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.