Haven’t posted updates on the blog for a while, not due to lack of interest, but because I have been busy with some forums that I have joined.
As times passes I am more and more into aquatic plants, and I have joined a couple of forums that will help me with the step learning process that is taking good care of aquatic plants.
One of the forums I been hanging around at is UKAPS (UK Aquatic Plant Society – www.ukaps.org). The site is wholly directed to the care and keep of Aquatic Plants in the UK, it has close to 4000 members, and the help they give to newcomers is very good.
Have also been trading on it, bought and sold a couple of plants I got, bought a Arcadia Series 3 vapor lamp and a unbreakable heater. Cheaper than ebay.
On UKAPS there are a number of big names of the Aquatic Plant scene, such as Tom Barr, George Farmer and many others. George is a regular contributor to PFK magazine.
This brings me to the second forum I joined, The Barr Report, which for me is like a university on Aquatic Plants. The forum is at www.barrreport.com, and there is a fee to see some of the areas, but at just over £50 for a lifetime subscription, one gets a wealth of information. Not a forum for the faint hearted, or a newbie, but a lot of my questions have been answered by reading other posts.
A forum that is just starting is the London Fish Keeping Club (www.lfkc.co.uk), it had a rough start, but now with new administrator, new moderators and a new domain and hosting package it is very promising.
I have happily contributed to 50% of the purchase of the site, and with Paulo Leal as admin and Ricky Lam as moderator I am sure that the site will be one to follow.
LFKC deals mostly with fish keeping, as the name suggests, but it has also sections on invertebrates, plants and a swap/sale section.
Last but not least, I am also a member of Aquatic Plants South Africa (www.apsa.co.za). With 619 members and growing everyday, the forum is full of information, and quite surprisingly so, as although I have been going to Cape Town for over 10 years now, I have yet to see a decent aquarium shop, so I wonder where the members get their plants and fish from.
South Africa is not an easy country to import plants, fish and shrimp to, so it a credit to the members of APSA how they manage to keep their tanks so well stocked.
If you want to learn more about plants, and how to keep them in a good condition have a look at the forums I have listed, and for sure you will not regret it.
