A SYSTEM IN EQUIPOISE
The days of goldfish swimming in endless circles in a glass bowl are long past.
Today, an aquarium is something much more sophisticated: we are able to reconstruct
Nature in microcosm, which requires the maintenance of a constant equilibrium. Nature,
if not disturbed by some cataclysmic imbalance, obeys a finite set of laws. As aquarists,
we need to understand these laws and reproduce them on a smaller scale, where the
density of animals and plants is considerably higher. Everything that takes place
within this mini-universe is under our control - up to a point. The final, inviolable
law is that conditions in the aquarium must always approach those found in Nature.
If not, the ecosystem will break down, spelling disaster.
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