Aquarium Beautiful - 3 Simple Steps

And that's what this hobby ought to be. Pure and simple and basic. Well hello, come right on in. You're in Father Fish. I remember my very first fishbowl. Can't really call it an aquarium. There was a little brook kind of back in the woods a little bit near where I lived in Odenton, Maryland. And he used to go back there and lay on the ground and look in the brook. I was so fascinated. It was a wonderful experience. And I would see little fish and golly, I wanted so much to catch one of those little fish and put it in a jar and keep it and watch it. Well, I found a jar, an old pickle jar, about a gallon pickle jar. And I took it down there and I laid it down in the creek. How old was I? Golly, I think it was seven, seven or eight. Maybe, I don't remember, probably eight. And within a day or two, I noticed fish were swimming in and out of it. So I watched carefully, saw fish come in, tipped it up and caught him. Wow. Picked the jar up out of the water, put a little dirt in from the creek, handful, saw some plants and put those in, then carried it back home. Well, my mother was used to my bringing critters into the house, so she had no problem helping me take it to my bedroom and set it on a bureau where it would get a little bit of sunlight. That was the beginning of the summer and school had ended and I was looking for something to do. Found this and kept it. I kept that fish in that jar all summer long. I would go out in the yard and collect some bugs and some ants and beetles, bring it in and put them in the jar and it ate them all summer long. I remember releasing it. My mother told me I had to let it go at the end of the summer back into the creek. I wasn't doing it because it was easy to do. I was doing it because I really wanted to and I didn't think about it much. I just did it. And I imagine children have been doing that for millennia. A simple, basic, can't really call it an aquarium, I guess, but then again, why not? Why not set up an aquarium and keep it in precisely the same way? A little bit of dirt, little sand to keep it from swirling around, fill it up with water, water from a creek or a pond, gather up some things from the pond, some rocks or twigs or leaves that have fallen in, catch a fish or two, maybe a crayfish, put them in with some plants, if you can find some plants. I mean, how simple, how basic. And you will be amazed how easy it is to keep those little animals alive in that simple, basic tank. And not just alive, but thriving, happy, swimming about, nothing complicated about it, nothing difficult, nothing to cost a boatload of money. No heater, no filter, nothing. Just a jar, a little dirt, some water and a little fish, a plant or two, if you can find it. And feed it some bugs. Come out in the yard and collect some bugs. All summer long, I kept that fish. I learned a lot about it. I watched it eat, learned to feed it, learned to take care of it. And it grew. It was bigger at the end of the summer than it was at the beginning. And at the end of the summer, I took it back to the creek and released it back in the creek. That was my summer adventure. You can do that. You can do just exactly that. There is indeed nothing complicated about this hobby. It is the simplest, most basic hobby you can possibly have. You may want to put a filter in. It keeps the water moving a bit. You may want to put a lunnet, maybe a heater if you're going to get fish that require very warm water. But you don't need much else. You just need to be observant, to pay attention to what the little animals are doing. Pay attention to the plants and how they're growing, to the water, to the substrate, to the bottom, to every aspect. Just pay attention. Look at it. Observe it. Watch it carefully and learn. Learn how to keep it sweet and healthy, clear and clean. Not by getting in there and stirring things up all the time. You never need to do that. But by being gentle and careful and not doing anything that is going to create a problem, like dumping a load of food in. What a terrible thing to do. Would you want to have a bucket full of food thrown on your plate in a meal? Think about what you're doing and do it with care. Do it with love. Do it gently, the way, well, the way nature does it, I guess. If you've ever watched a little brook with a little fish in it, you will see that it's really quite a very gentle process. Oh, there may be storms that come along, but it quiets down very quickly thereafter. It remains pure and simple and basic. And that's what this hobby ought to be. Pure and simple and basic. Not full of chemicals and full of all sorts of ways to spend lots of money. Not putting vast, complicated pieces of equipment in it. Pure and simple and basic. That's the key to success. That's the key to keeping a natural aquarium.