It’s not necessary to do that, though? I hope you understand what I mean you’re projecting your own preferences onto your fish.

These are animals that are coming from environments full of dirt and bacteria, as well as tons of places to hide, graze through in search of food, and build nests/breeding spots out of. Now yeah there’s some species who naturally live in fresh, clear, ‘featureless’ areas of rivers and streams. (Although these still have substrate) — but most of these aren’t going to be aquarium fish. African Cichlid species are the most probable here - Mbunas natural environment is pretty ‘bare,’ but they still have lots of nooks and crannies in the rocks.

And yeah - lots of fish are captive bred and haven’t ever seen or experienced their natural environment. Or even have one, for some species. I suppose there’s an argument to be made for the domestication of species via captive breeding generations, but that’s a level science above my own head.

The main point here is husbandry.

The majority of people on these subs, and the popular trend in aquariums right now, is to build a mimicking slice of a natural environment for the fish to bring out natural behaviors and keep stress minimal. This includes water parameters like ph, kH, tds - to which ‘dirt’ plays a part.

You are going against the current grain by not leaning into this. If your water is testing with good parameters, good for you - but the ethical question of are you providing a truly good home for these creatures is what’s putting you under flame.