August 11, 2021

As human beings, thankfully, each one of us is different. As hobbyists, this is especially true, and completely evident when one considers the wide variety of approaches we take to creating and managing our aquariums.

And, fish geeks being fish geeks, we all have our little idiosyncrasies and quirks. I know that I have some that get to me.

Like, a desire to make radical changes, seemingly out of the blue. Now, sure, I am the guy who gives a lot of his tanks and ideas plenty of time and space to "breathe" and develop over time. I'm pretty patient when it come to letting my tanks evolve.

However, I admit- I DO like to change stuff up sometimes.

Ever wake up one morning and...it just..hits you? That urge to change up your aquarium; it's look, "theme"- whatever?

Yeah.

I don't think that it's just a "me" thing, either.

It's part of being a fish geek, I think.

We look at our existing aquarium and say, "I really love it, but...."

We reach for some towels, grab a bucket, and it's on!

I think it's part of the mental makeup- the fabric, if you will- of the fish geek.

We're sort of almost "programmed" to want to switch stuff up after a while, right? It's like we want to create, modify, renew...or just try something different.

For many hobbyists, their one aquarium is the only one they can have- at least for now, but possibly forever. Space, economics, time, etc, all come into play, and there really isn't much you can do except work with the one you've got. I mean, it's a blessing to have even one...but to the serious fish geek, that desire to move on to a greener pasture (or should we say, "bluer river?")-to just taste some new stuff- seldom retreats.

I've been resigned at home to some small, temporary tanks until I complete a major remodeling project, and it's been a real test of my patience working with these makeshift systems until I can once again set up my larger, permanent tanks. And I find that they don't seem to hold my interest as long as the larger tanks do.

Can you relate?

I think- think- that it's often augmented by my desire as the Tannin "mothership" and a need to continuously showcase new ideas and botanicals. Well, maybe that's an excuse.

But hey, we all love to try new stuff, right?

I know that I do.

And it's funny, because I think that even though I fancy myself as this restless "conceptual" guy who is constantly evolving his ideas, the reality is that my "makeovers" are seldom that radical- rather, their little iterations that represent incremental changes or improvements over previous designs.

I tend to "stay in my lane", and not stray all that far from it.

I almost envy those of you who can make radical changes at the spur of the moment without regret or a whole lot of consideration.

I often wonder why I play with such a tight set of characteristics- you know, certain wood arrangements, use of specific textures, colors, etc. Although I'm definitely prone to "over-analyzing" stuff at times, it's fun now and then to step out of my own mind and look at stuff as if I'm a "third party" of sorts.

Maybe I have that sort of "comfort zone" that I tend not to push myself out too far from. I mean, I operate in a pretty radical "sector" already- the blackwater, botanical-style world. It's not everyone's cup of tea, being pretty different from the conventional, "clear water" aquariums we all know so well. I realized a long term ago that, when I make changes to my tanks, they're almost always more like "iterations" of the existing concept.

Yeah, the "next steps" are often subtle in nature.

And I think that it's sort of "baked into" the idea of botanical-style aquariums: We set the stage for what nature does. Rather than trying to create a "finished product", I think those who operate in our arena tend to set the stage and let Nature do the rest of the work over time.

Interestingly, you can still make seemingly dramatic changes to your aquariums, and yet leave considerable parts of them intact and functional. This works great with botanical-style aquariums.

Nature does this all the time.

The idea of leaving the substrate and leaf litter/botanical "bed" intact as you "remodel" isn't exactly a crazy one. And conceptually, it's sort of replicates what occurs in Nature! Materials accumulate on top of other materials, facilitating new biological growth, continued foraging for resident fishes, and a more or less uninterrupted ecology.

Yeah, think about this for just a second.

As we almost constantly discuss, habitats like flooded forests (Igapo and Varzea), meadows, vernal pools, igarape, and swollen streams, which tend to encompass terrestrial habitats, or go through phases where they are terrestrial habitats- for a good part of the year.

In these wild habitats, the leaves, branches, soils, and other botanical materials remain in place, or are added to by dynamic, seasonal processes. For the most part, the soil, branches, and a fair amount of the more "durable" seed pods and such remain present during both phases.

The biggest "disruption" in these habitats is often the transformation from terrestrial to aquatic. However, the "hardscape" (to borrow an aquarium term) largely remains intact.

Sure, a "makeover" of an aquarium can be a seriously disruptive event (for both YOU and your fishes!).

On the other hand, if you take the mindset that this is a "transformation" of sorts, and act accordingly, it becomes more of an evolutionary process. This is something I've done for many years- like a lot of you have, and it not only makes your life a bit easier- it can create pretty good outcomes for the fishes we keep.

The "Urban Igapo" idea that I've been touting for a good part of the past 3 years is a very deliberate execution of this "iterative process", and it's taught me quite a bit about how these habitats function in Nature, and what kinds of benefits they bring to the aquarium.

We've talked about the idea of "flooding" an aquarium setup designed to replicate an Amazonian forest before. You know, sort of attempting to simulate some of the processes which happen seasonally in Nature. With the technology, materials, and information available to us today, the capability of creating a true "year-round" habitat simulation in the confines of an aquarium/vivarium setup has never been more attainable.

These are deliberate, more transformative executions by design.

However, making changes to every existing aquarium does not need to be a super-complicated, highly disruptive thing, right? I’m not advocating 360-degree changes in your aquarium management approach every time something doesn’t give you desired results in 3 days, or every time you're "not feeling it." That's a recipe for chaos.

What I am thinking about here is developing the "mental ability" to get yourself easily out of a situation that is simply not working for you- for the benefit of your animals, budget, time- and sanity. Shit, it’s a hobby, so if you’re not enjoying it, what’s the point?

So, maybe it’s not “move fast and break things” for you…perhaps it’s “move at a nice rate of speed and change moderately quickly when things don’t work out.”

What are the benefits of adopting a “move fast” philosophy- or at least the gist of it- for you as an aquarist?

First, you can test a lot of ideas and concepts on your tank relatively quickly, in “real time”, rather than just reading about them on the forums. If you have a general idea of where you want to go with your tank, but are interested in a few approaches, this is not a bad way to go.

You can work in multiple ideas to see if they work, and throw out the ones that don’t, relatively quickly. Now, again, I’m not talking about major hardware shuffles (“Yeah, the 350 was too small, so three weeks later, I broke it down and ordered a 700.” That’s pure insanity). Nope, I’m talking about “tweaks”, like deciding to feed your predatory fishes only at night- or a few days a week…or, perhaps dosing fertilizers only when the display is dark. Changing flow patterns, feeding times, light combinations. "Pulsing" leaf additions...Tweaking.

Not full-scale, drain-the-tank-and-start-from-scratch overhauls.

Second, you can certainly learn stuff at a more rapid clip, right? If you’re giving yourself the opportunity to “audition” a practice, philosophy, procedure, etc., you can find out if something makes sense a whole lot more than if you commit 1,000 percent to a rigid philosophy of “I’m only going to do it this way.”

Even if you don’t get the "whole picture" of what’s happening in your tank, attempting quick little experiments can give you an indication of the general direction or trend- an answer to a little piece of the puzzle that you can incorporate to evolve more successfully in the long term.

Finally, this philosophy actually can force you to look at things more "honestly."

In other words, if you decided to do something that maybe you thought might not work- by committing yourself to a “nothing is sacred” attitude at the start of your project, you can evaluate things in a more direct manner, and change things up as necessary to assure overall success of the tank and the health of its inhabitants. If you throw the “fun” part back into the equation, and share your trials and tribulations with other hobbyists, it certainly makes it more enjoyable to stop being stubborn and try to make things work, right?

Of course, for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction, right? So, what are the downsides to a rapid-iteration, “move fast and break things” philosophy?

To begin with, you will probably build some “mental debt.” In other words, as you rapidly make changes and move things along, you may tend to overlook other things. Human nature, right? You tend to look at every change or iteration as a big experiment, and that you can “fix stuff later”- a kind of dangerous trap to fall into, especially when you think of the potential impact on living organisms.

It’s one thing to make intelligent, measured changes, but to take shortcuts, non-sustainable work-arounds, and “band aids” harbors potential hidden dangers. Be alert to this. Your “pursuit of perfection” could result, ironically, in you never quite getting it right?

In addition, you might find yourself “burnt out” rather quickly. I mean, if you’re chaotically trying every new idea, every new gadget that’s out there in trying to find quick solutions, you will not likely enjoy this hobby for very long. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, right? I mean, it’s a “hobby” at the end of the day. Yet, each day I read forum posts from dozens of hobbyists who flail helplessly in multiple directions, trying every little thing to "change-up" their tank, in a desperate attempt to solve a relatively simple problem.

Algae issues are notorious for soliciting this kind of behavior- the desire to get the problem “solved” has resulted in many disasters (like using all sorts of chemicals and medications to eradicate algae, when the reality is that it could have been eradicated or managed with husbandry tweaks to begin with…). Some of these "fixes" result in a destroyed biome and dead fishes.

Think before you forge ahead with potentially long-term detrimental "fixes."

So, in summary. Changing stuff up- even relatively rapidly- isn't a bad thing, if it's done for the right reasons. Maybe it's "Aquatic A.D.D." or something (I have this theory, lol), but I think it can actually be a good thing. I even think I understand why some people change up their tanks so often.

With me, I suppose I could rationalize occasional bouts of this "fast change syndrome" by telling myself that it's a matter of wanting to try a lot of concepts out which get's me moving. The desire to move into different directions, despite having limited resources of space, time, or money.

Better to let the full range of your imagination inspire and guide you, instead of limit you. That's why I treasure thinking outside the box so much. Not because it's cool to just do things differently "because." Rather, it's because it's really important to follow up on some of those thoughts and ideas we have. Every single one has the potential to lead to some breakthrough or advancement in the hobby.

Use the relentless flow of ideas- and your ability to execute and accept change- to your advantage.

Every single one has potential.

Don't downplay those ideas that pop into your head from time to time, even if it means changing some stuff up. And they don't always have to be super well thought-out ideas, either.

Sometimes, you can play a "hunch", a "feeling", or a "whim"-and come up with something great.

Can't you think of at least a few things that you tried on a whim, only to realize later that they were incredible efforts that brought you so much joy?