In another thread, the question of fishkeeping fads came up and it got me thinking of the major ones I've seen come and largely go, often after much discussion. Here are the ones I recall, going back to the 1970s.
I'm not going by whether they are tasteful, cool etc. I mean fads that were big and have now declined or even vanished.
1. Old water. It was widely believed that old, unchanged water, pale yellow for some reason, had semi-magical properties for avoiding disease. That one got flushed early.
2. The Balanced Aquarium. It was to be your goal to create a no water change aquarium by creating a perfect balance of light, nutrients, plants, waste, feeding, stocking. Then somehow that balance would maintain itself in your tank. That still comes back, usually sold by white haired men with suspenders (for some reason) on youtube. It still begs the question of how you would maintain perfection unchanged. I was a sucker for that one in my teens.
3. The deep gravel tank, working with an undergravel filter. This one was a tech change, because with water changes, it worked very well. The drawback that killed it was the arrival of power filters, which meant you didn't have to look at 3 or 4 inches of coarse gravel anymore.
4. The shiny bare tank, with glass pots holding plants and almost daily vacuuming. It was awful for watching fish behaviour in, as many fish dig to eat, nest, etc, and was too much work to keep shiny. Some versions included submerged multicolour lights. Discus or Disco? You could have both.
5. The fancy substrate fad, ongoing. Iron laterite, cat litter, dirt of various types... It often worked, but had a way of going very wrong. The negatives seem to have outweighed the positives and it is becoming less and less of a thing. Diana Walstad did serious research and presented her method in a book most who followed her didn't read. Most just sort of set up according to what someone who said they read the book suggested they should do. There are great dirted tanks out there, but that one's now a niche.
6. The perfect zen scape - magnificent set ups that were works of conceptual art. Most were set up, photographed and torn down. Perfection is always temporary, and living things used as an artistic medium do what they need to do, not what the artists thinks they should do. It was great art, for a fleeting moment.
7. Tube tanks - side by side 1980s tanks with cylinder shaped connecting tubes so you could see your fish look like commuters trying to cross a highway to get from a bus to a train station. Even the acrylic ones must have been fragile to move, and fish aren't hamsters anyway.
8. The Sponge Bob tank - an ongoing alternative to natural, twinned with the ceramic skull tank, the sunken battleship, the sketchy mermaid or the freshwater Nemo. None can compare to my 1974 sunken Spanish Galleon tank. Sorry. It's how it is. It was the best, but I took no photos back then.
I don't know what the next fad will be, after the Glo-Fish tanks runs out of steam. Glo-tanks combined with #4, the disco tank?
Anyone have any others they've done or seen?
I'm not going by whether they are tasteful, cool etc. I mean fads that were big and have now declined or even vanished.
1. Old water. It was widely believed that old, unchanged water, pale yellow for some reason, had semi-magical properties for avoiding disease. That one got flushed early.
2. The Balanced Aquarium. It was to be your goal to create a no water change aquarium by creating a perfect balance of light, nutrients, plants, waste, feeding, stocking. Then somehow that balance would maintain itself in your tank. That still comes back, usually sold by white haired men with suspenders (for some reason) on youtube. It still begs the question of how you would maintain perfection unchanged. I was a sucker for that one in my teens.
3. The deep gravel tank, working with an undergravel filter. This one was a tech change, because with water changes, it worked very well. The drawback that killed it was the arrival of power filters, which meant you didn't have to look at 3 or 4 inches of coarse gravel anymore.
4. The shiny bare tank, with glass pots holding plants and almost daily vacuuming. It was awful for watching fish behaviour in, as many fish dig to eat, nest, etc, and was too much work to keep shiny. Some versions included submerged multicolour lights. Discus or Disco? You could have both.
5. The fancy substrate fad, ongoing. Iron laterite, cat litter, dirt of various types... It often worked, but had a way of going very wrong. The negatives seem to have outweighed the positives and it is becoming less and less of a thing. Diana Walstad did serious research and presented her method in a book most who followed her didn't read. Most just sort of set up according to what someone who said they read the book suggested they should do. There are great dirted tanks out there, but that one's now a niche.
6. The perfect zen scape - magnificent set ups that were works of conceptual art. Most were set up, photographed and torn down. Perfection is always temporary, and living things used as an artistic medium do what they need to do, not what the artists thinks they should do. It was great art, for a fleeting moment.
7. Tube tanks - side by side 1980s tanks with cylinder shaped connecting tubes so you could see your fish look like commuters trying to cross a highway to get from a bus to a train station. Even the acrylic ones must have been fragile to move, and fish aren't hamsters anyway.
8. The Sponge Bob tank - an ongoing alternative to natural, twinned with the ceramic skull tank, the sunken battleship, the sketchy mermaid or the freshwater Nemo. None can compare to my 1974 sunken Spanish Galleon tank. Sorry. It's how it is. It was the best, but I took no photos back then.
I don't know what the next fad will be, after the Glo-Fish tanks runs out of steam. Glo-tanks combined with #4, the disco tank?
Anyone have any others they've done or seen?
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