LEARNING

This is my first blog ever, so I better make it short. It’s about what I don’t know, which is considerable even after more than a half century of keeping aquarium fish and making lots of mistakes. The first aquarium I ever saw belonged to a neighbor across the street, and it was during World War II. I mention the war only because it meant that consumer goods were in short supply, and the aquarium hobby was way down the priority list. This aquarium, though, was one of the best I’ve ever seen. No, it was THE best.

It had a regular stainless steel frame, black putty sealer, white sand substrate and a heavy planting of  valesneria and hornwort. At least, that’s how I remember the plants. The aquarium’s capacity was around 15 gallons, and its accessories were absolutely nothing. No bubbles. No filter. No heater. No light except for what came through the window. The fish were common guppies. Nobody had even heard of fancy ones at the time. Nonetheless, their colors were just about everything in the rainbow and iridescent. Even as a little Indiana boy, I could sit and watch the thing for hours — well, quite a few minutes for sure.

Unlike any aquarium I’ve seen since then, it was a self sustaining ecological system. My across the street neighbor must have known quite a bit about aquarium keeping, but he didn’t share the secrets with me. Using technology, I have striven, strove and all the other verb conjugations to duplicate his results but have never completely succeeded. It keeps me believing that there are still many things to learn. And it says that if a person corrects my errors, I should be thankful rather than resentful.