Fish Tank Calculator website I made!

[ambrosia04]

For me, it's a standard social skill we're stuck with. You have to read people and decide what fits with what more scientifically driven info suggests. There are a number of writers here who have changed my mind about things, largely because they've taken a few more lines of writing to give interesting "whys".

It's supposed to be discussion, though it can look like pontification. The more you put into it, the more people may call you out on over generalizations or slack thinking. We all do it it's just that some people try to hide it.

There are also often five ways to effectively solve a problem, depending on what fishkeeping 'philosophy' we have developed. There are some online cult like gurus who stick to one way and one way only, but such fundamentalists are everywhere, even in fishkeeping.

Totally agree with you, it's really great having all this opinions and points of view, but I also like thinking about people how have 0 clue and just want to start.
I've always been more scientifically driven and like researching in databases, websites...
But if I wasn't like that, who should I believe? What could I do to follow every opinion?

I've found myself in the middle of this mindset with the order of stocking for example. Some people told me to put shrimps first to let them settle; while others told that's crazy and they have to be the last addition because of how fragile they are.

The thing is: who would a person believe? Maybe this made people even leave the hobby, we never know.

I for example, just chose what I think is best for them and ngl I don't remember the point I was trying to make was so just give me your advice xD

 

[GaryE]

I'd personally never advise on shrimp, because I don't keep them.

What bothers me is when people tell a newcomer what to do, then refuse to say why. We even see people who make a statement and then say not to disagree with them. I assume that's because they think only stupid people would disagree with them, but it makes them look very insecure and uninformed. People will be people.

Ultimately, you win here by learning questions, not from answers. Once you have what seems to be the right questions, you can then use your good brain to find answers that make sense to you. If you are a reader and researcher who respects data and expertise, it becomes easy.

When I was new to killifish, I bought a species in an auction, couldn't get good info online (early 90s...) and started asking myself questions and finding solutions in spite of my inexperience. I was able to breed and carry forward the extremely rare species, which I later read was almost impossibly difficult to do. I didn't know any better, so I was able to spread the rare fish through the North American hobby. They actually weren't horribly difficult, but they did take time and work. Any motivated new aquarist can learn very quickly, if they're willing to work at getting better at the skills needed. You can have all the experience in the world, but take away motivation, and a beginner who questions will do a better job with a fish than you can.

All you have to do is realize every species is different, and every worked out answer can only be trusted for one question.