Fishlore Reviews 119

Love this, look into the member profiles when asking questions and especially getting answers for accurate information

Find people really helpful will recommend to my fish friends 🖒🖒

Awful Admin . Very Childish Forum .

I’ve been a fishlorian for a few years now and can tell you this is the best fish forum on the net. I want to be fair here and note that before I wrote my review, I read through the reviews posted by fellow members, it’s sad to see 90% of the negative reviews were posted by “banned” members. I mean, how hard it’s it to follow the rules? I do recognize some of the avatars and names from some of these banned persons and can tell you that they will only continue their online shenanigans elsewhere. Good riddance! That just leaves the good aquarium peeps on Fishlore!

I was on the site for a couple of years, and enjoyed it til the mods noticed me. They behave as if volunteer helpers aiding new aquarists are their paid employees. I've wondered if they feel like they have a massive business empire with large numbers of imaginary workers. It's no surprise members were asked to come here and give positive ratings.
With the number of "membership culls" and banning parties they embark on, it's also no wonder they don't always get the reviews they expect. It looks great, til you really get to know the place...Unfortunate, as with more reasonable leadership, they would have more knowledgeable voices there.

This site has been extremely helpful to me...since I am fairly new in the aquarium and fish world, I have quite a few questions and problems. I just got through reading about the brown algae problem, which is something I thought would require drastic action to get rid of. Now I know that the problem will eventually resolve itself. Fishlore really has a lot of knowledgeable people to relieve my anxieties, plus, sometimes the remarks can be quite funny. It's just a great site to visit and I feel very lucky to have run across it!

First, let me say that I was not kicked off of Fishlore. I left because I found myself in tears a couple of times recently. The joy of the forum was stolen from me. In the past, I always enjoyed Fishlore and learned a lot from the forum. Even met my bff on there! I got useful information that may have saved a fish or 2. I also spent a lot of time helping others. This, at times, was exhausting but rewarding at the same time. Coradee and jhef (?) were kind and helpful. Recently, things have gotten hostile on Fishlore though and some moderators used their power to be hateful and mean. If they didn’t like something they took it down. They would make rude and embarrassing comments to members. Yes, we members would discuss the rudeness but kept on going in the hopes that Mike would do something about it. Slowly, friends moved to another site. Fishlore just isn’t the same anymore. I finally experienced what others were reporting for myself. I posted what I thought was a joke but the mod interpreted it differently. I tried until I was blue in the face to explain my intent but the conversation went South fast. She refused to listen and pulled another moderator in to insult me publicly also. It was pure mean and undeserving. I attempted to report the issue to Mike but he didn’t respond. I then advised him that I was leaving Fishlore as a result. His only response was that he would close my account for me and good luck. Other members told me it would do no good to speak with him but I felt he was nice and fair. The other members proved to be right and I was wrong. It was clear he cared more for his moderator’s than he did for his members. It was hurtful but a lesson learned. Coradee and jdhef (?) are great moderators and very fair. Unfortunately, Lucy and Rivieraneo abuse their power and are just pure mean. I believe they were drafted from Hell! So, in a nutshell, great information on the site but the moderators are too controlling and the members are powerless to do anything about it. So, I left. Good news is many of the old members have found each other on Fishforums.net so we are still together! God bless all who love God’s fin babies! Note: I NEVER cuss and the answer below is twisted. I posted a quote from Shaquille O’Neil where HE used the word for a female dog. Not my choice of words by any means. That was quite some time back too and had nothing to do with why I left. Lucy knows. Shows how much the mods really know about what is really going on amongst them. The other post they are referring to was where things were getting out of hand and so I changed my post to God bless all Fishlore members. Forgive me, if I offended anyone by placing God in my post. He is my Lord and Saviour and not offensive to me ever. This is a perfect example of how the mods twist things and lie to accommodate or cover up their own actions. Shame on ya’ll! By the way, members are aware of who ErolHsif (Fishlore spelled backwards) is. People, they are stalking us now on another site with that name and trashing old members with lies. Why? For what purpose? It proves the mental stability of one mod. Legal action may have to take place in order to stop the slander. Oh, I have lots of screenshots to prove the real story. Should I start pasting? How much more unprofessional and childish can Fishlore get? In closing, I’m sorry if I have offended anyone in this post. However, part of my responsibility in my professional years was to review our Press Ganey surveys and to identify areas in need of improvement. I believe all companies should have this opportunity and it is the responsibility of each customer to advise of both excellent and poor experiences. Good luck to Mike and all the FL staff and members for the future!

I say 3 stars since that states “average-acceptable experience but with some friction,”
I joined FL many years ago and it was a nice place to learn. I left for a few years and then came back. I like that the site is active, ask a question and usually in minutes you get a response. It’s not always a useful response but at least some people try to help out. The site ranges from very experienced keepers to newbies. I feel most people are nice but there are a few who seem like they will argue about anything, no matter what.
I was not part of the mass banning that happened in December of last year, although I know many helpful, knowledgeable and active members that were. I know this because I also belong to other forums. I saw what happened first hand so this is not a rumor I’m hearing. I also have a feeling that these reviews may get others banned, possibly even me. I don’t understand having a rule on a free site where there is no money being made, saying no talking about other forums even in a private message (yep, these are regulated as well). I feel a true keeper of any animal needs multiple sources of advice to give proper care...this is not a competition. So basically I like the site and some of its members but yes, not without some friction. That is my personal opinion.

Pretty bad forum TBH. The mods have lost their minds, apparently. Ostensibly I was banned for happening to be a member of another site.

Frankly I wonder why a free forum is even being listed on this site, but since it's here, why not?

Members experience is judged by the number of posts they have, not the actual experience they have. Advice is often terrible and if terrible advice is challenged, the mods are quick to swoop in and delete the posts challenging the advice given, usually for "rudeness" (because all disagreements are apparently rude).

Several members were banned for no reason whatsoever. Every few years, there is a mass-banning like this. It's not a site where you're allowed to have your own opinions or voice them. It's run by people who don't seem to have any real knowledge on the subject matter, mods who frequently attack members, and apparently ban them with no warning and without giving a reason.

Also, beware. When you post photos and content on Fishlore, their terms and conditions state that they own rights to those photos and content. And if you get banned (again, probably for no reason) you can expect an IP block and you'll have no way to take your photos down.

When’s I first joined Fishlore, it was great. The people were understanding, and kind. Moderators were diplomatic, and used common sense. I was a member for almost a full year, and then it changed, for the worse. The moderators really changed the dynamic. When a member would ask questions, or help, they would get blocked or banned. This would be for the slightest infractions. There was a time when 20+ members were banned, in one single day, because they went to a different forum to use the chat room. It was the most bizarre thing. Talk about drama.

I was one of the ones banned, and I am in no way bitter about it. I was never given a reason, or told what rules I violated. Just one day I was gone. I have found people who actually are able to conduct themselves in an adult, reasonable, and professional manner. You know, like normal humans.

I personally wouldn’t recommend this forum for anyone that is just starting out. The information provided in their species information pages, is sometimes up to 10 years old. Fishkeeping has changed a lot in 10 years.

I've been a member on FL for several years. While I'm by no means an expert, I certainly know the basics of fish keeping. Over the past year, I've seen many more "incorrect" answers to people's questions. Lots of bad advice being given these days on FL. There were many folks there whom I considered reliable people to bounce questions off. They seem to have all left. I've seen posts that question the mods suddenly disappear, and things really seem to have gone downhill there. I still check in there from time to time, but there are far better sites these days to get fish keeping advice. If you're thinking of joining FL, I'd suggest you look elsewhere...

In general, I’ve found other forums have a much less kind and helpful atmosphere than Fishlore does.

There are lots of new hobbyists on the forum but there’s also a great many experienced members on the forum who help without being judgmental and are very kind and knowledgeable. There’s a good balance of both and it’s great place to learn - though of course you should always do additional research.

Unkind, bullying, rude or spam posts are swiftly removed by mods, which I appreciate very much and it’s the main reason why I love Fishlore so much. It keeps the general atmosphere positive instead of toxic as I’ve seen on other forums. I’ve never seen anything taken down that didn’t strongly deserve it.

Perhaps there are other more advanced forums to be on, but this one is the most friendly to beginnners who don’t want to be judged or hassled by other forum members and the rules are very, very easy to follow.

I was a member of this forum for about 3 years. I visited nearly every day, multiple times a day, and quite honestly lived and breathed fishlore. I started on this site with limited knowledge in the hobby and grew over the years to trying to help others and return the favor as much as I possibly could. Then one day, I was banned. I received no warning. It seems my only crime was being active in a different fish forum's chat room at the same time as others that were banned. Before anyone claims poaching or anything else, I never once encouraged anyone to leave fishlore or even encourage anyone to join another site. I didn't even mention another site while on fishlore unless pointing users to better information on another forum (which I got approved by FL mods). Others contacted me about it but I never reciprocated or messaged anyone with the attempt to have anyone join any other sites or leave fishlore. I followed every rule in the bylaws that were posted at the time. But nonetheless, after devoting several hundreds of hours into helping hobbyists and learning myself, I was banned.

Now that I've had time to step away and be a more active member of other fish forums, I will say that fishlore may be one of the worst sources of information one can choose. The influx of new people to the hobby, is quite encouraging but unfortunately, many folks on fishlore give faulty or down right bad advice. I believe that members are helping other members by simply regurgitating other advice they have seen previously on the forum. This happens with any forum quite honestly but the ratio of experienced fish keepers to novices is quite a bit more skewed on fishlore than any forum I've ever been a member of. There simply is not enough experienced fish keepers on that forum to give good advice and to combat the bad. So bad advice is given and recirculated ad nauseam until the faulty advice is considered fact and golden. I realized this about the time I was banned from fishlore when I started joining other forums. Fish keepers with decades of experience were telling me almost the opposite of the guidance that is just accepted as fact on fishlore. There are some wonderful people on fishlore. People I miss very much that are knowledgable, give great advice, and don't make you feel dumb when asking what might be a dumb question. But they are quite honestly outnumbered by rude, novice, members who are a detriment to the forum.

Which brings me to another issue. Some of the mods that have been around for a while can be quite overbearing. Some of the mods are quite nice and pleasant but some quite simply are a detriment to the forum. They are very quick to correct someone for slighting the forum in any way or questioning their methods, but do very little to curb the terrible and wrong advice that is spread throughout their forum. It can be quite difficult to keep the experienced fish keepers around when they are continuously banning them for sharing their knowledge on other forums, or daring to question the mods fish knowledge themselves. The forum may get nothing from banning members but far too often I've seen the mods let things get personal and punish members for personal reasons. Some mods, quite simply, put themselves before the forum.

Always, always, always check any advice you get from FL against other forums if you decide to visit. There are other, better, more educated forums out there when it comes to fish keeping.

Literally did absolutely nothing wrong on the site and was banned. The only thing I was doing at the time was chatting on another fish forum chat. I never messaged anyone about the other forum. I was even actively posting in a topic I had made on FL that was getting activity when it happened. I made a point to follow every single rule and got banned with no warning regardless. Use the site at your own risk. It is unfortunate.
My name was Sel on there and go ahead and look at my track record. I was behaving perfectly.

I have so far had a pleasant time talking and learning on Fishlore I am new haven't been on long, so I don't feel quite like giving 5 stars yet but so far it's been pretty nice, I have gotten to know alot of people on here who have been very kind to me and helped me through alot cycling my tank and answering my questions. Have not experienced and negative really I made a couple of mistakes "posting to wrong part of forum and posting a pic of the tank I wanted to buy /Oppps" they were not mean about it by all means they just let me know it was a no no and took it down, understandably I know copywrite rules I thought it was just the link my bad lol . I hope to be a member for many years to come we shall see. ;)

I was a well known member of Fishlore, over 4000 messages when I was banned without explanation as a part of that mass banning for "poaching" members. No one was ever telling anyone to quit Fishlore to join somewhere else, we were just giving people, who we had become friends with another place to meet. I never wanted to be banned, I would definitely still be there if they didn't ban me. The mods are quite thin skinned and even cowardly, they hide behind their ban buttons. Do some searching, you will find MANY other forums with better mods and members. I can't wait to get the same obviously copied and pasted message that Fishlore has sent out to other low reviews!

Edit: If there were no mass banning, then please explain to me how 15+ people were banned in a period of two days? And I want you to tell me EXACTLY where I admitted that I broke forum rules. Because I know I never said that.

Many of us come here looking for answers, and who knows, maybe swimming around older posts and asking will help you? All our pets are differents, but our fins babies needs the best we can give them too!

Love this forum. I've run into a couple know-it-alls, but that's par for the course with literally every forum everywhere. A majority of the members are extremely helpful (in a nice way!) and it's a great community for the hobby.

I was a member of Fishlore for almost 6 years, with over 2500 posts helping and learning from fellow aquarists. As I was reading some of the reviews here, I noticed a review that one of the mods replied to. The mod stated, "We don't ban members very often and only after they have been given several warnings about forum rules violations." This is simply not true. I was banned from FL without any warning, and from what I can tell, my crime was belonging to another fish forum. Others I know had a similar experience. I enjoyed my time on FL but was treated terribly by the mods there. There are certainly more welcoming aquarium forums available.

Great information and lots of help but some people can be aggressive and may get into arguements that can get carried away, mods are also aggressive and sometimes dont help the situation. But i got lots of help for my aquatic questions, it just the mod and admins.