- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
Thinking outside the box
Unfortunately there is this box. Itis very comfortable and warm inside the box which is why almost everyone wantsto stay and think inside the box. Peopleinside the box all have much of the same ideas and ways of thinking and oddlyenough many of the same problems that don't get resolved using the same methodsthat people inside the box have been using since the salt water hobby startedin the United States in 1971. I think itwas on a Tuesday about 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon. Even though many of the methods don't work,people still use those methods because the sides of the box are very hard sothe information gets echoed all over the box and we hear the same wronginformation over and over again. Wecan't help but to use those methods because that is whats inside that box. The box also gets a daily influx of Noobs andmany times Noobs will try something and it will work. Of course they don't know that that thing hasbeen done forty seven thousand times. Then that information bounces around the box and everyone in the boxhears it and thinks that is the way to do that particular thing. So it is done over and over again and eventhough it worked once, and never works again, it is still done becauseeventually that Noob gets out of the hobby and goes on one of those"Getting out of the Hobby, everything for sale " threads, but hisIdeas keep getting re-circulated. Hegoes on to colect stamps and becomes an accountant at Burger King where hebecomes a manager of the French Fry cooker.
Many years ago there was no box. Allwe had was wide open spaces, Elvis, Marylin Monroe, bellbottoms and a lot of sky. There were also no methods so we had to findour own ways to do things. We had toexperiment and in doing so we killed more fish than StarKist Tuna. There was only one salt water hobbiest perstate and there was no internet and we didn't know each other so everyone was aresearcher. When we bought a fish,no oneknew anything about that fish except the fish itself and Jacues Cousteau and hewasn't talking. So if our tank gotovercome with hair algae, we learned on our own how to deal with it. We grew enough algae to cover a 19 hole golfcourse, but eventually we overcame and eliminated the algae. Of course if we were inside the box we wouldlearn that changing the water will help with that. But we, outside the box realize that neverworks so we didn't do that.
When our fish got parasites we quickly learned how to deal with thatalso. Again, if we were inside the boxwe would change the water , with the same result.
If a fish died, we learned through trial and error how to correct thatsituation. No, we didn't change thewater or check our parameters. We had notest kits anyway so we had to rely on our common sense which worked out prettywell.
We also learned, on our own how to feed fish so they would never getsick. We found out that our fish weresupposed to spawn all the time and if they didn't, they were not healthy andprone to diseases. We could have changedthe water but knew that in the future there would be this box where everyonechanged water all the time but still had numerous problems.
We never had a new fish that wouldn't eat because our tanks were naturaland healthy, not sterile like a newly shampooed rug like many of the tanksinside the box.
Sometimes, after a while someone climbs outside of the box and in doing sotrys to go against the fine folks inside the box. The people inside the box make fun of thatperson and say his (or her) Ideas can't work because it is just not done thatway. If say that person uses a reverseundergravel filter, the laughter from inside the box will rise to a roar. If that person goes against biblical boxknowledge and finds a way to keep fish healthy without quarantining, that roarwill become a typhoon and the box will shake.
The box people will never accept those outside the box ideas because it isjust not taught inside the box. Even ifthose outside of the box ideas are proven, they will never be taken seriousely,and more importantly if any of those ideas and methods are very cheap and easyto implement, forget about it, that person may as well take up collecting oldshoes because he will be driven out of the fish hobby.
Now everyone knows there are some really nice tanks inside the box. Some tanks, everyone are jealous of so goingoutside the box is not for everyone. But history proves that all of the new,important, earth shattering or Awe inspiring events that happened were theresult of thinking outside the box because if everyone always thought insidethe box there would never be any improvement because the box doesn?t allow forit. Most Neanderthals thought inside thebox which is the reason they walked around for thousands of years carryingsticks and little else. It took anoutside the box thinker to invent a microwave so Neanderthals could throw awaythat stick and heat up a TV dinner. Eventually Neanderthals got taken over by Liberals who invented thatbox.
Unfortunately there is this box. Itis very comfortable and warm inside the box which is why almost everyone wantsto stay and think inside the box. Peopleinside the box all have much of the same ideas and ways of thinking and oddlyenough many of the same problems that don't get resolved using the same methodsthat people inside the box have been using since the salt water hobby startedin the United States in 1971. I think itwas on a Tuesday about 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon. Even though many of the methods don't work,people still use those methods because the sides of the box are very hard sothe information gets echoed all over the box and we hear the same wronginformation over and over again. Wecan't help but to use those methods because that is whats inside that box. The box also gets a daily influx of Noobs andmany times Noobs will try something and it will work. Of course they don't know that that thing hasbeen done forty seven thousand times. Then that information bounces around the box and everyone in the boxhears it and thinks that is the way to do that particular thing. So it is done over and over again and eventhough it worked once, and never works again, it is still done becauseeventually that Noob gets out of the hobby and goes on one of those"Getting out of the Hobby, everything for sale " threads, but hisIdeas keep getting re-circulated. Hegoes on to colect stamps and becomes an accountant at Burger King where hebecomes a manager of the French Fry cooker.
Many years ago there was no box. Allwe had was wide open spaces, Elvis, Marylin Monroe, bellbottoms and a lot of sky. There were also no methods so we had to findour own ways to do things. We had toexperiment and in doing so we killed more fish than StarKist Tuna. There was only one salt water hobbiest perstate and there was no internet and we didn't know each other so everyone was aresearcher. When we bought a fish,no oneknew anything about that fish except the fish itself and Jacues Cousteau and hewasn't talking. So if our tank gotovercome with hair algae, we learned on our own how to deal with it. We grew enough algae to cover a 19 hole golfcourse, but eventually we overcame and eliminated the algae. Of course if we were inside the box we wouldlearn that changing the water will help with that. But we, outside the box realize that neverworks so we didn't do that.
When our fish got parasites we quickly learned how to deal with thatalso. Again, if we were inside the boxwe would change the water , with the same result.
If a fish died, we learned through trial and error how to correct thatsituation. No, we didn't change thewater or check our parameters. We had notest kits anyway so we had to rely on our common sense which worked out prettywell.
We also learned, on our own how to feed fish so they would never getsick. We found out that our fish weresupposed to spawn all the time and if they didn't, they were not healthy andprone to diseases. We could have changedthe water but knew that in the future there would be this box where everyonechanged water all the time but still had numerous problems.
We never had a new fish that wouldn't eat because our tanks were naturaland healthy, not sterile like a newly shampooed rug like many of the tanksinside the box.
Sometimes, after a while someone climbs outside of the box and in doing sotrys to go against the fine folks inside the box. The people inside the box make fun of thatperson and say his (or her) Ideas can't work because it is just not done thatway. If say that person uses a reverseundergravel filter, the laughter from inside the box will rise to a roar. If that person goes against biblical boxknowledge and finds a way to keep fish healthy without quarantining, that roarwill become a typhoon and the box will shake.
The box people will never accept those outside the box ideas because it isjust not taught inside the box. Even ifthose outside of the box ideas are proven, they will never be taken seriousely,and more importantly if any of those ideas and methods are very cheap and easyto implement, forget about it, that person may as well take up collecting oldshoes because he will be driven out of the fish hobby.
Now everyone knows there are some really nice tanks inside the box. Some tanks, everyone are jealous of so goingoutside the box is not for everyone. But history proves that all of the new,important, earth shattering or Awe inspiring events that happened were theresult of thinking outside the box because if everyone always thought insidethe box there would never be any improvement because the box doesn?t allow forit. Most Neanderthals thought inside thebox which is the reason they walked around for thousands of years carryingsticks and little else. It took anoutside the box thinker to invent a microwave so Neanderthals could throw awaythat stick and heat up a TV dinner. Eventually Neanderthals got taken over by Liberals who invented thatbox.
