Posh Fish Bowls

Thank you to Borja Marcos for his current letter to the Editor of Coral.  His concerns about  "Tanked" on Animal Planet mirror my own.  My husband and I were excited to hear of the show from a non-aquarist neighbor, but were very disappointed once we actually saw it.  "Tanked" more closely resembled a slap-dash DIY home remodeling segment than an educational and environmentally responsible introduction to the hobby we love. 

We wondered what sort of hefty service contracts the obviously wealthy clients of 'Tanked' had agreed to pay for.  Obviously they knew nothing about their new equipment or the new creatures in their care. Would they be willing to take care of it all, or would they would simply throw money at their cool new piece of "aquarium furniture" by paying someone else to deal with the upkeep?  We decided they'd definitely pay.   

While I was watching the first episode, the book, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" came to mind.  The book explains that having a motorcycle (or aquarium, in this case) requires a steady commitment to continually educate yourself in order to understand the complex details of its essence. Gaining understanding is part of the joy of ownership, and only comes from time spent in hands-on experience.  It would've been interesting to see some expert one-on-one maintenance mentoring in 'Tanked', but instead, we received the "wow factor" of flashy set-ups and super-fast installations.  This show was produced for our debatable entertainment pleasure, not to promote the love of nature or good husbandry. 

If Animal Planet had simply stuck to what has made other nature shows great in the past (Jaques Cousteau, Wild Kingdom, Nova) the result would have been of much better quality.