Growth of aquarium forums and our future

[Art]

I like to compare the freshwater planted aquarium hobby with the reef saltwater hobby. They always seem to be years ahead of us in spite of the much higher cost of maintaining a reef.

Reef2reef.com is a very successful reef forum that I follow to gain inspiration for us here at ScapeCrunch. Today, they have 201,285 members and over 13 million posts. It's a big business and community.

However, back in November 2006, they were very different. They started as Club-Zoa, a forum for zoanthid lovers. You can see the stark difference using the Way Back Machine: Club-Zoa - Club-Zoa

In a recent post, the owner mentioned that a few years after starting, they had about 4-500 members. Just like where we stand. Of course, back then there was no social media to compete with forums. The big 800 pound gorilla in the reefing space was Reef Central.

I'm proud to say that I started Aquatic Plant Central back in 2004, so before Club-Zoa. At least planted aquariums were represented back then. Today I would say that PlantedTank is probably the biggest site for us planted aquarium hobbyists.

That being said, a big difference today (for the better, I think) is that we don't look at total members. We look at total active members. This is what I'm focused on growing.

I can't thank you enough for being here and participating. We are only as fun and engaging as we make it. We are all in it together.

 

[Aquajack]

When I first started in the hobby 3 years ago i found and was a frequent member of FishLore which is a similar size to PlantedTank. Back then I was as much interested in fish as planted tanks so was a great all round forum.

Then as I started to increase my interest in PlantedTanks, I discovered and joined PlantedTank. Now as I traverse deeper into the hobby, I have found this wonderful forum, full of like minded people and feel so lucky to be a part of. Incidentally, its interesting that a lot of the big contributors to FishLore have quite a different attitude/methodology to planted tanks than either here or PlantedTank. More of an old school, low tech Walstad kind of perspective.

Incidentally, FishLore have some popular threads that are off topic but really engage the community like for example Whats your next TV watch which has around 400 posts. I just thought ideas like this might allow a different type of community engagement, and could be anything I guess.

 

[Art]

Hi, thanks for your comments. I truly appreciate hearing from people about their journey and thoughts on leaning into the planted aquarium hobby.

For some reason, when people think of plants, they automatically think of nature and natural processes. I guess this makes them believe that more "natural" techniques are what is best for a planted aquarium. I don't think it is just a cost thing. Perhaps it's trying to draw parallels with terrestrial gardening where you just plant in soil then just let nature do its thing? I don't know.

As you lean further into the planted aquarium world, you realize that there isn't one best. There is what is best for you based on what you are trying to achieve. Even back in the 1980s, we had high-tech (Dupla-powered tanks) and low -tech. How you maintain your tank depends on what you want it to look like.

On forums and how planted aquarium people communicate/socialize online, this continues to evolve. Back in the early 1990s, email was the way we communicated. Then forums became the major centers online. When social media took over, people naturally morphed into using it to communicate so platforms like Facebook Groups took over from forums.

At the time, the individuals that started most forums had burned out and sold to companies like VerticleScope. They focused on running a business rather than growing a grass roots community of like minded people like a hobbyist would. This meant that Facebook had no competition.

There is now a resurgence of forums because of committed hobbyists seeing the benefits of forums over Facebook when it comes to knowledge sharing and community building. In fact, we've talked on here about the benefits of a hobbyists using both Facebook Groups and a forum like ScapeCrunch.

For me, having started APC and then sold it to a business that consolidates forums and seeing the subsequent result, I believe that a forum, to be valuable to hobbyists and build a community, needs to be for its members and by its members. That is why I contributed this forum to a US public charity that doesn't have a profit motive and can be controlled by generations of hobbyists.

Community-driven means we all have to pull together to make it work. It takes people leaning in and takes work. However, I think the benefits we all get greatly outweigh the time and effort.

Incidentally, FishLore have some popular threads that are off topic but really engage the community like for example Whats your next TV watch which has around 400 posts. I just thought ideas like this might allow a different type of community engagement, and could be anything I guess.

I completely agree with this. We have our Lounge forum for exactly this reason. We do sometimes like to talk about things other than plants. I will occasionally post something there to spur non-plant discussion. Feel free to do the same. I think it's a great idea.

 

[CincyScaper]

Yes this is a great forum as a beginner myself. I started of setting a fish tank for my kid and gotten now more and more interested in plants and aquascaping. I used to use Reddit as a resource and lot of mixed information and not knowing who to trust. It also seems there are pure fish keepers, people who keep some plants and then scapers. I was not happy until I found this forum!

 

[Aquajack]

Thanks ART for your detailed reply.

I myself find forums much better than Facebook groups. They are more organised, structured and the knowledge a whole lot more reliable and consistent.

Yes as a young fella doing IT at uni in the 90's (before it was called IT), I remember the bulletin boards, the original forums if you will.

I agree with your plant comments. The forum I mentioned has a category called plants or similar, but nothing about scaping in site. Another reason I've naturally gravitated towards this site. How often do you see a natural walstad/father fish whatever style tank that looks great and organised. Not very often I suspect.

So here to learn from far more experienced and skilled people than I, and of course to contribute when I can.