7 things to know about the natural fish tank
Science advances faster than ever before. Its breakthroughs overturn our knowledge and practices in all fields. This is true for fishkeeping, which does not remain untouched by scientific progress in 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 fishkeeping, towards which more and more of us are drawn.
1 – Fish feel stress and pleasure
Recent research shows it: the legend of the fish without memory or the fish-machine without feeling is false. Our fish strongly feel stress, especially in aquariums: captivity, constant view of humans, transparent walls, pump and aerator noises, artificial light turning on and off suddenly, and so on.
This stress makes them vulnerable to changes in parameters and temperature, whereas they are little sensitive to these in nature. A fish in a pond that dives when it sees you can withstand a 5 to 6 degree difference in a few seconds between surface and bottom!
Natural fishkeeping aims to reduce stress (less technology, less sterile environment...) and instead seeks sources of pleasure.
Natural food is essential for this, since it matches the natural behavior of fish. Its movements (like the hopping swim of a daphnia!) stimulate the fish’s chasing instinct.
2 – Microbes are not our enemies
The classic approach to fishkeeping tended to distrust microbes, only looking for bacteria responsible for the nitrogen cycle, sometimes sold in cloned doses from laboratories!
Recent discoveries show that water in nature is alive with many microbes in suspension. The aquatic walls and soil, in nature, are literally covered with a “biofilm” made up of millions of different species of bacteria, fungi, yeasts, viruses, and so on.
This explains why traditional aquariums are so unstable.
Natural fishkeeping uses micro-fauna to provide aquariums with a true natural, complete, and complex microbiota.
3 – The filter is not necessary
"No aquarium without a filter, we have learned!"
But the pump filter was originally just the brilliant idea of a maker of motors for electric trains to diversify! Marketing did the rest…
Filtering impurities may have an aesthetic interest but what about the claim about the biological function of the filter?
It would host bacteria that transform ammonia into nitrites, then nitrites into nitrates.
We now know that these bacteria, without a filter, are present everywhere in the aquarium: in the soil, on stones, sand, plants, suspended in the water or as invisible films.
Thus, if the filter is removed, waste will settle at the bottom, as in nature (your snails will feast!), and the nitrogen cycle will work just as well.
Less noise, less current (and so no need to add CO2!), less risk of sucking in your fragile fry… And above all, one less purchase and monthly chore!
4 – Make it more complex rather than simpler
Our reflex, faced with a problem, is to remove the problem.
We have aphids on our tomatoes, so we buy a product that kills the aphids. But this binary approach works poorly with living things, the realm of complexity. We kill the aphids, and so the ladybirds that will be hungry, and other insects also die.
Our tomatoes are no longer protected by anyone, making us dependent on the product seller!
We have only moved the problem...
The same logic exists in fishkeeping where, with each problem removed, the next often appears, in a spiral that the microbial poverty of our aquariums cannot stop.
On the contrary, in natural fishkeeping, the aim is to multiply life forms and species (biodiversity), especially in the realm of microbes. No species can overrun or invade the environment if it is competed against by dozens of others! A stable balance then forms, in which everyone keeps each other in check!
5 – Green water is not a great disaster
A perfect example of the problem that makes us rush to the shop to buy a magic chemical vial: green water.
All aquariums experience this phase one day.
It often disappears on its own and is then only an aesthetic nuisance. The fish are not bothered, and even rather happy to feel hidden from your view!
But if these suspended algae die suddenly, they can, by decomposing, deprive the whole aquarium of oxygen and turn it into a graveyard.
At Aquazolla, instead of destroying the algae by introducing a chemical element toxic to them, we install a daphnia net, 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 turned into daphnia that the fish love!
6 – No fish without snails
Fish, strangely, are the main problem in the aquarium!
Indeed, they eat all the little creatures that, in nature, break down waste. The smallest worm, shrimp, scud, ostracod, or water louse ends up in their stomach.
So we get an environment with fish, microbes, and nothing in between…
Hence the need to introduce snails, which are the only tough detritus-eating creatures able to resist fish.
The missing link is then… no longer missing!
7 – And why not an aquarium without fish?
This leads us to a somewhat new reflection, but one gaining more and more followers.
If the problem is the fish, why not do without them?
We thus see aquariums with a very natural look where the most varied little creatures can finally live safely, true water gardens where plants benefit from perfect biological cycles.
These little fascinating jungles require very little upkeep, even none, and one spends hours meditating, fascinated by the endless show of hundreds of little creatures of all kinds. The magnifying glass next to these aquariums reveals many wonders.
Children learn so much there without effort, just for pleasure.
Mattier, August 4, 2023