As we now have continuing threads about the poor quality and failures of YA as a forum, in light of some questions and answers I've seen this week, I'd like to now talk about the major drawback of not having true quality control on a site like this. The first major point for anyone that cares about keeping fish is without quality control, answers that are not truthful or accurate are allowed to be posted and very possible an inexperienced asker can be swayed by someone having a TC icon or having a large number of thumbs up, and follow advice that is very poor. Here's some examples I'd like to highlight.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aq9Wp7D6.a7.EB7ytEphJl7sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080925075746AAgu43w&show=7#profile-info-fADhyAxbaa
In addition to Jack the Wong posting continually about Cycle being a product great for establishing live bacteria during a cycle, he also ALWAYS posts about Lake Malawi fish being Mbuna. This person never seems to realize there are a large number of Haps and Peacocks from Malawi as well. Now looking at this question, and responses, this is pretty clear, there's a very irresponsible approach towards keeping cichlids. Ignoring water chemistry needs is a sure way to have fish die. Mixing South Americans with Africans as well, in general is an extremely poor idea. My opinion on that concept is most people that want to mix them are just too cheap and lazy to establish a seperate tank, claim financial hardship, but they just want the fish.
Ok to that point, if I really like Elephants and I have the money to buy one, but I don't have a tropical enviroment, and just enough land space to keep them, should I do it? If knowing that a Pit Bull has a different temperment then a Poodle, does that make it ok to keep the two of them in the same house? While there are cases of people having successfully kept South Americans with Africans, it's not something that should be advised to do. Central Americans, if any mixing is to be tried would be by far better. While not every African has the higher hardness and PH, MOST do. Central Americans, not taking the temperment aspect into view, are the closest to the water needs of Africans and probably should be the one used if trying to mix them is done. I suspect Central Americans don't have the looks that appeal to others like South Americans do, and is often overlooked.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aibxkei2WTugnZRRjmrUj0Hsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080925091627AA4FDus&show=7#profile-info-VFx4YHFEaa
First it should be mentioned, this is a little kid. This little kid decided to use the same ID name as mine and I suspect that it's in effort to try to get me reported or something to that effect. Looking at this question, it's funny how they ask the same type of question as Jerk the Wong asked. It appears that this kid now seems to think that just looking at temperment in cichlids, and ignoring the water chemistry is a good thing or proper thing to do.
Sure if you look at temperment ONLY, you'll find numerous compatible groups out there that on that aspect alone work out. However what should be said is that with almost any fish keeping and grouping, you cannot just focus on one single aspect and group them togeather. This just simply doesn't work. Let's take Goldfish for example. Goldfish are coldwater fish that produce usually high amounts of waste. They aren't exactly the most aggressive types of fish out there, so if we are to ignore the type of water needs, why aren't Goldfish considered as tank mates for many tropical types?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aj5s9YXcU8glGineG15SQOrty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080922010852AAuA12h&show=7#profile-info-VG2NYjTbaa
This particular answer again doesn't seem to account for the fact that Angelfish are tropical fish and keeping them with a Goldfish isn't something that should be done. I suspect this person didn't have malintent on this, but rather just trying to tell this lady what she wanted to hear is all. Two big problems with this is that the coldwater is needed for the Goldfish and wouldn't be good for the Angelfish and that the Goldfish could possibly be targeted by the Angelfish which from time to time tend to be a little nasty towards tank mates, even their own kind.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As0nBzxS5yQhyhorUbF247fty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080919105934AArHUS8&show=7#profile-info-Om6exyXraa
This answer was posted before to show something flawed with YA but yet again, the support of a product like this is misfounded. I have asked Soop to post about this before and he got totally ignored as well. Carl has information about this product on his site, but what I really want to demonstrate here is the fact that Cycle does not contain live bacteria and that no shelf kept product could possibly do this. The lack of an ammonia source, and O2 in the bottle would kill off the bacteria. I haven't seen anything to indicate that bacteria would go dormant under such conditions otherwise, when a filter shuts off, your bacteria colony wouldn't die off either.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aibxkei2WTugnZRRjmrUj0Hty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080914202755AAnSQ23&show=7#profile-info-Wx8GaJy3aa
Another typical limited insight of Jerk the Wong again. Here, he totally fails to take into aspect that fact these could be South American or Central American. The point of overstocking a tank, which works just as well for a 29 gallon, is so that no one fish would end up being a target really. However, if you were to do a species only overstock like he's advocating, what you would get, is some deaths among males, or some males being put into submission in the tank and forced to live in a small space of the tank, while one dominant male emerges and spreads his bloodline on with the females. At some point in time, that one dominant male is going to take over in a 29 and probably isn't going to tolerate another male around as it is. Failure again to consider a SA or CA and limited insight on the aspect of overstocking.
These are just a few examples here where quality control is needed. While some of the first couple questions aren't easy to control, what I feel should be said, is someone seeking advice to attempt a very poor choice, has to be addressed on some level. Answers that are shown here to be very poor, low quality and inaccurate, should be weeded out as well. YA in it's attempt to open up for everyone to give input, has created an enviroment in which very bad answers can be selected and attempted. It's just a matter of time however, before someone is going to get seriously injured or killed trying something that shouldn't be done. Renee posted something in our forum about this at one point, and while the bad answer if given, shouldn't be faulted as much as I feel YA should be faulted for allowing it, you also have to take into account mental maturity of the asker to fail to realize the falsehoods too. It would be better however if YA would take actions on providing quality control outside of a miserable community moderation, and weed out answers that just shouldn't be out there to consider.
