Quote Originally Posted by Geo View Post
Sorry Bill. You are correct. I have gotten used to using that term for anything that is not clear water lol. Yes, tannin infused water. I do the same with the Siamese fighting fish and African dwarf frogs that I have and it seems to benefit them. I believe that there is chemistry / organisms present that benefit them more then "pure" water does. I had a discussion at a local petstore recently with a gentleman who kept frogs. He was very much a "pure" water frog caretaker. When I mentioned tannin infused water he had a bit of a hissy fit and said I would make them ill, bad caretaking, that the literature available is against it and so on. I told him that my critters were very healthy and happy from all my observations and I am fully aware of when they would be in some sort of mental / physical distress. I asked him one simple question - what type of water does he think is in a puddle, stream, lake, etc? He just paused, stared at me and said something along the lines that we know better to which I responded that nature knows better then us and we would benefit to copy her whenever we can in the hobby. sigh.
I agree wholeheartedly!! In fact, in the past, I have done black water amazon biotope tanks. Black water takes a bit getting used to, but it is definitely very close to their natural environment. I remember reading about adding black water extract to dart frog tadpole water for a reason I don't recall.