just a thought but could we not have a section pinned in each fish section where we could have spieces information area as i say just a thought

This overlaps slightly on Laynes idea for an FAQ. And I would advise anyone keen on this idea to read that topic of Laynes. (it'll save me a lot of re-writing!)

Having said that, I'm all for it (as I am for Laynes FAQ). And apart from all the crap I'd mentioned elsewhere, there's the matter of people - eg Who's doing the work?

Clunkster, do you have an idea about what sort of detail you'd like to see next to each species?

how about information such as scientific name, common names, habbitat, sexing (if possible) tempeture guidlines, feeding, behaviour etc etc
think this is open to any one elses ideas as well

not a bad idea.

i have noticed on other sites that they sometimes have space, usualy at the bottom, for people to add there own experiences.

also a FAQ and/or species profile is a good way of attracting new members i believe.

I don't think Copyright would be a problem if members are happy to donate images. It's easy enough to apply watermarks. Or if anyone can find a 'royalty free' source. As for the details, no-one can copyright the specs of a fish (temp, pH etc).

The logistics of it would be our biggest issue.

If you want a narrative on husbandry and such, it will likely have to be done on a 'voluntary' basis (and no doubt our favourite fish go first!). Text, and Images, I feel, should go through an 'Editorial' overview, to ensure a consistent format (you know by now I'm big on this...). However, once we're up and running, the format would be obvious, and we could allow submissions 'as is', provided they match 'guidelines'.

This may seem a bit fiddly, but it prevents a 'hap-hazard' look. And I do believe that an attractive semi-professional layout will lure members. For example, each entry can follow a format not unlike this:

Scientific Name
Family Name
Common Name
[image1] [image2] [image3] {images edited to a uniform size}
Fish Parameters:
(size) (habitat) (diet) (swim Level) (temperament) (egg / live) (lighting) etc
Water Parameter:
(pH) (hardness) (temp) etc
General Remarks:
(narrative)
Breeding Remarks:
(narrative)

Here's the tricky part. The Forum is not really multi-level. On the Index Page, you have main Categories, and sub-Sections. When you go into a Section, you have Topics. Go into a Topic you have a chronological sequence of Posts.

Feel free to tell me I've misunderstood this... Under a Section, say "Cichlids", you want a 'Species Directory' 'Sticky'd' (I presume) above the other Topics. Now, if we have one 'Sticky' for each fish, you'd end up paging several times to reach our Conversational Posts.

If we have one 'Sticky' encompassing all 'Cichlids', then that won't fill up our Topics listing. However, to my knowledge, Post's within a topic cannot be moved within the Topic itself. What this means, is that the fish in our 'Species Directory' will be sequenced in the order we submit them.

If we can live with that, we're half way there. I would advise leaving the first Post blank, as I foresee the requirement for a 'Key', or 'Explanatory Notes'.

I think the sticky for each forum is the best. I don't think there is any other easy way to do it. It would also take up the least amount of space.

Ok then, let's churn out a couple.

All: Any nominations for the first few Fish?

Clunkster: Can you pad out the Specs (ie, any I haven't mentioned, that should be, or alterations to my layout above?).

I'll play Editor. When we have nominations, I'll create a Sticky for them, and provide some Guideline text. When each Species is added, I'll do any editing as required to maintain an overall presentation.

I'm also happy to provide any images of Species I keep.

regarding suggestions for 1st species entries, my 1st thought is start easy with a fish that almost everyone has owned at sometime like the good old guppy.

being purely subjective aswell, how about angel fish, a fish thats new to me but quite common and perhaps the blue ram. apart from owning rams i make the ram suggestion partly as i would like to offer my ram pic as a species pic. im dead proud of this pic . u may want to reduce it in size but i will post it here full size and let u reduce it Peter to an appropriate size, if u choose to use it. this is a male ram, someone else might have a good female ram pic that they can offer as i dont have a decent pic of my female just now. if i get the chance i will try and take a pic of the female and offer it up.

kana i think we should not nominate the first few fish but should let people do their own especially if they have the fish or experiance of said fish unless they are not sure on how to go about it so then yes they could nominate a fish but then who will do the said profile's.
with regards your layout i would basically go with your layout but with a few changes somthing like this
scientific name(s)
family group
common name(s) (as many as they know as this can change from country to country if you recall yo-yo loach you know what i mean)
fish parameters (i like that) in this i would put the following 1.habbitat ie country(s) river(s) lake(s) 2. the size the fish can be expected to grow to in a tank 3. diet 4. which area of the tank the fish occupies
tank parameters in this i would place the following 1. length of tank required (which i think is important) 2. accepted tempratures of said fish 3.ph levels 4. water hardness (all though i am not sure about putting 3 & 4 in this part as i think it would be better in the breeding section as these are more required for breeding) 4. prefered substrate 5.decor i.e. bogwood,plants,caves etc etc
breeding included in here should be 1.ph 2.hardness 3.how to sex 4.if they need to be triggered i.e change of temp or water change 5.egg layer or livebearer 6. where they spawn i.e. caves,leaves etc etc
genral remarks this should cover 1. social behaviour i.e. is it a schooling fish,terratorial,boistrus or just plain nasty 2. is it prone to any diseases i.e clown loaches & white spot 3.how hard is it to keep i.e begginer fish through to species only tank 4. any other remarks i.e. like do they have poisonus spines etc etc
pictures can be interspaced throughout

kana thats all i can think of for now i will let you decide if you wanna go with that format or if you wanna condense it or change it

That's fine Clunkster. I only mentioned nominations, so that I knew where to create the first few Sticky's. But I guess there's nothing stopping me putting one under each section, straight up.

I'm inclined to keep water parameters under 'water parameters'. Fish in the wild will generally live in the same parameters as what is optimal for breeding. It's only us idiots who try to keep 'community' tanks, that create a requirement to alter parameters for inducing breeding anyway.

When we get to stuff like creating a false 'rainy season', any of that can go under breeding. That way we have a baseline for those who just want to keep that species, and then we the additional stuff for those who want to push the boundaries a bit.

Sexing can go in with breeding too, I guess. Although, for basic keeping, you don't want two of the same sex/same species in a small tank. We'll sort that out...

One of the reasons I'll edit photos, is to prevent that side-ways scrolling you have to do when a wide pic is posted (you've all seen it). All of the computers I use are on 1024x768, so I may work with that in mind. 800x600 seems to be a thing of the past.

And please let me know if you would prefer any image to be watermarked, or credited.

i think pictures should be accredited at least

The Species Profile Stickies are all in place.

If anyone wants to start one off, feel free. I'd hoped to have a half decent paramenters guide put together, but I've been having too much fun learning javascript.

If you roughly go by what we have up above, I can always edit them into alignment at a later date.

Um, any takers?

I've been really flat out, but I'll now try and fit one in, from fish I have.

i will try n do one in next few days if i get time.

i see the details required above but im not sure what to do with them once i have created a profile. where do i post the details and pics when i'm ready?

The stickies are in place. Just "reply" to them, and plop in the details.

When I figure out our preferred layout, I'll go back through them later, and 'conform' them.

I think it's best to get a couple in place now, and see how it's actually gunna look. Do the whole 'um & arh' bit.