# The demise of GTAaquaria



## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Looks like it's coming to an end. 2-3 people active with forum software broken (showing 0 posts everywhere).

PN aquaria started it all
Gtaaquaria wasn't as tight-knit probably due to the high grow in community size. 

Toronto's the 4rd largest city in North America (that's including Mexico) by population. 

Not enough enthusiasts to gain traction to become a social hub, unfortunately. 

We don't have cool emojis and user interface that's about 10+ years old. 

Times have past. 

Is it because the new generation doesn't appreciate nature as much or don't have the attention span to study such a sophisticated hobby, just as it is with nature. 

Elementary school/junior high school classrooms still teach with live plants, experiments, hands on stuff? or is it all memorization of formulas now. 

For sure the smart phones have killed many other past-era sources of entertainment.

Just never thought that aquariums would be one of them....

Big als is empty these days M-F.


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## iamaloner (Dec 20, 2014)

I think Facebook also took away a lot of traction from these forums. 

Why ask for issues and questions here when on Facebook any question gets answered within a few seconds by hobbyists all over the world. 

It's just the nature of things like you said - change is inevitable



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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*Demise*

I have tried several times to get things kick started 
Finally have given up .. I have re opened threads.. where we use to have fun on .. to no avail ..the last few days with the site upgrade show not much action ... 
It is a shame... 
This was my goto site for anything I asked


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Facebook is making forums redundant. Whether they can survive remains to be seen.If you look at what were the really big forums that had upwards of 1000 hits per day, they are experiencing the same thing.


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## iamaloner (Dec 20, 2014)

The other day I had a question about measuring CO2 without the aid of a drop checker. 

I asked on a Facebook group as usual - and Tom Barr and Dennis Wong both replied to my question. If you know who those two people are - you understand why I making this point. So when that happens you kind of have to understand why the forums are dying. 

I'm really not sure if the hobby itself is dying it's probably slowed down a lot for sure considering the advent of smart phones and all. I'm 33 and I have a good 30 years of aquarium keeping ahead of me. I'm gonna enjoy it as much as possible. 

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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*forums*

nothing beats forums &#8230; take a look at reef central,i can type in one word in a search engine ,sumps /fish/illness / and tonnes of info pops up . 
face book I can write a three page thread on ick and in 24 hours it gets bumped down and disappears . there for my love is for the forums , I love the quickness of facebook where if I ask for help or advice I instantly can get it good or bad . I always wish gta or forums had some sort of chat similar to what yahoo messenger was .
anyways all I see on gta now is buy and sells and not much info or discussion on current tanks or builds 
sad end to a era


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

FB is not that great, when I was looking for chaeto of all things people replied to my post and told me to go to that reptile place on kennedy!!. Of course I called ahead because I'm pretty sure they don't sell cheato or anything related to aquariums and they confirmed that they didn't.


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## tariqkieran007 (Mar 31, 2016)

tom g said:


> nothing beats forums &#8230; take a look at reef central,i can type in one word in a search engine ,sumps /fish/illness / and tonnes of info pops up .
> face book I can write a three page thread on ick and in 24 hours it gets bumped down and disappears [...]


You can do a search on Facebook, even search within groups or profiles too though. So if we were on the same group, for example, I could do search on ick and your post (with nested comments) should come right up even if it's a year or more old. I think you can also refine the search too, if needed.


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

As much as I hate to say it, I still check this site every day. But I am on it way less often. I'm usually on Reddit as I don't really use Facebook. That being said, facebook it totally destroying forums. IMO, this is detrimental only because research on Google depends on forums. Honestly, every time I look for the care on a species or an aquarium related DIY project and the answer is on a forum. Sure, you can search on Facebook I suppose but some societies are locked from even view to the public so it doesn't come up on a google search! This forum is dying and I haven't done much to stop it. I tried to initiate some things but I cant. We seem like a small group of recurring members now and it is not a large enough community to have an active forum. 

Honestly, I like reddit for aquarium stuff as a substitute for this site but I dont like their high-strung cookie cutter kind of thinking.


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## Boreas (Dec 8, 2015)

What are the good groups on Facebook? Any GTA specific ones? Or planted freshwater groups?


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## iamaloner (Dec 20, 2014)

Boreas said:


> What are the good groups on Facebook? Any GTA specific ones? Or planted freshwater groups?


Planted aquariums 
High tech planted aquariums
Canadian fish keepers 
To name a few

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## larrysy (Jul 21, 2014)

Ontario Reef Keepers (ORK)


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