South /Central fourm split.

[dan518]

I know this has probably been discussed before, separating the forum in to two.
Now it has been going a while how does everyone feel about it?
Personally I preferred it the old way when both South /Centrals where under one section. Too many people seem to be confused about which to post in. Lots of very closely related species occur each side ( kronoheros in both). I understand why it was separated but now we have tried it for a while I think the old fourm was better.

 

[duanes]

The confusion of how many cichlids from South America have quite different water requirements from their Cenral American cousins is something I expected, and had hoped the separation bringing this out in the forum, might be helpful in some cases.

Although in most cases the water out of our tap is what we get, and have to deal with, so probably the last thing people consider when buying a fish. The deleterious consequences of raising a cichlid in the opposite water it has evolved to live in sometimes takes a couple years to show up as scarring or disease, so I suppose, disregarded.

And that the differences in innate aggression, and territoriality, between many Central and South Americans might be better understood by the separation, what works together and what doesn't in the long run can be profound, but .......

I didn't quite expect that so few people would seem to "not" know or care that South America and Central America/Mexico are two separate places on two different continents, (maybe its the shared language, and heritage). But even when it seems obvious, is Texas part of South America?

 

[dan518]

I understand most of the reasoning to the separation and initially thought it was a good idea.
Now I am not so sure, there is lots of heroine cichlid in South America too. Alot of the south american fish kept are from soft/black water but its a big continent with lots of different water types.
Maybe as time goes by more people will post in the right section and separating it will prove to be right.
Just thought I would ask.

 

[ryansmith83]

We fight this battle on Facebook. People constantly sign up to SA groups to post their JD, jags, convicts, etc. I would argue that if you want to keep fish, you should also be open to learning about those fish and where they come from. This is a way of educating fish keepers, which makes them better informed when shopping for tankmates, etc.

 

[newworld]

The confusion of how many cichlids from South America have quite different water requirements from their Cenral American cousins is something I expected, and had hoped the separation bringing this out in the forum, might be helpful in some cases.

Although in most cases the water out of our tap is what we get, and have to deal with, so probably the last thing people consider when buying a fish. The deleterious consequences of raising a cichlid in the opposite water it has evolved to live in sometimes takes a couple years to show up as scarring or disease, so I suppose, disregarded.

And that the differences in innate aggression, and territoriality, between many Central and South Americans might be better understood by the separation, what works together and what doesn't in the long run can be profound, but .......

I didn't quite expect that so few people would seem to "not" know or care that South America and Central America/Mexico are two separate places on two different continents, (maybe its the shared language, and heritage). But even when it seems obvious, is Texas part of South America?

I think the Blue Texas is from South America...

 

[Wabluska]

I think the very least every fish keeper should know is where his fish is coming from.
Love that 'separation'. Good work.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Personally I'm all for the split. Makes more sense then discus and angels having their own section outside the s/a forum.
I think some of the stickies belong to both sections though, yet they seem to have been dumped in the c/a section.

 

[Chicxulub]

Following.

This was a bold experiment, and while our intention was good, I'm not sure it's working as intended.

I'm not a cichlid guy, so I don't really have a dog in this fight. If you guys want them split, we'll keep them split; if you all want them merged back, that's easy enough. I don't really care either way. SA/CA is easily big enough to be two forums, but keep in mind that two forums will each likely have less than half of the traffic of the original forum.

I'll defer to whatever my cichlid mods tell me that they want me to do in this. duanes , Gourami Swami , james99 This area belongs to you three, please make a decision.

Personally I'm all for the split. Makes more sense then discus and angels having their own section outside the s/a forum.
I think some of the stickies belong to both sections though, yet they seem to have been dumped in the c/a section.

I can have the thread proper in only one section, I have redirects in the other. Of o actually split these threads into two to have one thread in each section, we'd have two unique threads that would end up diverging.

 

[duanes]

Although some South American cichlids are comfortable in the same water as Central American's (i.e. those from west of the Andes like G.T.s (Andinoacara) and Mesoheros, or the Braziliensus group from southern Brazil and further south, and a few more),.
Most available and "most popular" cichlids like Heros (Severums), most Geophagines, Apistos (other dwarfs), Angels, and even Oscars, and other Amazonian types are much healthier in proper water conditions (neutral to low pH) very unlike the waters of Central, pH above 7 into the 8 and 9 pH (north America) and, are ill equip to share tanks with the much more aggressive north American cousins.

Sure....there are seasoned aquarists that can seemingly, bypass somewhat negative water conditions and the stress they cause,
yet many beginners, are not adept enough at the art of fish keeping to "not" end up with diseased and/or dead fish as time goes by.
Obvious from the posts in the disease section, and other "Why are my fish fighting? type questions posted.
These are the new aquarists that would most benefit from the information and reality found in separate sections that trying to keep soft water fish in hard water, or mild mannered S.A. types like oscars, with with Parachromis in too small tanks could is not the best road to go.

So even though I was skeptical at first, I am in favor of keeping the sections separate just for the educational value that promotes healthy fish keeping,
and my own person bugaboo....just to simply point out that Mexico is not part os South America.
And Panama is not a suburb of Mexico City.

 

[neutrino]

I'll express a personal opinion, not so much to influence policy, but because I haven't seen this perspective represented yet. I have mostly a background of keeping SA and African cichlids, beside anabantoids, rainbows, some oddballs, etc. --with the odd CA occasionally thrown in. My bookmark to this site is to the SA forum. That's where I start and, when there's enough fresh content there, where I spend much of my time here. When the SA/CA forum was combined it was gradually increasing my interest and familiarity with some CA cichlids I hadn't paid much attention to in the past, though there are a few CA cichlids I've always liked, besides the few I have personal experience with.

In other words, while I don't have a strong opinion, there was a benefit to me in having SA/CA as one forum.

--As an aside I feel compelled to comment on the model of a CA/SA or east vs. west of the Andes dichotomy in water conditions, just as I would on the old world/new world dichotomy some make. Besides exploration by someone like Heiko Bleher, who has documented a more varied Amazon region aquatic habitat (east of the Andes) than some might think, surveys and science in recent decades have also made earlier models of the region too hydrologically simplistic. But I'll leave it at that and rather than going any further off-topic I may do a thread on it when I have more time...