Tropical Fish Hobbyist - February 2008

From the Editor

The Eye of the Beholder

There is a Latin saying that was popular in English when I was a schoolboy carrying my slate and quill pen to school: de gustibus non disputandem est. The equivalent native sayings are: one man’s meat is another man’s poison and there’s no accounting for tastes. In any language the idea is clear that in any group of people there will be many preferences that are quite varied. Personal preferences are just that—personal. Still, we tend to view those with different likes and dislikes as a bit weird. How can you not like oranges?

You don’t enjoy vacations? Don’t you prefer warmer weather? And so forth.

But the disagreement is generally good natured; a speaker at a cichlid convention might crack a joke at the expense of killifish fans, but there is no malice. It’s all just a matter of choice and taste no matter how rational it might seem to us. In fact, sometimes we experience an enlightening moment that reaffirms the extremely subjective nature of our preferences.

While going through this month’s “Cichlidophiles” (p. 38), I looked up the monograph that is starting to shake up New World cichlid taxonomy. As I eagerly looked for the paper, I passed papers on topics such as a new species of nyctibatrachid frog and a key to oribatid mites of the world, and I had to laugh at my reaction—which was basically: how could anyone possibly be interested in such stuff? I of course instantly realized that specifically those people who would be interested would almost assuredly not be at all interested in the paper about cichlids that I sought. Fans of frog and mite taxonomy would stop hungrily at the links for those two papers but quickly pass by the link I wanted.

So, why do I bring up this personal lucid moment here? Well, a few more seconds of thought reminded me that the readers of this magazine, although all interested in fish, find very different aspects of this hobby to be the most interesting. And that returned me to the mission of this publication: to bring all types of information on all aspects of the hobby to our readers so that they can all find what intrigues them in these pages. Sticking just with “Cichlidophiles,” the column has covered a vast range of topics, and not all of them could even be called scientific. General aquarium husbandry as well as spawning reports and hobbyist gatherings have also gotten the spotlight in this column. And when you consider the whole magazine, an immense variety of hobbyist preferences are addressed in any issue, and over time you’ll find just about anything related in any way to aquarium keeping—and so will readers with very different preferences from yours.

The same philosophy was evident in the North Jersey Aquarium Society’s mega weekend “Salt Meets Fresh” at the end of October. Congratulations to the NJAS! It certainly was a mega event. The show, the vendors, the presentations, and the banquet—everything looked like a national club convention, and the incredible variety of topics in the presentations provided something for everyone. Just like TFH. This month we’ve got a young man’s story of how he got started in the hobby (p. 122), a veteran fishkeeper’s story of how his hobby has taken over his house (p. 116), some livebearer genetics (p. 100), a report on a British aquarium festival (p. 124), suggestions on how even advanced hobbyists can make good use of plastic plants (p. 96), and much, much more. Why such variety? Personal preferences!

Interest, like beauty, is truly in the eye of the beholder, so even if the subject of one of our articles isn’t one of your current favorites, you can be sure we’ll get to one that is. For each article we run, there is sure to be someone who will find it to be the most interesting thing in the issue. Even more important is the fact that readers often report that they really appreciate our variety when they change or add interests within the hobby—then all those formerly less-favorite articles take on a whole new light. And of course many readers find it educational and fun to read about any and all fish and setups, whether they plan ever to keep them or not. Remember, no matter what you like to read about, we’ve got you covered. After all, we’ve been the world’s aquarium magazine since 1952!