A TIP... PLEASE Read

[brewmaster15]

I have a Tip I want to share with YOU..

Yes YOU . The person browsing the forum and reading old discussions trying to find answers to your questions or maybe save a sick fish. You are going about it all wrong. You probably have asked on facebook, searched google and found your way here eventually. You won't find your answers easily the way you are going about it. You might even make matters worse.

The Tip? Have a question? Ask it here on the forum. Confused on what to do next with your fish.. we have probably been there.

This help is free but does have a price. The price is you need to interact with the community here. You need to take those first steps.

So my Tip is get real time support from hobbyists with experience.. thats where the forum shines. Careful though if you continue doing what you are doing now theres alot of really bad advice out there in social media and on garbage websites.

Ultimately your choice but if I were you and wanted to succeed with discus I'd be here on Simply.. 22 years now... we have seen it all.

Good luck either way but seriously this tip probably will save your fish or help you enjoy them more.

Al

[Charlyc11]

Post this on FB

[jeep]

I've tried and tried and tried... etc...

Nothing compares to this forum!!

[Second Hand Pat]

I've tried and tried and tried... etc...

Nothing compares to this forum!!

Right on Brian You can’t beat this place!
Pat

[LizStreithorst]

I wouldn't have been here all these years if this weren't The Place.

[AquaticNerd]

Couldn't agree more - this place is amazing to soak up information and get the answers you need, when you need it.

Also a good place to bounce ideas off of and get good pointers. I feel like every time I read something from Al, Pat, Liz, Brian, Willie, Cliff, and many more, that there's always some tidbit of information that makes me go "Huh, never thought of that, so clever!".

[Johanna]

Thank you for this post! This is something I have been wondering about... is it considered 'bad etiquette' to ask questions directly, without trying to first find the answers that might already exist? Is it just an additional unnecessary workload for you, Al, and the other admins to answer all the same newbie questions a dozen times? It's probably a cultural thing, but I'm used to 'first help yourself, then ask questions if you still can't figure it out'. So thank you for a proper guideline and letting us know that it's ok to ask even the same old questions again.

[LizStreithorst]

Personally, I don't mind being asked the same question a million times. I mind being asked the same question a million times by the same person.

[jwcarlson]

I've always viewed a forum like a conversation. It starts one place and might end up somewhere entirely separate. You would certainly not hesitate to ask the same question to someone who might have given advice to someone else about the same thing. Especially if they're very experienced in the subject matter.
There was a time when there used to be "forum police" who had no function other than to tell someone that they should search for the answer before posting. That mentality is silly and would mean that all forums would basically naturally just become poorly searchable Wikipedia type pages over time. And there might not be new posts for weeks.

I search and read what I can, mostly so that I can get more opinions and a wider base of knowledge on whatever I'm trying to puzzle out.
SimplyDiscus is a great place to be, I'm always suggesting it to people who are thinking about or already have discus.

[mleibowi]

There are a lot of youtube Fish "influencers" or whatever they are called that buy discus. Typically its a fully planted tank, either the tank is too small and overstocked, or big enough but understocked. The water quality is poor and they wonder why the fish get sick, stunted or aren't eating. I know forums are dinosaurs, but they really should come here for info. I actually provided feedback in the comments and the individual just dismissed me. I even referred them to simply discus and was mocked about using a discussion forum. It's really sad.

[brewmaster15]

I guess I can sum it like this..


The guy that lives next door to you has amazing flower gardens. He has been growing these beautiful flowers for years. He has a reputation of really knowing his stuff. He sees you looking at his gardens with envy and offers to help you figure out how how to take care of them..You know yours are really not doing well. He is sincere, just wants to help A fellow gardener out. He won't spout off bs he hasn't proven Works. He even gives you his contact info so anytime you have a Garden question you can reach him. He makes this offer to everyone...oddly those that take him up on it are growing some really awesome gardens.. The others that decided to go to the local box store nursery dept for advice can't even grow weeds. One guy ended up killing off all his roses...another guy is dealing with garden pests killing everything.

If you can understand this story there's hope for your flowers...if not ...at least you can drool over your neighbors gardens.

[jwcarlson]

I think a good number of people are really just interested in a rental type situation with their discus. They want a couple pictures and to be able to say that they "did it" and then if they die a couple months later... oh well. So why do any in depth research? It's very similar to beekeeping in my experience. Most people are more interested in being able to tell someone they're a beekeeper than in actual beekeeping. I think the same can be said about discus.

The community has been great and I'm extremely happy it remains. I try to send people here as often as I can and a decent number of them have come over. Unfortunately, it's usually very late in the process. But at least one or two have come over before they've even bought their eventual discus tank.

[mleibowi]

I'm a planner and did quite a bit of research before I considered buying discus. I found Al's lecture on discus on the DIY Fish youtuber, and I consider it a great primer to discus. In fact, I think posting it on youtube with a link to simply discus would be a great way to attract more people to the forum. It's how I discovered the forum.

[Second Hand Pat]

I totally agree with Al regarding starting here on the forum. When I joined the forum I was a discus newbie and after some research decided to go with wilds. I created several threads asking questions and the wild discus keepers really helped me with keeping wilds and I have never looked back. I even created a couple of journal threads to continue the education. Here's a link to the first one https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...-Wilds-Journal.
Pat