"Pretty aquariums are the most boring things ever. Make something real". Do you agree with this statement?

[Tamberav]

The majority of dentist and doctor office tanks don't get much interest because they are not even pretty let alone natural.

 

[AZMSGT]

Why do I feel like you’re trolling us?

 

[MnFish1]

If the OP's original thesis was true (that people ignore pretty tanks) - offices, etc would not go to the expense of putting them in. Or? That said - I think the habitat thing is interesting.

 

[Mark3]

I know that people enjoy looking at display tanks....I had my tank in my studio lobby/waiting room for many years. I was located in a shopping mall and people stopped in and spent time looking at my tank all the time, every day, six days a week. Many many people stopped and looked and they had no other business in my lobby....of course this was in an open mall situation. I got great pleasure from all the comments and questions. as much, or more enjoyment as the tank itself.

 

[MARK M. DAVIS]

I think a nice saltwater tank can be quite the focal point. Most doctors offices and restaurants don’t want to spend the funds on equipment, maintenance and livestock!

 

[Spydersweb]

I am a saltwater/reef newbie but I have done a lot of scuba diving and underwater photography over the last 20 years. The vast majority of reef tanks I see photos of around here and other places online look like Dr Seuss cartoon creations compared to 'real world' reefs.

Yes, but the biggest reason of that is because even the largest aquariums are a microcosm. A compressed example of a reef. The ocean is so vast and varied that it is impossible to recreate. That’s a part of the beauty of scuba diving, and the ocean in general... there’s nothing like it.

 

[Justin Aretz]

I think the word which carries extreme relativity in this statement is “beautiful.” A beautiful reef tank, to me, replicates a real reef in its entirety. Algae, mud, detritus, nasty worms, things growing where they “shouldn’t be”, etc. The only real maintenance I do to my reef tank is dump food in daily for my fish and corals, and maintain stable water parameters. A nasty grimey refugium, live rock as filters. No mechanical filters, no water changes. I think “gear” definitely helps you get to a settled, stable, and mature homeostasis quicker, but most of it is not very necessary.

 

[Urbanknight]

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. As for myself, I always check out the 180 reef tank in my doctors office each time I walk in. He has a service that maintains the tank and they change the inhabitants once a quarter. On several occasions, people have walked up to me when I was looking at it and asked questions about what I was looking at and why I found it interesting. That provided an opportunity to pass along information to those who may want to indulge in our habit! This ecosystem is nothing special. There are usually several softies and a couple of LPS. But there are a lot of fish and inverts in it to see. Personally for me, I get joy from observing the ecosystem and the life in it.

 

[Jwoott]

As with most things, if you are doing it for the praise of people and not for the joy and satisfaction for yourself, you are probably doing wrong. My spouse never looks at my tank but I keep one because I enjoy it, not because they do or don’t care for it. Also, I love to look at the tank at my daughters pediatrician and show her different things than what I have in my tank.

 

[Thaxxx]

I compare the new age tanks with all the expensive low tech leds with the florescent fake looking coral as throw back to the Jimmy Hendricks black light posters. Anyone remember those? Speaking of black lights. Has anyone ever tried one on their corals?

 

[KrisReef]

I knew a guy that left a bucket of cichlids in his garage by accident during a water change. When he found the bucket a month later the cichlids had spawned. I agree that bucket was/is more interesting than many public aquariums in professional offices.

A reef tank is a different marine ecosystem slice that can’t compare with a bucket of cichlids. Anyone who would make such a comparison is in the wrong doctors office perhaps?
My own tank is in the garage and I invite a lot of folks to my home but only nice people can come into the garage . I don’t have enough time to try and explain what’s going on in the tank to folks that don’t already understand unless I’m talking with a child .
Heavily medicated when I wrote this and so maybe the filter is broken, sorry

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

They call that type of talk "gatekeeping". When you talk like that, it makes you look like an @zz. I get it's a quote from some person, not the op. Pretty sure we all know that for a hobby, whatever you enjoy is it. Doesn't matter at all, well of course the animals needs should be met but other than that, keep those gatekeepers away from me.

 

[Ricky_Reef]

My tank is looking pretty but I re created a vultures natural habitat with my cable management for pop in guest interest! Lol

 

[1stNoel]

The tank in my doctor's office gets ignored because it's freshwater. Yawn!

I barely even glance at freshwater fish in a pet store; yet stick a clownfish in an empty glass box...and it would still catch my attention.

As bad as the show "Tanked" was, I'd still record it just to fast forward to the fish selection scene and the final reveal. If I see an aquarium in a movie, I'll pause the movie just to check it out. That's how interesting I find saltwater fish.

Now add corals to it, and there's definitely no ignoring the glow of corals or the sway of polyps in the current.

I'm still at the "my tank is not ready to show off yet" stage, which is why I don't post pictures yet. And even then, the first thing some people do when they visit my house is to walk straight back to the mancave to see my aquarium.

Saltwater all day, every day!

 

[Katrina71]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people think aiptasia is an eyesore, yet the neighborhood kids couldn't understand why I'd want them gone. They made me promise to get more. I assured them I would

 

[HB AL]

Lots of opinions so far, for me I could care less what a person who doesn’t have a tank or one that does even cares about my tank. I do things in my tank according to what I like and don’t worry one bit what others think.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I threw a rubber glove, some cigarette butts, and a plastic bag in my tank...... to recreate the ocean.

 

[ScottR]

I recall reading a post by someone here a long time ago. Paraphrasing: “I spent $50k on all of these beautiful corals and I put a clownfish in the tank. The only thing people say when they see it is LOOK! A NEMO!”

 

[najer]

unless it's some kind of crazy interesting mess

You called?!

Each to their own, I love showing off my little reef rockpool on here, no-one outside family sees my tanks in person.
If it makes me happy and the tank is happy job done.
Mixed reef.

 

[amfreefer]

This is a long post, but please spend a few minutes reading this. Someone told me this and it baffled me:

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"Aquariums are the things people ignore at doctors' offices and corporate lobbies.

If you want people to show interest in your hobby, you have to make something interesting. I had a buddy who was big into animals... not just fish but snakes and spiders and whatever else he could build a habitat for. But that's what he did... he built *habitats*.

He took a 500 gallon tank and turned it into a precise recreation of Lake Tanganyika in Africa. I only know that lake exists because of his tank. I know it's a stratified lake, with distinct layers, and his precisely recreated one of them. And he populated it with African cichlids, both male and female, and then he sealed the tank. They ate each other's babies and such, the only external interactions was monitoring and changing the water quality, based on samples he took from the top of this massive sand filter.

Most people make "pretty" fish tanks. And like I said at the open, those are the most boring things in the world. Make something *real*.

I dabbled in aquariums. And no one cared that my Oscar let me pet his head and was basically more like a water dog than a fish. But no one found what I did interesting, either."
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(Tagging some members. My apology if this bothers you. @Paul B @Katrina71 @ScottR @Sarah24! @Hemmdog @ReefRy )

To each his own. A tank at the Dr. office would probably be the most interesting part of the visit for me. Wether the tank was aesthetically pleasing or not, it would get my wheels going