
It dwarfs even Aquarium in total member and post count, though of course, only a fraction of those members are active currently. Started in 2004, Tropical Fish Forums is one of the oldest continuously running aquarium communities online. If your interests are only in one particular area, you may not find an active community here. In one area, you’ll find activity just a few minutes old while in others, the last post was in 2018. However, the amount of activity across sub forums is very unbalanced some forums are clearly more popular than others. I notice that the website also has a search function that can be used by non-members, a handy way to find information and entice new members into joining. The niches covered by the website are pretty extensive, with sub forums dedicated to everything, even brackish water aquariums, which often get missed. It’s now approaching 30K members and shows no signs of slowing down. Started in 2006, is an old-timer in the online aquarium community. Many general topic online communities have been around for 15 years or more! That said, these oldest communities are a great place to begin because there are many more long-time pros you can solicit advice from. So you’ll need to be more vigilant when looking for advice in these places. General topic online communities tend to have many more beginners as well, which can mean being flooded by well intended but incorrect information. A general forum with 30,000 members will see less reef aquarium discussion than a reef forum with 20,000 members. On the other hand, general subject forums and communities don’t tend to have as much activity in the specialized sub forums because there are fewer members to go around. You will always find both fresh and saltwater subjects covered, which is appealing if you keep both because it means a few less clicks and having to follow multiple forums. General topic online communities are a great place to begin because they cover a little over everything rather than specializing in just reefs or planted tanks. The Best General Topic Online Communities We split this list into several different sub-section: But even in a major metro, you might not find a club that’s dedicated to what sort of fish, plants, corals, or invertebrates you enjoy keeping.įortunately, the internet allows you to connect with aquarists from all over the world who love everything from Bettas to low light LPS corals! Let’s delve into the best aquarium forums and communities out there and find a place for you to connect! But there’s another aspect to the hobby entirely that sometimes gets overlooked: the aquarium community.Īquarium clubs are quite common in major cities, if less so in rural areas. As aquarists it’s easy to get wrapped up in maintaining our aquariums and reading information online.
