98. Aquarium Myths That Just Won’t Go Away 1
Ben, Amy, and Charles have explored aquarium-related myths in the past, but since many of these myths seem determined to stick around the staff at Water Colors Aquarium Gallery have decided to reexamine them. We’d love to hear about myths you wish would go away in the Water Colors Aquarium Gallery Podcast Listeners Facebook group.
Addendums:
– For the first 18mins of the podcast, part of our audio equipment was set-up incorrectly and it took us about that long to realize it. The discussion in that first 18mins flowed too well for us to want to delete it entirely. So, please bear with the initially weird audio. If you must skip past the reverb; it gets better at 18mins 25secs.
– While talking about “ecosystem” aquariums, Amy and Charles were trying to remember the colloquial term “balanced aquarium” which describes a theoretical planted aquarium that does not require water changes in which fish and plants both thrive.
Hi guys, thanks for the podcast. You guys motivate me to learn about the fish-keeping/aquascaping world. I find the debate around tank sizes for bettas very interesting. While I agree with you guys that this new standard of bettas needing 5/10 gallons is not really based on any evidence, I think some of your reasoning is flawed; that is, bettas have been domesticated and bred as ornamental or fighting fish for a long time. They’re far removed from their wild-type (WT) counterparts. The argument that just because WT bettas live and reproduce in small bodies of waters does not mean our pet bettas should as well. Another reason why we shouldn’t model their “natural” environment is that WT bettas don’t live very long. You’re right in that people have focused so much on tank size that they neglect other (probably more important) factors like aquarium depth and enrichment. However, for the average betta keeper, the advice that they would need a bigger tank is best since it’s already tough convincing people they need a thermometer, clean water, delicate ornamentation (fin damage), etc. For your average listener, I think you did a good job making people question how to best keep these awesome fish.