Your resolutions for 2025… and they might surprise you!

A big thank you first of all to the 400 of you who kindly answered a questionnaire we sent out.

Not everyone received it because I would have been quite unable to handle more, but this randomly selected sample was kind enough to respond almost fully (354 answers). I see in this the strength of our bond and our community of enthusiasts, and it warmed my heart.

Many open questions (to avoid confining to ready-made answers), which means a huge amount of work to process, as it is not enough to just tick answers in an Excel sheet!

 

It now seems right to me to share with you all the lessons from this work, of which no other example existed to my knowledge until now.

We had titled the study: “natural aquarium 2025,” with the goal of being able to give you the results before the end of the year.

The questions concerned the “good aquarium-keeping resolutions for 2025” of the people surveyed.

 

So here is your aquarium-keeping for 2025, as you express your wishes at the end of this year.

The first and clearest, most widespread lesson concerns the well-being of animals applied to fish.

Overall, fewer fish, or even none at all. And even more and more fish that have “a name,” something that was exceptional just 20 years ago.

About half of the respondents favour few fish, of few different kinds (often just one), in an aquarium made specifically for them. Is this the decline of the community aquarium of my youth, which sometimes looked like a Christmas tree of colours, where fish were chosen for their decorative appearance?

 

A small quarter of you (23%) have even embraced the idea, whether realised or planned for 2025, of an aquarium without fish. Quite simply.

Whether it is shrimp + water lice or just water lice, the idea is growing strongly.

It seems that what appeals is the idea that a very small invertebrate and less mobile probably feels less the impression of captivity.

About ten water lice in 60 litres live in a world much fuller, richer and vaster for them than a guppy in 120 litres, which crosses its length in less than a minute, hundreds of times a day.

On the other hand, almost no one (barely 8%) envisages an aquarium without a profusion of plants. It is the idea of the water garden, each month a little different, a joyful jungle in which fish or invertebrates can hide, live their lives without us, and thus increase the pleasure of watching them. The term “wild life” often comes up in your answers and I find it interesting.

Turning off the filter remains a very debated point. The number of you who have taken the step, seeing that no disaster occurs, is growing (you are around 30%). But this point remains much harder than the others, because it must be admitted that it is the opposite of everything we have been taught. And also obviously the opposite of the aquarium trade’s message.

 

Among the perceived advantages of natural aquarium-keeping, for those who have really committed to it, we find mixed together the following perceived benefits (in order of number of mentions):

- Less time spent “maintaining” or “fixing,” and more time spent watching.

- It is much more educational for children

- The aquarium is quiet

- Size is no longer a problem

- The cost is lower, especially if you include the countless remedies and others

- I no longer feel guilty for the fish, imported and living “in a cage”

- The fish seem calmer, more “busy”

- The fry always find food on their own

- We start to think in biological cycles rather than technology, filter power, etc.

- There are regular surprises: unexpected water lice, snail egg-laying, water lice mating, etc.

Almost all those who switched to natural aquarium-keeping have given up heating, which uses a lot of energy and is little useful in homes at 20°C.

Finally, fans of the “trash aquarium” seem stable (less than 20% of answers). It is true that you need a garden and not everyone can therefore take it up.

About twenty people (23) wished to tell us about setting up a fishless aquarium at home, intended to serve as a support for regular meditation.

 

One last question I wanted to include in the questionnaire was “have you placed a magnifying glass near your aquarium?”

The answer surprised me, since it is a “yes” at 12%! Which is not nothing, after all.

So I am not the only mad one who watches his aquariums this way, searching for the micro-fauna, so fascinating…

 

And you, what are your aquarium-keeping resolutions and plans for 2025?