KnownAquarium Editorial Policy for Accurate Fish Care

KnownAquarium puts animal welfare, factual accuracy, and clear uncertainty ahead of commercial pressure or a confident-sounding answer.

What principles come first?

Aquarium decisions are connected. Tank dimensions, adult size, social group, flow, oxygen, temperature, waste, and feeding access must still work when considered together.

Which claims require stronger evidence?

Scientific identity, conservation status, legal restrictions, disease, water chemistry, equipment limits, and animal-welfare recommendations carry greater consequences when they are wrong. Those claims need authorities suited to the exact subject.

Retailers, forums, social posts, and hobby discussions can reveal common questions and real-world problems. They cannot establish a safety-sensitive fact without support from a stronger source.

What does welfare-first advice require?

Tank size is assessed by usable footprint as well as volume. The full adult group must be able to swim, feed, rest, establish territory when relevant, and avoid persistent pressure after plants, hardscape, and equipment take up space.

• Use adult size rather than juvenile sale size.
• Count the complete social group and every existing tank mate.
• Consider oxygen, filtration, waste, flow, and temperature together.
• Check whether every animal can reach food and withdraw from conflict.
• Leave a safe margin when identity or mature size remains uncertain.

When does general advice stop being safe?

Symptoms may share many causes, including oxygen loss, temperature error, ammonia, nitrite, injury, aggression, contamination, and disease. One photograph or one visible sign cannot separate them reliably.

• Urgent breathing, balance, bleeding, swelling, and rapid-decline signs are treated as emergencies.
• Shared water and oxygen problems are checked before assuming an individual disease.
• Quarantine is described as a protective boundary, never as a diagnosis.
• Medication doses and treatment schedules are not prescribed.
• Aquatic-veterinary help is recommended when examination or treatment is needed.

The care disclaimer explains when general aquarium information must give way to local professional help.

What happens when evidence disagrees?

Different studies may describe separate populations, life stages, seasons, systems, or measurement methods. Combining their numbers into one average can create a value that no source actually observed.

Credible differences are kept separate and their contexts are stated. When the available evidence cannot support a safe conclusion, the uncertainty remains unresolved.

What commercial boundaries apply?

Advertising, sponsorship, gifted products, affiliate income, and commercial relationships must never buy a favourable conclusion or hide a material limitation. Any relationship capable of affecting a recommendation must be disclosed clearly.

KnownAquarium currently accepts no sponsored articles, gifted products, or affiliate commission. Product rankings and hands-on claims require real retained evidence and are not inferred from specifications or promotional material.

How can readers report a material error?

Send the full address, exact statement, and supporting source to [email protected] when one is available. Animal-welfare, safety, and legal concerns receive priority.

The contact details also cover accessibility concerns and permission requests.

Last updated 15 September 2026. Corrections go to the editors through the contact page.