Next stop...?

[Tannin Aquatics]

"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone...."



Ok, that's one of the most famous opening voiceovers in television history, and it sort of resonates even today, when we're talking about fish stuff, doesn't it?

Yeah, it does.

You see, in the aquarium hobby, we have hardcore scientific facts, which are virtually indisputable. You know, stuff like the nitrogen cycle, photosynthesis, and the requirement to keep our fishes in water! Sure, aquarists might question, discuss, or argue about how to manage these things, or how they affect our aquariums, but no one really disputes the fact that they are hard and fast rules; things that cannot be circumvented for our convenience.



Then there are those things that fall into the realm of outright fantasy...we call 'em "myths"-stuff like "Fish grow to the size of their aquarium", or "The inch-per-gallon Rule", "Small tanks are easier to manage", etc. These are doctrines that have been adopted by the hobby over the decades because at one point, they may have made sense based on what was known to science at the time. And they were interpreted and re-worked for our purposes, usually to discourage hobbyists from trying stuff that could be detrimental to the fishes they wanted to keep...I mean, who would argue with what appeared to be facts available at the time? (click to read more)