ObsessiveCichlidDisorder Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Hi guys. Is there any reason why this site is so quiet these days? Has the African cichlid hobby slowed down or gone out of fashion? Is there another forum everyone has gone to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradc Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Have been thinking the same thing myself mate. Maybe facebook has taken over the forum side of things more so? This place use to be full of sales and advice but has definitely slowed down in the past 12 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noyd Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Yep I was thinking the same thing there is a ACE FB group? I've seen the page but not the group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradc Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 21 minutes ago, noyd said: Yep I was thinking the same thing there is a ACE FB group? I've seen the page but not the group. I dont think so i just ment the many forums for cichlids that are on there may have taken over these types of forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Apparently the facebook groups are very active for buying and selling. But from what I've seen the advice side of things and the discussion leaves a lot to be desired. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 It happens. People come and go. Then someone posts a thread like this. Then it goes back to 'normal'. It's pretty usual for forums to have lulls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckmeister Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Listen, im not having a shot at you guys personally but this is so fail and lazy it beggers belief. Everything from a community takes effort. I recently got in touch with someone because I noticed that Dave (yew) had let his domain (and web site expire). I saw this as an opportunity to reclaim a name and old respect that should never have been lost. A chance of reclaiming an identity and refocusing back to a state focused forum (pretty exciting I thought). I even offered to buy sydneycichlid.com and 5 years of hosting on whoever the admin is at the times behalf. ACE was never going to become a central forum or hub for all states, even though people like myself in WA will happily call this forum home. It lost its direction. It was a mis-guided attempt at pushing a popular forum at the time past its natural boundaries. There is so much wrong atm that it needs to be gutted completely and have a fresh start. I mean I had a look at the admins. Half have been awol for years....the other quarter are listed as past mods and 2 or 3 regulars. There are useless sticky posts that are redundant. Rules and regulations dating back to lungy terrorizing the forums without realizing that the software is so much easier to admin now. Dont even get me started on that ACE logo...I cant even read it. Broken articles. Anyway without getting into a rant, the same suggestion was offered up about facebook to me, basically suggesting that its too hard (to compete)...so really I cant be bothered coming back here myself atm n(often). Whats the point when even the admin, mods etc think that facebook is the place to be. I mean I'm even looking at my post page here and its allowing me to upload files of half a GIGABYTE... I mean Ged really should have retired his admin status to Link before he decided to abandon ship!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod54 Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 (edited) When I started keeping fish.....50+ years ago. There were 3 sources of information. Your LFS Magazines Your Local fish club. And there were very few prohibited imports......Wholesalers brought in anything and everything Even fish clubs imported fish. Over the years things have changed a lot. LFS are fading away....overrun by Pet warehouses with well meaning staff that generally don't have a clue and for hobbyists On-line sales of Fish and Goods is the future Magazines can't be found at the local Newsagent The Local fish clubs are mostly geriatrics (like me) List of Allowable importable fish is getting smaller and smaller.....with lots of Mutants/Hybrids.... Locally bred fish are mostly rubbish (not all thankfully)....few selectively breed For 8 of last 10 years Forums were the social hub......but many haven't been well managed or become very clicky Facebook seems to be where it's at.....pick a Group or groups that suit and connect via your phone Personally....50 years ago was a lot, lot better, BUT you can't fight progress! Edited October 18, 2018 by Rod54 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 There are some really good points in that post Chuck. I Moderate here but my hands are tied to the amount of access I have. Basically I can remove posts and lock them if shit hits the fan. Ged logs in maybe once a year and that usually coincides with the forum shutting down because someone hasn't paid the bill. I have been here since the day it change from the Sydney Cichlid page and tried to evolve into a national forum. I have seen it then trying to evolve from a Cichlid specific forum to a general aquarium forum and I don't think it has ever really found its place. All of the super busy forums that I used to use have long gone. Tropheus Fanatics is now face book based, Frontosa fanatic is gone, QLD cichlid forum gone, Pleco fanatics gone, boronia, Drumpak (LOL), they are all gone. There is plenty more that I cant think of right now. Years ago Sydney was the main stage and I think now the place to be seems to be over west. I am NSW based, so this place has always been home to me. I will add that I believe that the clubs are having similar issues when it comes to patronage. I have never seen a Facebook page that offers what good forum can offer. Most are run to support the owners of the pages views and anyone who dares to argue gets punted. Maybe some of the rules are old and probably do need updating. A forum is only ever as good as the community that uses it. If people don't engage here then the forum will die out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakes Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Hi guys! I've been out of the hobby for nearly 10 years but I want to set up a tank again. Going to a LFS tomorrow to get some prices. This was my favourite site and it's a bit disappointing to see that it seems to have slowed down since I was active a decade ago. Oh well, I'm back and if everything goes to plan I hope to be a regular contributor again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Hi! I have been away from this forum for years. I got into breeding - kids, not fish - and finally they're of the age where I think I can trust 'em not to pull a 4ft onto themselves. It's going to be a slow start as so much has changed since last I kept Africans and was a biotope nazi. Lots to learn, again. If anyone remembers me, say g'day. In the meanwhile, I'll lurk and learn. Lots of old stuff to read. Cheers - Ozi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakes Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 Hi Ozi, I think we were both active at around the same time 10-15 years ago. What set up do you have in mind this time around? I had a 4 x 18 x 18 delivered this week and will be spending the weekend sanding and staining and initial setup stuff. I plan to keep some medium sized central Americans. Probably just display, not sure I want to get into raising fry again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Hi Oakes Yes, it would have been about that long. I think I closed down the last system about ten years ago. I bought a used Aqua One four footer (4 x 17 x 20) for cheap, the one with the rounded-corners one-piece front pane. Am thinking to do a planted discus display tank. I've done it before on a smaller scale, so this will be fun. Still lots of reading to do to update my knowledge and techniques, and decide between Bleher style biotope or proper eye-candy. Like you, am not keen on breeding again. You end up with many tanks, heaps of technical equipment and the LFS orders a new Ferrari every time they see you. Cheers - Ozi. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakes Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 Sounds great Ozi. The Aqua One tanks look nice and would be perfect for a discus display. I used to have a 90L AR620 as a planted tetra display. I think you'll find that you have to boost the lighting & filtration. Mine's up and running after a couple of minor setbacks. Now the long wait while it cycles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benno Posted December 25, 2018 Share Posted December 25, 2018 If doing discus with plants make sure you just go for adult discus straight away. Babies always end up stunted in planted tanks no matter how many water changes are performed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted December 26, 2018 Share Posted December 26, 2018 Yep, it looks OK. The office room (5 x 10 metres) is already grey walls, dark grey ceiling, light grey bookshelves so the silver grey Aqua One looks like it was meant to be here. Changed my mind about discus. Too much effin' around with pH management, controlled pH and temperature water changes, high temperature tolerant plants, trying to go heavy planted and try to be reasonably close to biotope, the expense of keeping the tank and the water change at 28C... It gets down to 4C here in winter, so it would take at least 600W of heating at least 12 hours to get up to the desired temperature. That's about $7 per week ($84 per quarter) in power for water changes for twice weekly changes. CO2 and high light at the front for micro-grass, dimmer at the rear for other plant species, etc. Add the aggro of the missus' disapproval of a couple of blue barrels in the house... negotiable, but why bother? Too much trouble imho. The water profile for my area (upper north shore) is pH 7.8... ffs... The water supply body is proud to say they're heading for 8.0. I don't understand why. That looks like a PITA for some water users - such as those of us who are trying to maintain sub-7 and for we who are professional gardeners. Yes, benno, you're right. Can't do juvies in a planted tank without a lot of attrition. Been there. Done that. Lives lost, dollars burnt. Won't do it again... too unkind. Have cleaned and sanitised the tank, and am test filling as I write. The kids (7 & 4) were excited about it at first, demanding to stay and watch, but then declared "Dad! This is boring" which elicited a response of "No sh1t, Sherlock. Want to listen to paint drying?" They actually said yes. I think they have a future listening to early Pink Floyd. Back to the drawing board. Cheers - Ozi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest johnw83 Posted December 26, 2018 Share Posted December 26, 2018 from Brisbane and not on here much on other forums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foti Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Present 🙋♂️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenswimmers Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 (edited) Yeah I used to be on here quite a bit and qldaf (I'm Qld based) and even on the Perth site but Facebook really changed things alot...I remember watching the people leave for Facebook (and they very rarely came back 🙃) but I do think the new rules with selling live fish on Facebook will favour the forums once again as it's become harder for people to source fish this way...it was always better to go through the forums anyways if you ask me as you had people with years of experience as opposed to newbies on Facebook and you could get advice at the same time. I think the hobby itself has taken a hit with the franchise stores (petbarn etc) that stock a variety of 10 fish that are so common and very very limited with advice...if you treat it like it's not special and supply fish that aren't all that special and well the whole hobby suffers..plus prices are insane ($50 for a generic brand cheap heater..how much 😳!!!)and I do think with the right push forums can actually once again help boost the hobby...but people need to know about them...if the only way you hear about them is to log in..it's missed the point...there are definitely new fishkeepers out there and interested ones but they are buying plain Jane fish from petbarn or potential hybrids off other competitors such as Gumtree...and with no interesting regular traffic on the forums the old wise timers don't get interested so we all lose..the hobby is in a bad way in Queensland with only 2-3 real good aquariums left and I think people need to promote this great hobby..I used to garnish some interest with talking about cool rarer fish and showing images of them..at the end of the day people like to see cool fish and another problem is the fact some beautiful hard to find fish are in some rich 'smugglers' tanks..and we need to share anything and everything when it comes to cool fish because we can't import plain and simple so we kind of need to treat the rarer species almost like conservation projects...so the legalities of the industry make it a whole lot harder to maintain too..if we are not allowed to bring in fish..what choice do we have than to really do our best with what we have..I've watched Salvinis turn yellow and fade from a once beautiful fish..deformed Ellioti being accepted again..and these are fish that breed in the hundreds so we should be able to maintain some genetic standard...I've bred some rare guys here and there and they still seem to almost vanish just seems the industry sucks when you can't bring in fresh and vibrant stock..everyday and new to the hobby fish keepers don't know ...and without the conversations are just not aware.. they desperately need the forums if you ask me!...you are trusting the everyday fish keeper to maintain the genetics of your brood stock and a lot of those people just want a display tank... So it's Oscars and guppies vs beautiful dieing off cichlids...so the legalities also keep this industry behind the 8 ball..don't get me started on why you can import an Oscar but a wild compressicep from the lake is banned... The industry has been made dumb and it hits the good fish keeper hard... So I say promote the forums..tell people they can sell online here with no drama (as long as they don't bring drama 😆)..and create the buzz again as referred to in one of the earlier posts the forums need some juice..a boost and push to let people know they even exist..id rather be on here if people were actually here..logging on and seeing that the last activity was 3 days ago..well you can see a tumbleweed roll by 🙃😳😆..facebook sucks if you ask me because it's cowboy town and many a noob thinks his 1st fishtank is the bees knees..you argue a lot more on Facebook and no fish sales..says it's time for the rise of the forum again 😆🙏 Sorry for the rant guys *PS...Have to also commend and pay respect to the true aquarium stores out there that do keep supplying the variety of beautiful and rarer fish we need to maintain in this hobby..without them sourcing some of the great fish that still exist in the hobby we would be totally screwed so these guys have been really carrying the industry in the background. The Petbarns etc are destroying it by not keeping fish that can now only be sourced from the home breeder.. 😠 ..just a couple of comments hey 🙃😆😆😆sorry guys Edited May 3, 2020 by goldenswimmers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlecoSam Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 Facebook is too angry for me, I really do not understand how people act on there, I know a group is only as good as its members but geez the posturing, belittling, pushing personal points or agendas is just too much. I suppose people like it because that is what some watch on tv, reality tv and the fake fights etc, they love drama. For me though, watching people argue over pointless points or similar is not my thing, way better things to do with my time. I do know it is common for forum people to complain about social media and Facebook, and yes I know it is quite snobby but for me, the reality is for the most part, it is true. The minority ruin it for the majority though, that is certain and to be honest Forums are no better, this one, although quiet now is the exception. I left QLDAF many years ago because of a few idiots over there. The difference though, is people have their faces, their names, their lives on Facebook and yet they still carry on, they do not care. Can someone explain to me what "dead silent" means, I read this about pumps I know and own which make noise yet facebook labels them "dead silent". I suppose if you are dead, you wont hear it but for the living what does this mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 On 5/6/2020 at 8:47 PM, PlecoSam said: Facebook is too angry for me, I really do not understand how people act on there, I know a group is only as good as its members but geez the posturing, belittling, pushing personal points or agendas is just too much. I think Facebook's attraction and also it's weakness is that it is so easy to set up a page or group. With a Facebook group you don't have to invest any time or money in setting it up and running it like you do a forum. But easy come, easy go. If you don't have to invest anything into a group there's less incentive to build it up into a community and keep it going. It also makes it easier for people to act like idiots and move on to another group. Forums like this one hold a wealth of information, searching and finding old posts on any topic is easy and a great reference. Facebook groups don't seem to be that easy to search through, there's so much noise and rubbish. On a forum it is easy to see the number of posts a member has, how long they've been a member, and search for an read that member's posts, you soon get to know what knows their stuff and who is a newbie with no clue - try doing that on Facebook. On 5/6/2020 at 8:47 PM, PlecoSam said: Can someone explain to me what "dead silent" means, I read this about pumps I know and own which make noise yet facebook labels them "dead silent". I suppose if you are dead, you wont hear it but for the living what does this mean. My definition of "dead silent" is that it is as silent as the dead i.e. makes no noise at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link2Hell Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 @goldenswimmers maybe it is the right time to try and get traffic through the forums with the classifieds but then you look at what you would have to moderate, and I don't want to go back to the old flame wars era of dealing with knobs as the thin skins would take offence because you ask too many questions maybe after lockdown the clubs might generate interest with being able to sell in auctions @PlecoSam I have given up replying to newbs or keyboard warriors as all you get is attitude when you answer a question with a reply they don't like @Skippy I only reply to people I know or who have shown a degree of intelligence in the FB groups now I suppose it is because I'm not overawed at being a newb or have lost a level of interest now I'm not chasing specific fish and have a reasonable network of people I can just ask 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViS Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 Hi everyone, I started ACE along with Dave, Baz, Mark, Chris and several others quite a few years ago now. I agree that social media probably has a lot to do with the downturn in posts on forums like these, which is a shame. I reckon we had the golden period of discussion boards before social media took over. I really enjoyed the first few years when ACE was busy (well I didn't really enjoy the lungy period 😆), but some of us got burnt out, both with running a large community forum, and keeping fish on a large scale. We left the forum in capable hands, and I am glad to see its still running. I haven't kept fish in several years now, due to being away from home for long periods. I am hopefully in a position from the beginning of next year to set up a tank or two again, so I thought I'd come back and see what's happening on ACE. I hope it's just a lull as was said above and people get keen again and start discussing cichlids more again. I know I will be here a fair bit asking questions and seeing what has changed since I sold my old 8 footer. I'm happy to be back, and look forward to some good fishy discussions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canberra Alex Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 wow some blasts from the past in this post im dragging up . with FB killing all FS posts maybe its time for an ACE resurgance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link2Hell Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 hope that we get some people in now that FB has stopped sales of livestock and people don't seem happy with the mewe platform be good to get things going again here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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