Fish keeping absolutes

[Uberhoust]

Talking about debunking absolutes, I just came upon a website which has information that I find very thought-provoking. Some of the more controversial claims being about water parameters: the relative unimportance of gh, kh and ph vis-a-vis filtration (particularly regarding soft water fish); how maintaining consistency (even with temperature) is an over-obsession and unjustified in the hobby; there are even some unorthodox views concerning stocking (I found those about goldfish particularly interesting). Just thought I’d share….

I read some of these and really they are opinions in my mind. Didn't see a lot of science involved, but I might not be looking at the right articles. I find the URL name a bit misleading, though like most of us the author is just giving his opinion.

 

[itiwhetu]

How about;
Fish live in water.
Now that must be an absolute

 

[GaryE]

There are several hyper links where he goes into more detail about various topics. He does qualify some of the more general statements, for example, pointing out specific requirements for eggs and fry of certain species. I haven’t read through everything yet, but I’m very much intrigued.

It's all worth exploring, but I could easily call myself 'science based pontificator" as a handle here, and write some garbage (some will say I do without the name!). I've done a lot of work with fish for whom water adjustment is essential. I've even seen fish within a species where specimens from one capture river thrive in different water from the other, and can't breed in each others' conditions. Am I scientist? Nope. But there is a body of literature that refutes some of his points. Certainly not all. He says some thing that would get you yelled at on this forum, but that are true in my experience and reading.
I'll dig into his site more. Grounded troublemakers make you think, even if sometimes they're wrong.

How about;
Fish live in water.
Now that must be an absolute

Nope. Mudskippers have been found in trees, and while they need to go back to water, they also live outside it. A lot of the Rivuline killifish of the Carribean region, and into South America are caught in the wet leaf litter outside of streams, and regularly hang out out of water in properly set up fishtanks. They are fish, but basically amphibians in practice.