May 11, 2018

Radical moves...Or subtle iterations?

Have you ever done a radical change on an already established aquarium?

You know, the one that was going to be the Apistogramma biotope tank and it suddenly evolved into a wild livebearer tank, or the African cichlid tank that mutated into a brackish water aquarium?

Stuff like that?

I was thinking about this the other day when I was doing a water change on my blackwater aquarium. I was thinking to myself, "Man, it would be so easy to turn this characin-dominated Amazonina-region-themed tank into a tank into an Asian-themed tank. A few little tweaks, and..."

I almost just went for it...

Sometimes it's thinking about a fish that does it...Or seeing a pic from nature, or the work of a fellow fish geek.

It inspires me to edit or even wet to do a wholesale change...Most of the time, I simply "edit" what I have to "scratch the itch"...

Yeah, "editing" is pretty easy. A little movement of the wood stack...a change in the orientation of some botanicals...shifting sand around a bit. Stuff like that.

Easy.

However, what about when you're thinking about, for example- one blackwater habitat for another- from a different part of the world, for example. How is it when you do something really radically different, like switching from one environment to another?

Ever done that?

I've had times when I just woke up and turned a tank on end into something totally different...

And it worked out pretty well, actually...But it's almost a "shock-trauma" of sorts...One minute it's leaf litter and Manzanita, the next minute your tank is filled with Mopani and Palm fronds....

Yeah, I did that...

And it's kind of fun, too...Just doing different stuff on the spur of the moment...I love that sort of thing. It prompts a sort of spontaneous creativity that is a distinct departure from our uber-patient typical selves, right?