7 things to know about the natural aquarium
Science is progressing faster than ever before. Its advances are disrupting our knowledge and practices in all fields. This is the case with aquaristics, which is not left out of scientific progress in the life sciences such as ecology, microbiology, and even animal sensitivity.
"I have therefore tried to gather here the 7 points that seem to me to be the main pillars of natural aquaristics towards which more and more of us are being drawn."
1 – Fish feel stress and pleasure
Recent research shows it: the legend of the memoryless fish or the machine-like fish without sensitivity is false. Our fish feel stress strongly, particularly in aquariums: captivity, constant view of humans, transparent walls, noise from pumps and aerators, artificial light turning on and off abruptly, etc.
This stress makes them vulnerable to changes in parameters and temperature, whereas they are less sensitive to it in nature. A fish in a pond that dives upon seeing you "absorbs" a difference of 5 to 6 degrees in just a few seconds between the surface and the bottom!
Natural aquaristics aims to reduce stress (less technology, less sterile environment...) and instead seeks sources of pleasure.
Natural food is essential for this, as it corresponds to the natural behavior of fish. Its movements (like the bouncing swim of a daphnia !) stimulate the fish's instinct to chase.
2 – Microbes are not our enemies
The classic approach to aquaristics tended to be wary of microbes, contenting itself with searching for the bacteria responsible for the nitrogen cycle, sometimes sold in cloned doses from laboratories!
Recent discoveries show that water in nature is alive with numerous suspended microbes. The walls and aquatic soil, in nature, are literally covered with a "biofilm" made up of millions of different species of bacteria, fungi, yeasts, viruses, etc.
This explains why traditional aquariums are so unstable.
Natural aquaristics uses micro-fauna to provide aquariums with a true complete and complex natural microbiome.
3 – The filter is not necessary
"No aquarium without a filter, we have learned!"
But the pump filter was initially just the brilliant idea of a manufacturer of electric train engines to diversify! Marketing did the rest...
Filtering impurities may have aesthetic interest, but what about the discourse on the biological function of the filter?
It would allow for the hosting of bacteria that convert ammonia into nitrites, and then nitrites into nitrates.
It is now known that these bacteria, in the absence of a filter, are present everywhere in the aquarium: in the substrate, on the stones, the sand, the plants, suspended in the water, or in the form of invisible films.
Thus, if we remove the filter, the waste will settle at the bottom, just like in nature (your snails will love it!), and the nitrogen cycle will work just as well.
Less noise, less current (and therefore less need to add CO2!), more risk of sucking up your fragile fry... And above all, one less purchase and one less monthly chore!
4 – Complexifier rather than simplify
"Our reflex, when faced with a problem, is to eliminate the problem."
"We have an aphid on our tomatoes, so we buy a product that kills the aphid. But this binary approach works poorly with the living, the realm of complexity. We kill the aphids, and therefore the ladybugs that will be hungry, and the other insects will also die."
Our tomatoes are no longer protected by anyone, making us dependent on the product merchant!
We then only moved the problem...
The same logic exists in aquaristics where, for every problem we eliminate, we often attract the next one, in a spiral that the microbial poverty of our aquariums cannot stop.
Conversely, in natural aquaristics, the aim is to multiply life forms and species (biodiversity), and even more so in the realm of microbes. No species can thrive or invade the environment if it is competed against by dozens of others! A stable balance then forms, in which everyone maintains respect for one another!
5 – The green water is not a big drama
Perfect example of the problem that makes us rush to the merchant to buy a magical chemical vial: the green water.
All aquariums go through this phase one day.
It often disappears on its own and is then just an aesthetic inconvenience. The fish are not bothered, and are even quite happy to feel hidden from your view!
But if these suspended algae die suddenly, they can, by decomposing, deprive the entire aquarium of oxygen and turn it into a graveyard.
At Aquazolla, instead of destroying the algae by introducing a toxic chemical element for them, we install a net for daphnia, the Zolla’Clear (see the ZollaBox Clear Water), in which the daphnia feed by filtering these algae away from the fish. The water becomes clear again, and the algae are transformed into daphnia that the fish love!
6 – No fish without snails
Fish, strangely enough, are the main problem of the aquarium!
Indeed, they eat all the critters that, in nature, break down waste. The slightest worm, shrimp, amphipod, ostracod, or water louse ends up in their stomach.
We therefore obtain an environment with fish, microbes, and nothing in between...
Hence the need to introduce snails, which are the only "armored" detritivores, and therefore capable of withstanding fish.
The missing link is then... no longer missing!
7 – And why not an aquarium without fish?
This brings us to a somewhat new reflection, but one that is gaining more and more followers.
If the problem is the fish, why not do without it?
"We therefore see the emergence of aquariums with a very natural appearance where the most varied creatures can finally thrive safely, true aquatic gardens where plants benefit from perfect biological cycles."
These fascinating little jungles require very little maintenance, if any at all, and one can spend hours meditating, captivated by the endless spectacle of hundreds of creatures of all kinds. The magnifying glass that sits next to these aquariums reveals many wonders.
Children learn so many things there effortlessly, just for pleasure.
Mattier, August 4, 2023