GO BIG, OR STAY HOME!?
by Lynn McMullen
London Aquaria Society April 2001
Aquarticles
Well, right away, I have to say that the title doesn’t do a thing for me, because
I am one of the hobbyists who actually prefers to work with a smaller aquarium. Do you
remember the saying that people often quote that “size doesn’t matter”? In
this circumstance, it certainly does. I’ve “done some time” as a retail
sales person (among other things) in both large and small aquarium shops, and I was good
at it - people specifically sought out my advice, because I learned one simple piece of
wisdom that works no matter where or when you choose to apply it: EVERYTHING is relative
to something else.
Almost every book or piece of information that is currently available and deals with
tropical fishkeeping, will advise one to “get the largest tank you can afford”.
Each of these books pushes the assumption that a larger volume of water is inherently more
stable and therefore, easier to maintain in terms of water quality. They also point out
that larger tanks provide an opportunity to have a more diverse and larger population of
fish, and that the beginning hobbyist will more likely be successful with a large tank
than a small one.
I take issue with some of these claims. I feel that apart from the temperature factor (
a larger volume of water truly is less likely to change as quickly as a small tank), most
of the “safety valves” claimed to exist in a large tank can, in fact, be a
hidden booby trap for the unwary beginner.
Physically, a large volume of water requires arge water changes - obviously not a
rocket science equation. A 25% water change on a 20 gallon tank is going to equal 5
gallons (or, one good bucketful), whereas, a 100 gallon tank is going to need 25 gallons
changed - read that as five good bucketsful!! This can be a daunting figure to a 12
year-old who wants to get started in the hobby, or to the slender, unmuscular mother who
knows she is going to be the one taking care of the tank after a short time. Especially
when you couple those figures with the fact that they should be doubled - when you take
five buckets out, you have to replace it with five more buckets!! Ouch!!
Large tanks LOOK big, and as for all aquariums, they should be cycled in. This oftern
leaves the purchaser feeling as if he’s spending an awfully long time looking at a
big old, empty glass box full of water. The immediate reaction is to go out and have a
little shopping spree, thus overcompensating and crowding in fishes way too soon,
triggering the dreaded “new tank syndrome”.
Everyone, but everyone, overfeeds their aquariums when they start out in the hobby.
Some will keep overfeeding regardless of how much they “know better”. It seems
to be a built-in instinct for us. Large tanks are shockingly easy to over-feed.
Sympathetic fish owners are SURE that the fish won’t find the food, and they react by
making very sure (with interest!) that there’s plenty for everyone, including a
lovely little carpet of left-overs - just in case the fish want to snack a bit later on.
An experienced fish-keeper will simply siphon up the excess, but a novice don’t know
that it IS excess - and when he finally figures it out, the idea of doing a water change
makes him shy away - remember, he may have to move an awful lot of water, and he may think
it has to be done DAILY.
Now, don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying that large tanks are bad or that no
one should have one. I am trying to establish that large tanks aren’t right for
everyone, and not for a beginner at all. For some people, they are perfect and wonderful;
but there are some who need to stay with the smaller tanks, and still others who choose
the smaller tanks by preference rather than need. Size is definitely relative . . .
For myself, I like a tank that’s about four feet long, and to be ideal for my
purposes, it shouldn’t be deeper than 20 inches. I have fairly short arms, and in
order to be able to perform effective water changes and aquascape well, I need to be able
to touch the entire floor of the tank. True, the gravel vacuum can extend my reach by a
foot and there are planting aids (poles with a notch in the end) available on the market
which make it possible to reach farther in a deep tank, but I like the comfort of being
able to reach any location in my tanks at a moment’s notice, without special aids
like stools. I may need to rearrange something fast!!
The most priceless piece of equipment a budding hobbyist can obtain to further himself
is knowledge. Armed with this, one can make informed choices and be able to modify a
habitat if necessary, or alter equipment to fit their needs. A small aquarium may have
some serious drawbacks, but with knowledge to back you up, almost every one of these
hazards can be effectively countered. Water quality can be more easily maintained and more
readily when water changes can be measured by the gallon or less; stocking a small tank is
less likely to be rushed because a small tank looks full more quickly. Six or so neon
tetras makes a ten galon tank more active-looking than the same number of swordtails in a
48 gallon tank. This makes people less inclined to go shop for more fish “just so it
doesn’t look so empty”.
I believe the best solution all around is to strike for the “happy medium”.
An eighty gallon tank can be scary in terms of physical labour and cost whereas a twenty
gallon tank can fit almost any location without special fittings or engineering
requirements to worry about, and still leave room for some diversity of population. Then,
should the aquarium “bug” bite deep and hard, there is still the option of
adding another tank - often larger. When a “newbie” gets his first tank, and
gets comfortable with it, chances are good that they WILL branch out to “bigger and
better”. After all, isn’t that what has happened to most experienced hobbyists?
The day you look forward to filling and maintaining an aquarium that requires you to
move at least sixteen 5-gallon buckets of water, you’ll know you’ve hit the big
time, but if a happy medium for you is a twenty-gallon tank, smile and be proud! Better by
far to excel at keeping even a five-gallon tank than to fail once with an eighty-gallon
and feel so discouraged that the hobby loses a potential friend!
Come on in - the water’s fine!!
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