I think that as far as aquariums are concerned, nothing has changed. 😛 What has changed is our understanding of them, particularly our individual level of understanding. Every fish keeper starts off not knowing much at all. Some remain where they started, some get confused and get the wrong ideas,some don't.
As far as the book is concerned, it is as relevant today as any other. Light, oxygen, plants, plants consuming nutrients, the need of more plants, that most tanks do not have sufficient plants, the importance of clean, odorless water, to avoid overstocking, overfeeding...The only part it got wrong is the understanding on how you achieve clean/odorless water. These type of wrong conclusions are seen among aquarium keepers even today despite all the information available.
Gadgets wise, I am thankful for the availability of better filters and better lights,heaters, and also higher quality fish food . It just makes the hobby much easier.
When I started keeping fish,which was in my first year of school, I hadn't read even one fish related book and I didn't know anyone that kept fish. I didn't happen to read or hear one should not change water, so I did change water weekly because it would get stinky otherwise...I changed pretty much all of the water every weekend. I'd take the fish out in a glass jar, dump the water from the tank, fill with aged water and put the fish back. As for where I got the idea about aged water, my mom didn't let us drink water straight from the tap, she said it needed to degas first so she would fill glass bottles and let them stand. I assumed fish needed the same type of water so I did the same for my fish tank water.
I tried to keep plants but they kept dying. I didn't know why back then but now I know it was mainly because I had no light over the tank.
All my fish were fed dried daphnia for the most part as that's all I had access to. I noticed if I fed too much, water would get milky and the fish would get sick and die, so I started feeding less. ..I did not have a filter. I didn't know I needed one and I had no clue about the nitrogen cycle but I did get myself a "bubbler" because water should be moving, as in the rivers where fish come from..😉.. I had also gotten the idea that cleaning the tank glass had a very negative effect. Only later did I understand that when you run a tank with no filter or substrate, the biological filtration is on the surfaces of the glass...That slime my mother kept telling me to clean off.... and I didn't due to laziness, until she did in my absence one day and I came back to dead fish..🙄
Everything I did those first few years was through observation and intuition, rather than acquired knowledge. I learned about the nitrogen cycle much later in life. So as far as I am concerned, I haven't changed much. My base point has always been my fish, if they're healthy and live long lives, I am doing it right, if not, something's got to change....Only now I have a lot more brains to pick on 🙂
