An epiphany (or another?)

There are goldfish who live happily enough in tiny bowls, and all you have to do is to clean out the bowl every few days or so. But how many fish can you keep in that one small bowl?

So you set off to get a large aquarium, full specs. Power filtration system, crystal clear shatter resistant glass, and a great mixture of the greatest most exotic aquatic creatures one could gather. It even has a timed food dispenser so you don't have to bother with the feedings. You're good to go. But what was the purpose of having the aquarium if you had no wish to bother with it? Like it or not, after some time, perhaps a month, perhaps even a year, the tank will need some form of care. Perhaps it could be a small thing, like refilling the food dispenser, or changing some of the plants that have died.

But what if the waters start to get murky and cloudy, and you can almost hear the fish coughing. Who do you blame then? Is it the fault of the fish for making excretions? Or the food for being consumed by the fish and thus creating those excretions? Or do you blame the filter for not doing its job well. If it did well a year ago, then why is it expelling filthy water now? What went wrong along the way? Perhaps it was the faulty cheap spare parts that the maintenance guy recommended the other day.

Now it becomes you job to clean it up. Never mind how it came to be so murky and filthy in the first place, all you can do now is to clean it, right? In itself, this presents a whole greater conundrum. The filter is state of the art, no other aquarium has this great filter you bought especially designed for you tanking needs. But even then, does it make sense to only scrub the sides so the aquarium will sparkle for the next few days? Or do you pick out and scrub all the pebbles as well? Will that do the job?

You know you have to clean out the whole tank, as much as it is a pain in the a** to do, you know it's necessary. It's a hefty chunk of work, but someone's gotta do it. It is your tank; and as much as the wife is gonna complain of the mess you'll create in the process, and the kids will try to get at the fish whilst they are exposed out of the safety of the tank, you know you gotta do it. So you roll up your sleeves and get to it.

First, you turn off the filter. Why? It can do no good whilst you're cleaning. In fact, it would just get in the way. Besides, the filter itself needs cleaning right? And is that the fault of the filter? Filters need cleaning too, right? And once you turn off the filter, doesn't it make sense that you clean that first? How far has the filter failed at its duties just because it needs to be shut down and cleaned? But, cleaning the filter alone won't do the job, someone still has to clean out the whole tank. After all, it is congested with fish crap and gunk.

 

Wow, all that, and it was just about a fish tank.