on-one, please leave it down below. And as always, rate, comment and subscribe. Thanks for watching.