Solitaryensis
New member
This thread isn’t intended a bash, by any means, so lets get that out of the way first. So...I have always been really interested in why folks insist on keeping picos. Over the years, they have gotten smaller and smaller and IMHO, less and less suitable for the creatures we all love to raise/take care of. It seems to me counterintuitive to push the hobby in this direction. I understand that folks want to see how far we can push our husbandry skills but, at least to me, it doesn’t make sense to push it in this direction (i.e. "I know what is ideal but let me see how far I can push 'less than ideal'") To me, its almost like saying "I know my dog needs to eat everyday but let me see if I can raise him to eat once every couple days and on less water than is ideal.
Although there are tons of different philosophies about what works and doesn’t work, I think the fundamentals of reefkeeping are pretty consistent across the board â€"œ whether it’s a 10 gallon or a 1000 gallon. We know we need "clean" water and stable parameters. In most picos I see, both of these elements seem, either overlooked or nearly impossible with the way the tank is setup.
To be honest, it upsets me when I see people trying picos that are half a gallon or a size where it doesn’t seem feasible or maybe even plausible to keep animals alive. I am sure that many of these end up failing but yet I continue to see threads come up about how its cool to try and see if you can get animals that come from the ocean to survive in a cup of water.
Again, this isn’t a bash by any means and I know there are SOME people that have maintained picos with some degree of success. I personally have never seen one. I just wanted some folks to chime in with their opinions and maybe pictures/specs of nanos that have been successful. Maybe someone can change my mind, but as it stands, I think its slightly irresponsible and in most cases, is motivated by something that is cheap, “cute,†or something that the owner “hopes†will thrive but in reality, has no idea if it will. I am not basing this on any one in particular but based on my experience reefing over the years and as a LFS employee for many years.
Again not a bash but soliciting ideas/opinions/comments from folks over here in the nano forum.
Although there are tons of different philosophies about what works and doesn’t work, I think the fundamentals of reefkeeping are pretty consistent across the board â€"œ whether it’s a 10 gallon or a 1000 gallon. We know we need "clean" water and stable parameters. In most picos I see, both of these elements seem, either overlooked or nearly impossible with the way the tank is setup.
To be honest, it upsets me when I see people trying picos that are half a gallon or a size where it doesn’t seem feasible or maybe even plausible to keep animals alive. I am sure that many of these end up failing but yet I continue to see threads come up about how its cool to try and see if you can get animals that come from the ocean to survive in a cup of water.
Again, this isn’t a bash by any means and I know there are SOME people that have maintained picos with some degree of success. I personally have never seen one. I just wanted some folks to chime in with their opinions and maybe pictures/specs of nanos that have been successful. Maybe someone can change my mind, but as it stands, I think its slightly irresponsible and in most cases, is motivated by something that is cheap, “cute,†or something that the owner “hopes†will thrive but in reality, has no idea if it will. I am not basing this on any one in particular but based on my experience reefing over the years and as a LFS employee for many years.
Again not a bash but soliciting ideas/opinions/comments from folks over here in the nano forum.
