Welcome to the workshop!

[TheOldSalt]

Since our profile & articles sections are bigger than the main discussion board, they were put onto a board of their own.
This new board is not a discussion board. It is only an archive of finished products. There is no need to register on the new board, as you won't be posting on it. Instead, the submissions are created here in this work area.

Here's how it works:

If you want to write a species profile, start a topic here in the work area about that species. For example, if you notice on the archive board that Congo Tetras haven't been profiled and you want to profile them, start a thread here called "Congo Tetra." The very first line of your thread will be "IN PROGRESS." That lets me know that the profile is not finished.
Over the next few days, compile all the info you can find into that thread. others who have info on that fish are also encouraged to add whatever they know. once the data is all gathered, write the final profile according to the format. Once it's done, check it a few times for any errors, and then change your "in progress" to "SUBMIT." When I see the SUBMIT at the top, I'll know the profile is finished, and that it's ready to be moved to it's new permanent home in it's correct place on the archive board. The person who submitted the profile will get the byline credit for it.

Here's the format we'll use, at least at first:

Common name(s)
Scientific Name
Native geographical area-
Native habitat-
Maximum Size-
Minimum Aquarium Size-
Natural & captive Diet-
Tank zone- ( top, upper, middle, lower, bottom, everywhere )
Temperament & compatibility-
Hardness range-__ Optimal hardness-__
pH range-__ Optimal ph-__
Temperature range-__ Optimal temperature-__
Salinity range-__ Optimal salinity-__
Photoperiod-__
Seasonal changes critical? Y/N
Notable sensitivites- ( salt, temp shifts, medicines, etc.. )
Hardiness & Lifespan-
Physical description- ( text and photo )
Activity peak- ( diurnal, nocturnal, crepuscular )
Habits- ( behavior, peculiarities )
Spawning notes-
Other notes-

Yes, that's alot of info, but hey, we want to have the best profiles available, don't we? That's a big part of why we're doing it the way we are, for it allows the best opportunity to amass the most & best info.

After a profile is finally submitted, it's workshop thread will be deleted to save space. if you want to make another comment about a profile that's already archived, just start a new thread about it.

This should turn out to be a fun community project. With thousands of species to profile, it should keep us busy for quite some time!

ARTICLES are only a little different.
These are written typically by one person only, or maybe just a few. They are submitted in the same way as profiles, but you may write your article somewhere else and post it here for submission only when it's complete, if you wish. Otherwise you can write it here as well, but be ready for the comments of others, which isn't necessariliy a bad thing.

Two main things to remember:

1- This is not a chat area. Please keep things strictly business, as it wil make it easier to sift through threads looking for information if there isn't a lot of chatter in the way.

2- No plagarism! If you want to cut & paste info you found elsewhere into a workshop thread, that's fine, but the final product must be rewritten to present the info in an original way. Mark cut&pasted stuff with a big "CUT&PASTE" to make sure that no one accidentally incorporates it into a finished profile as it's originally written.

Well, that's about it. Have fun!

[solar-ton]

wow a whole new species profile and article forum,nice.a good topic to start out on would be betta breeding,and maybe an article that explains hith.

[Damon]

Working on it if AAA, Thatsfishy, or Rich doesn't get it done first.

[TheOldSalt]

That's the right idea, solar-ton! It looks like some others are already working on it, so it must have been a good idea.

We need articles on all facets of fish & herp keeping, so Betta breeding is only the very tiniest tip of the huge iceberg. Each species profile will have breeding information in it already, of course, but the difference with the articles will be in methodologies & experiences. For example, to use Bettas again, the Betta profiles will contain general spawning info, while Betta breeding articles will have that plus things like Betta farming, fishroom setups, raising fry to adulthood, and selling the young adults.

The articles are limitless in possibility & scope. Anything from how to grow microworms to raising clownfish fry to getting rid of algae to sexing angelfish to running a terrarium to the use of fishkeeping software to news on the latest gadgets to the effects of photoperiod to the comparison of different filtration ethods and much, much, MUCH more has a place in our articles section. Theoretically it will never be complete since new stuff keeps getting discovered, but our goal is to make it huge and more complete than anything else on the web, making FishForums the number ONE place for people to find the info they need.

[cucci67]

I'm in! Sounds like a great idea to me!

[shev]

can I call dibs?

[TheOldSalt]

Dibs on what?
To call dibs on a profile, all you have to do is post the thread with the fish's name in it. I effectively called dibs on Banded Leporinus, for example, and Hamm got Bettas. If you want something, just be the first to make a thread on it.

As for articles, there's is no need for dibs, since articles don't necessarily repeat the same information. The 4 guys working on Betta breeding that Simpte mentioned can all post articles on that subject, and between the 4 articles, whoever reads them should get plenty of information.

[solar-ton]

btw i have a good way to treat hith and it seems to be working on my oscars a little too well...pm me if you are curious pleese.

[shev]

I'm curious about the hith cure.

no taking pics from other sites either right?

[Shaggy]

No, we will try to have original pics.

[solar-ton]

how about if 3 people are working on the same article like hith,should all the info be put into one thread like,understanding the diesease,and treating it?

btw i got dibs opn the gouramis,paridise fish,and a few plecos.

[TheOldSalt]

The article threads will all be kept separate, but they will all be in the same disease articles section. People will just have to read all the Hole-in-the-head threads. Yes, that's a tad inconvenient, but it stays in keeping with the rest of the format; some article threads cannot be combined effectively, so combining some but not others can be a bit of a mess.

You call dibs when you post a thread about something. Calling dibs on all gouramis isn't gonna work; you'll have to claim each gourami species separately. It's the only way to be fair and get anything done. What if I called all Tetras? That's a lot of work for me, which will take a long time, and that time could have been spent by others writing tetra profiles and getting them done.

On the other hand, you don't have to put all your data into the profile format from the beginning. It's okay to just dump a lot of data into the thread and not format it until it's time to write the finished product. In fact, it would probably work better that way.

By the way, when I look through a profile thread at "harvest time" I'll see who contributed to it. The thread originator gets top billing in most cases*, but the other contributors may also get listed.

*= if a thread starter does little more than that while someone else contributes all the data, this can be reversed

[shev]

lol, i was kidding about calling dibs.

I would start a profile, but im afraid it may be a week or 2 before i get photos and breed them for the breeding section of the profile.

[TheOldSalt]

That's fine. Just get the rest of it posted so others will know that species is already being done. There's no big rush to finish after starting.

[shev]

under "Notable sensitivites- ( salt, temp shifts, medicines, etc.. )" would disease count? like oscars and hexamita, or clown loaches and ich.

[TheOldSalt]

Hmmm... well I suppose that can work, but that info would probably work better in "Other notes."

[fishfreaks]

I've been thinking....are we going to divide this into freshwater, saltwater, brackish? Or are we going to keep it all as one??

[TheOldSalt]

Divide what, this work area or the profiles archive itself?

This work area doesn't need any division, since I'm pretty sure I'll know what goes where, and if you haven't seen the archive itself, go check it out; I don't think it could get much more divided than it already is.

[fishfreaks]

Nevermind. Forget what I said, I didn't even see that there the other day. I'm an idiot. Sorry Oldsalt