The Best Fish Forum

[pica_nuttalli]

yeah, as it is, everyone just thinks i spend too much time writing emails on Yahoo

 

[~T~]

Its a good site, not my fave but I really like the planted tank part and the fact that theres a lot of UK members is a good thing in my book.

 

[luque]

i can't understand most of the otheres (probably because im thick) but this one is very clear

 

[Breeze7050]

Deffo a fave of mine, my only complaint is not enough people on here from the US! Drives me insane to see all these great Buy/Sell/Trade stuff all in the UK!
The other site I frequent has a nice "lounge" chit chat area which I like and is primarily US -ers. However, the advice and amount of people on here is the best by far!

 

[n3ont3tra]

Deffo a fave of mine, my only complaint is not enough people on here from the US! Drives me insane to see all these great Buy/Sell/Trade stuff all in the UK!
The other site I frequent has a nice "lounge" chit chat area which I like and is primarily US -ers. However, the advice and amount of people on here is the best by far!

Same! *high five*

 

[nmonks]

This one of the biggest myths in the hobby, and one that annoys me almost as much 'scale-less fish are allergic to salt' or 'Bettas don't like big tanks'.

In 1992 freshwater fish accounted for approximately 96% of the total volume of imported fish to the US and 80% of the total import value. A more recent survey in Florida found that cultured freshwater and collected saltwater species accounted for $70 million and $4 million respectively. The top 32 species were all freshwater fish and accounted for 58% of the total imported value of the fish. In the US, 11 million people keep fish, but only 18% of these are marine aquariums. In terms of conservation issues, 90% of the freshwater aquarium fish traded are captive bred, while virtually all marine aquarium fish and invertebrates are caught from the wild.

The problem with marine fishkeeping is that it is very, very expensive to do properly, whereas freshwater fishkeeping can be done far more inexpensively, especially when you consider things like goldfish. Increasingly, marine fishkeeping is suffering from an image problem: there is good evidence that in certain places (e.g. Philippines) and for certain species (e.g. mandarinfish and Banggai cardinals) over-collection has resulted in serious declines in natural populations. Even if you banned wild-caught freshwater fish outright, that would only affect 10% of the traded species and most casual aquarists would never even notice. If you banned wild-caught marines, the hobby would basically vanish.

What I'd submit is that to marine aquarists it seems that their side of the hobby is the "natural evolution" of things. But that's often because marine aquarists don't explore the freshwater hobby in any great depth, so they get bored more quickly. They don't, for example, tend to be aquarists who enjoy breeding fish, which in my opinion is one of the very best aspects of the freshwater side of the hobby.

Cheers, Neale

Sooner or later most (not all, but a great portion) hobbyists graduate to marine aquariums.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Can't see myself ever defecting to the salty side; there's just too many freshwater things I want to try. Also, the family is into recycling/save the environment/lessen your biological footprint, so there is a general feeling that I am pushing it already. An RO unit, big filtration systems and wild-caught fish would not go down well. But I'm not upset about that: life is too short as it is, with all the fish I want to keep and breed: exotic plecs, sturisomas, lots of livebearers, pseudomugils, shelldwellers......

Anyway, I like this forum, more activity than some of the more specialised ones, but more specialists than some other forums I go on. And I like the chance of reading about fish I will probably never get to keep, might not even want to keep, but it's still good to have your horizons widened. I go on this and one other every day, but I'd have to say there is more going on on this one.

 

[raptorrex]

This one of the biggest myths in the hobby, and one that annoys me almost as much 'scale-less fish are allergic to salt' or 'Bettas don't like big tanks'.

In 1992 freshwater fish accounted for approximately 96% of the total volume of imported fish to the US and 80% of the total import value. A more recent survey in Florida found that cultured freshwater and collected saltwater species accounted for $70 million and $4 million respectively. The top 32 species were all freshwater fish and accounted for 58% of the total imported value of the fish. In the US, 11 million people keep fish, but only 18% of these are marine aquariums. In terms of conservation issues, 90% of the freshwater aquarium fish traded are captive bred, while virtually all marine aquarium fish and invertebrates are caught from the wild.

The problem with marine fishkeeping is that it is very, very expensive to do properly, whereas freshwater fishkeeping can be done far more inexpensively, especially when you consider things like goldfish. Increasingly, marine fishkeeping is suffering from an image problem: there is good evidence that in certain places (e.g. Philippines) and for certain species (e.g. mandarinfish and Banggai cardinals) over-collection has resulted in serious declines in natural populations. Even if you banned wild-caught freshwater fish outright, that would only affect 10% of the traded species and most casual aquarists would never even notice. If you banned wild-caught marines, the hobby would basically vanish.

What I'd submit is that to marine aquarists it seems that their side of the hobby is the "natural evolution" of things. But that's often because marine aquarists don't explore the freshwater hobby in any great depth, so they get bored more quickly. They don't, for example, tend to be aquarists who enjoy breeding fish, which in my opinion is one of the very best aspects of the freshwater side of the hobby.

Cheers, Neale

Sooner or later most (not all, but a great portion) hobbyists graduate to marine aquariums.

one very good reason i avoid saltwater fish keeping!

i'm probably a member of 5 or more aquatic forums, but for fish this is the most varied. because of the world wide spread of members. the lack of a general section, for people like me who like a good argument, is sad. but it does avoid, high posting general section members, imposing their wishes on all the rest. i know one forum where fishkeeping members avoid posting in the general section, for fear of upsetting high post members, and getting banned. lol i still visit, because its not often you get that many bigots in one place.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

What I'd submit is that to marine aquarists it seems that their side of the hobby is the "natural evolution" of things. But that's often because marine aquarists don't explore the freshwater hobby in any great depth, so they get bored more quickly. They don't, for example, tend to be aquarists who enjoy breeding fish, which in my opinion is one of the very best aspects of the freshwater side of the hobby.

your bang on right for me at least, breeding just doesn't interest me at all. we have barely enough room for the tanks we do have so having more is not an option, and to breed pretty much anything go need grow out room etc so the idea of having more than 1 tank with the same thing in just doesn't do anything for me! only thing i've ever bred is platys and that wasn't intentional

maybe if my lifestyle was different and i had more space and time then i could see myself doing it.

however the wide variety of life and the new challenges of saltwater definitely do.

 

[LisaLQ]

I do love this place, as you can tell by my post count, but there's definitely areas that make me cringe. The fact the admins and some mods never join in other than if they have to makes them seem very inaccessable, and the fact the site promotes really sh*t shops, and bans the good ones.

It seems a bit like the admins/powers that be are "above" the rest of us, as they dont seem to listen to their members - in that there's a certain shop selling fish with the wrong descriptions, who has refused to update their site, ignores people's requests for an explanation, and basically is what we're all saying we dont want in a fish shop - and they have a banner and a several page thread going in the sponsor section and are being pushed as the best shop in the world. Yet there's a member here who has been removed for "using the board for business" who I've bought fish from, and they have been repeatedly knocked back. Incidentally - in my case - I conducted my business with them off-site.

And the person who reported them for using the board for business was trying to sell me fish in pm saying he could do it cheaper! Funny how they never got back to me...

Now tell me the admin's got it right in that case? Pfft. You know how much I love this place. But really, that's not good. If there were another site with as much diversity, I'd be gone tbh, as this recent behaviour is really disappointing.

 

[raptorrex]

I do love this place, as you can tell by my post count, but there's definitely areas that make me cringe. The fact the admins and some mods never join in other than if they have to makes them seem very inaccessable, and the fact the site promotes really sh*t shops, and bans the good ones.

It seems a bit like the admins/powers that be are "above" the rest of us, as they dont seem to listen to their members - in that there's a certain shop selling fish with the wrong descriptions, who has refused to update their site, ignores people's requests for an explanation, and basically is what we're all saying we dont want in a fish shop - and they have a banner and a several page thread going in the sponsor section and are being pushed as the best shop in the world. Yet there's a member here who has been removed for "using the board for business" who I've bought fish from, and they have been repeatedly knocked back. Incidentally - in my case - I conducted my business with them off-site.

And the person who reported them for using the board for business was trying to sell me fish in pm saying he could do it cheaper! Funny how they never got back to me...

Now tell me the admin's got it right in that case? Pfft. You know how much I love this place. But really, that's not good. If there were another site with as much diversity, I'd be gone tbh, as this recent behaviour is really disappointing.

simillar sentiments, but from a different direction, have been made on the forum before. and it would seem that some members feel a gap between adnim, moderation, and the general membership. how this may be fixed???

 

[sww]

and it would seem that some members feel a gap between adnim, moderation, and the general membership. how this may be fixed???

For starters, moderators should also be members, that way they become 'known' (and respected) by the rest of the membership. If that is not the case - i.e. mods are 'absentee' members, then why are they doing that role? They must have a reason/motive/incentive - I hope it's more than wielding moderator privileges.

Admins are quite often just people with the right technical skills to keep a forum going smoothly, and that's more important than their knowledge or love of aquariums etc. Of course if they are enthusiasts too, then all the better.

I must admit I would be 'concerned' by the suggestion that the forum is 'sponsored' by any single commercial aquarist supplier, if that is not above-board.

For me, the membership and daily post count show this is a very active forum. (In fact, so active, that I fear that simple posts are probably sometimes missed in the sheer deluge of posts.) I'm hoping to find inspiration, ideas, advice and friends.

 

[raptorrex]

and it would seem that some members feel a gap between adnim, moderation, and the general membership. how this may be fixed???

For starters, moderators should also be members, that way they become 'known' (and respected) by the rest of the membership. If that is not the case - i.e. mods are 'absentee' members, then why are they doing that role? They must have a reason/motive/incentive - I hope it's more than wielding moderator privileges.

Admins are quite often just people with the right technical skills to keep a forum going smoothly, and that's more important than their knowledge or love of aquariums etc. Of course if they are enthusiasts too, then all the better.

I must admit I would be 'concerned' by the suggestion that the forum is 'sponsored' by any single commercial aquarist supplier, if that is not above-board.

For me, the membership and daily post count show this is a very active forum. (In fact, so active, that I fear that simple posts are probably sometimes missed in the sheer deluge of posts.) I'm hoping to find inspiration, ideas, advice and friends.

100% with you there, i rate this site as top for fish, but liking the place so much, also makes you worry when it seems some things are going a bit wrong. and that was the only reason i made that post.

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

and it would seem that some members feel a gap between adnim, moderation, and the general membership. how this may be fixed???

For starters, moderators should also be members, that way they become 'known' (and respected) by the rest of the membership. If that is not the case - i.e. mods are 'absentee' members, then why are they doing that role? They must have a reason/motive/incentive - I hope it's more than wielding moderator privileges.

Admins are quite often just people with the right technical skills to keep a forum going smoothly, and that's more important than their knowledge or love of aquariums etc. Of course if they are enthusiasts too, then all the better.

I must admit I would be 'concerned' by the suggestion that the forum is 'sponsored' by any single commercial aquarist supplier, if that is not above-board.

For me, the membership and daily post count show this is a very active forum. (In fact, so active, that I fear that simple posts are probably sometimes missed in the sheer deluge of posts.) I'm hoping to find inspiration, ideas, advice and friends.

moderators are members first and many of them get on really well with members, you dont see many of them cos they tend to stick to there own areas e.g. annastacia to livebearers, and cfc is a regular in chat and black angel is all over the place

 

[Bloo]

For starters, moderators should also be members, that way they become 'known' (and respected) by the rest of the membership. If that is not the case - i.e. mods are 'absentee' members, then why are they doing that role? They must have a reason/motive/incentive - I hope it's more than wielding moderator privileges.

Admins are quite often just people with the right technical skills to keep a forum going smoothly, and that's more important than their knowledge or love of aquariums etc. Of course if they are enthusiasts too, then all the better.

All mods here are very established, active members (with high post counts to reflect that) and can be seen posting in the their areas (in particular) - but often frequent other areas as well. Some take breaks (for personal reasons) now and again - that's life. But on the whole, the vast majority have active roles.

So that clearly isn't the case here at TFF and this comment is not applicable at all.