A friend of mine has given me their subscription to a popular aquarist magazine, which shall remain nameless. I think I'm going to have to give it back to her

I started reading cover to cover, and wasn't overly impressed. I got to the fresh water Q+A section. The second question answered by their "expert" was about balasharks, someone was asking how many could fit in a 55 gallon. I thought, oh great, he's going to respond that these fish get quite large, and no more than 2, possibly 3, should be kept in that size tank. He started out fine, get quite large, etc etc; but then said that more important is that it would look really cool to see a dozen or so swimming around in your tank, and as they grow, you can just weed them out! I was floored. That doesn't sound like a hobbyist to me, not one I'd like to meet anyway.

There were a couple other opinions in there I wasn't too keen on either. Some comment about staying away from forums because of people that think they're experts (like they have any room to talk...) Wonderful pictures and species bios though, but that thing about the balas just turned me off completely.

Thanks for listening

Sheesh! I feel bad for new aquarium hobbyists. There is so much information out there, and a lot of it is wrong or misleading. You'd think that since its printed in a book or magazine that it would be right, but I've found that is not often the case. A lot of info online can be good or bad, and its hard for a new comer to tell. Thats why I like forums...you get personal help and opinions from people who are keeping their own fish. Its usually easier to understand who is more reliable by looking at the join date, status (mod, etc) and post rating.

If you are still feeling hot about it, maybe you can write them a letter. Maybe they'll publish it in their magazine if you word it well and couteously.

The only reason the author of that article advises people to "stay away from forums" is to protect his own interests. I bet magazine sales have gone down since fish forums have become popular.

geez, and people complain that there fish die, nex thing you know that guy is putting 10 goldies in a 1 gallon tank