AquaCompat Editorial Team

What does the editorial team do?

The editorial team turns published aquarium references into consistent, checkable pages. Its work falls into four tasks, listed in the order they happen.

1. Research. The team reads species, water-chemistry, disease and equipment sources and records each value in a fact file with the publisher, title, address and date it was read.
2. Verification. Temperature, pH and general hardness need two independent sources before they count as verified. Values with one source are kept but marked single-source, and disagreements between sources are recorded rather than averaged away.
3. Scoring. Every pair of species is scored by the same formula from those fact files, so the species compatibility guides and the fish compatibility checker always agree.
4. Writing and upkeep. The team writes the guides, inserts every number from the fact base rather than typing it by hand, and rebuilds the site when a value or the method changes.

Because numbers are inserted from the fact files, one correction reaches every page that uses that value. A species' pH range reads the same on its tank mates hub, its pair pages and inside both tools.

How does the team research a guide?

The team researches a guide by starting from the fact base and adding only what a named source supports. Sources are used in a fixed order of preference: FishBase and Seriously Fish for species data, group-specific references such as PlanetCatfish where they exist, university extension papers such as UF/IFAS EDIS and the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center, the Merck Veterinary Manual and peer-reviewed papers, then established hobby references such as Aquarium Co-Op and Practical Fishkeeping. Retail product pages are never used as a source for species data.

Each kind of page follows the same approach.

• Compatibility and tank mates pages explain the sourced reasons behind a verdict: shared temperature and pH, temperament records, adult size and predation notes.
• Water guides, collected under aquarium water chemistry guides, cite extension and veterinary references for thresholds such as safe ammonia and nitrite levels.
• Health pages under fish health and tank problems paraphrase extension and veterinary sources on signs, causes and treatment, and each one says when to consult an aquatic veterinarian.
• Buyer guides under equipment buyer guides compare manufacturers' published specifications against a tank size or species need.

The weights, deal-breakers and version history behind every verdict are documented once, on the scoring methodology page, and are not restated in individual guides.

What does the editorial team not claim?

The editorial team does not claim hands-on experience or professional credentials, and no page implies otherwise. Specifically, the team makes none of these claims.

• No keeping or breeding. No verdict rests on fish the team has kept together, and no breeding or care advice comes from the team's own tanks.
• No testing. No equipment has been tested, measured or used by the team. Product notes compare published specifications only.
• No veterinary or scientific credentials. The team includes no claimed veterinarian, biologist or aquaculture professional. Disease pages summarise published sources and point to an aquatic veterinarian for diagnosis and medication.
• No invented ratings. There are no star ratings, review scores, percentages or "best overall" badges anywhere on the site.

This is why the team writes as an organisation rather than under a personal byline. The authority of a page comes from the sources it cites, which any reader can open, not from a person's résumé.

Is the editorial team independent of advertisers?

Yes. The team chooses topics, sources and products without input from manufacturers or retailers, and no brand pays for coverage. The site earns Amazon Associates commissions on some product links, but those links appear only on equipment pages and never feed into a compatibility score. The affiliate disclosure sets out how links are marked and why prices are not shown, and the About AquaCompat page explains how the site is run.

How does the team handle corrections?

The team handles corrections by fixing the fact file first, then rebuilding every page that uses it. A report through the AquaCompat contact page is most useful when it names the page, the value in question and a published source that disagrees. If the source checks out, the value is corrected or the disagreement is added to the species' conflicts list, and the page's updated date changes to show when. Pages are never re-dated without a real content change.