Do the members want a Freshwater Forum here?

[JAS927]

I initially voted yes because I have a 125 cichlid tank and love all things fish but then after thinking about it, there are freshwater forums. This is reef stuff. I like the separation. If there’s a freshwater, then there’ll need to be amphibians/reptiles and next thing you know there’s dog categories or something…

 

[Malcontent]

...thylacine sub-forum.

 

[SaltyCabbage]

Personally I voted no. Most new freshwater aquarists have gotten into the hobby through social media, and that’s where all of the popular freshwater forums are. You cannot compete with Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit for freshwater aquariums.

People my age aren’t looking for forums like this, they want Facebook groups and subreddits. And those platforms have a very large freshwater presence, especially compared to saltwater.

Another issue I’ve noticed is the hate and hostility that freshwater forums are plagued with. The aquarium subreddit is terrible for this and it’s the reason I left after a decade of being a very active user.

The tang police is a fun joke here but death threats are common when posting an inadequate aquarium on other forums.

I would hate to see this forum slowly turn into that, and I truly believe that’s exactly what would happen.

 

[twentyleagues]

I am totally surprised at how indignant some of you are suggesting that this can't be a place for some freshwater information.
The reasons are baffling too.
I see people posting that one more forum on the list would be confusing.
Do they realize that R2R has hundreds of different sub forums ( categories, different sections).
I counted,
67 different forums
3 different spots for Local Reef Clubs with 3 pages of listings. Didn't count all the different clubs.
145 different sponsor forums
There is another forum for Diamond sponsors
Another forum for R2R giveaways and contests
A couple groups for Parner Members

So how is one more sub forum going to confuse people or dilute the saltwater information?

Do some of think freshwater is for children, or is beneath you?

I voted that I don't care either way.
I don't have a pressing need for freshwater information or discussion, but I wouldn't care if it was here.
As long as there is an option to unsubscribe from the forum, I'm ok.

I think a lot of reefers look down on freshwater and it goes the same with how freshwater people think reefers are "snobs". There are differences and similarities. In the last 10 years I was posting short videos on a freshwater forum showing some of my tanks, a couple diy filters I made, plants and fish. Had to post to youtube to be able to post on forum. You wouldn't believe some of the garbage that reefers would post in reply to my videos. I wasn't trying to be youtube famous just posting for the forum. When I relayed those posts on the forum I got a lot of "yeah well you know reefers" "they all think they are better then us".

I do think that if r2r made a freshwater section some of that would spill over looking at some of the replies. On the other hand if its as good as the rest of r2r it may be kind of like an" olive branch". Jake Adams and a few other youtubers were trying to bring the two cultures together as Jake kept both and was passionate about both. I cant remember who he did the presentation with at aquashella but it was pretty good. I'd like to see that initiative happen one way or another.

 

[Malcontent]

Freshwater forums are all dead. Part of it is due to the toxic personalities that pervade the FW side of the hobby. So many questions go unanswered because so many people have checked out that they've started infiltrating this forum.

My suggestion is to burn it all down:

 

[mfinn]

I think a lot of reefers look down on freshwater and it goes the same with how freshwater people think reefers are "snobs". There are differences and similarities. In the last 10 years I was posting short videos on a freshwater forum showing some of my tanks, a couple diy filters I made, plants and fish. Had to post to youtube to be able to post on forum. You wouldn't believe some of the garbage that reefers would post in reply to my videos. I wasn't trying to be youtube famous just posting for the forum. When I relayed those posts on the forum I got a lot of "yeah well you know reefers" "they all think they are better then us".

I do think that if r2r made a freshwater section some of that would spill over looking at some of the replies. On the other hand if its as good as the rest of r2r it may be kind of like an" olive branch". Jake Adams and a few other youtubers were trying to bring the two cultures together as Jake kept both and was passionate about both. I cant remember who he did the presentation with at aquashella but it was pretty good. I'd like to see that initiative happen one way or another.

What gets me, is if there were a freshwater sub section in the forums list you would be able opt out of seeing it in your daily list of postings.
You wouldn't even know it's there. But I guess even that offends some.

 

[Maebh]

Or start a new site called Fresh2Fresh.com

Ooooh, I like that idea!

 

[twentyleagues]

Freshwater forums are all dead. Part of it is due to the toxic personalities that pervade the FW side of the hobby. So many questions go unanswered because so many people have checked out that they've started infiltrating this forum.

My suggestion is to burn it all down:

There is plenty of toxicity on both sides. We all need to do better.

 

[AKReefing]

I think you have salt water running in those veins!

Well, blood IS salty.

 

[AKReefing]

River 2 Ocean

Uhh, not a good idea.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Uhh, not a good idea.

Ya I agree

 

[Cell]

Does FW even have a fraction of the issues we have with reef keeping? Won't 90% of the questions be cycling and disease?

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

No Ty. I’m a member because I keep a reef tank. Been doing so for 20 years. If I kept fresh water I wouldn’t b here. Just sayin.

 

[Johnd651]

So I have no problem admitting I am the one who reached out to @revhtree about a single FW sub-forum.

I reached out for multiple reasons. I started in FW in 2010 with a community tank, and 2011 with a SW tank (as well as my grad school research on using the glue of pacific sand castle worms for medical adhesives, and coral reef restoration). By 2016 I had multiple SW coral tanks, and a 240 gallon African Cichlid tank.

Cichlid tank in 2013.

Before moving cross-country back east, we ended up getting rid of all the tanks. In our new house, I found the perfect spot for my reef tank, but wanted to make it exactly how I wanted (hence worlds slowest build thread). I didn't join R2R until 2019, before was on MonsterFishKeepers and ReefCentral.

I now have a 4 year old that loves the idea of fish, and we got a betta in a 10 gallon with a clown pleco end of last year. I have found that even looking for simple information the internet is filled with tons of "for profit" info, the old forums I used to use are all dead, and everything has moved to Facebook, which makes it impossible to just search and have a back and forth conversation, bouncing ideas off other people. I myself started in FW before going to SW, and my daughter is to young and not patient enough to understand SW. So she has her betta tank, and dad has his (that we can build together). I will be honest, this is my first planted tank, so I had some questions about fertilizer and just general care of the plants.

That being said, there is some shared knowledge between both FW and SW. I know a lot of people mentioned, whats next (reptiles, dogs, cats, etc), and to be honest I think that is a much bigger stretch then FW fish and SW fish (inverts, shrimp, pods, etc).

I just figured that a small sub-forum would be interesting to share some of the knowledge that people have in a shared hobby.

 

[ClayPigeon]

You get the first official bacon tester badge

@Bacon medic?
Bean Animal said....
"give it mouth to mouth...."

 

[alexanderthefishlover]

Yes because I have a question pertaining to ammonia ppm and live plants for freshwater

 

[marinesnow]

Please don't. There's enough noise on other platforms. I come here to get away from it and mingle with fellow reefers.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I think it'll just confuse folks.

 

[Roatan Reef]

Rejoice all BRS has heard our cries... as they now have BRS Freshwater!!

https://fresh.bulkreefsupply.com/?u...B8s5xs8xuwqi8TGxhkzXaPbofOea0OVBoC5IkQAvD_BwE

 

[Raul-7]

Rejoice all BRS has heard our cries... as they now have BRS Freshwater!!

https://fresh.bulkreefsupply.com/?utm_term=&utm_campaign=DSA>RLSA+Global&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=7373341438&hsa_cam=843440857&hsa_grp=132782052375&hsa_ad=575938148377&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=aud-1051244029597:dsa-438282185193&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiArfauBhApEiwAeoB7qFxNAsrf7pOTSyn4sMNSnyB8s5xs8xuwqi8TGxhkzXaPbofOea0OVBoC5IkQAvD_BwE

They've had it for a while now.