When Werner Hieber had a vision in 2000 - he founded an aquarium forum. Long before the breakthrough of social media, he created a central platform for sharing information. Today, Cichliden-Forum.de is one of the oldest and best specialist forums in Germany. With more than 11,600 members and a vast amount of knowledge, it offers quality advice under the guidance of Manfred Dietz. The forum emphasizes animal protection and provides expert information without compromise. It is an indispensable platform that has been facilitating knowledge, supporting aquaristics, and helping countless creatures for 25 years.
At the beginning of the year 2000, Werner, the founder of the forum, realized that the internet, with its possibilities, would be a good platform for connecting aquarists in the future.
In March 2000, the forum with the internet address “malawipoint.de” was launched online. The technology and possibilities at that time were still very limited and could not be compared to today. Werner's forum was online earlier than, for example, Facebook in 2004, X (Twitter) in 2006, and Instagram in 2010.
Forums were and still are a central place for the topic, where members share experiences and exchange advice, help others, preserve knowledge, and also offer easy access to this information. This added value is not offered by social media. In addition, forums are moderated, ensuring a friendly and correct approach among members, and misinformation is safely corrected or deleted.
Our forum had, like many other forums, its peak around 2010 with a large number of members and very intense discussions. Long-term members told me that at the time of the forum's greatest glory, more than 100 posts were added daily.
Werner also organized forum meetings in his garden or nearby during those years, so members could meet in person and talk. The meetings also featured expert presentations. See pictures from the meetings.
Werner was open to new technologies even into old age, and just under 3 years after its founding, Werner transitioned the forum to newer, more powerful software for forums. We still use his successor today. The name was also changed, and since then it has been known as “cichliden-forum.de”. However, it is still possible to access “malawipoint.de” to reach “cichliden-forum.de.”
The fact that our forum has been online since March 2000 shows persistence and success in connecting aquarists, preserving knowledge, exchanging experiences, and helping beginners. It is truly remarkable that our forum is now among the oldest specialized forums in Germany.
Its founder, Werner Hieber, demonstrated great vision 25 years ago when he was one of the first to start using online media. Werner was a true “passionate aquarist” who invested a lot of energy into the development of the forum and led and further developed it for decades. Thank you, Werner, for your excellent dedication.
Unfortunately, our founder Werner passed away suddenly in October 2020, but before that, he ensured succession for his forum. Manfred Dietz took over the forum in 2020 and continues to lead it in the spirit of Werner. There is constant development of functions and offerings, so we can now state that Cichliden-Forum.de is a quality and one of the few good information platforms on aquaristic topics on the internet.
Moreover, the quality of communication among members has always been at a very high level, so everyone maintains a friendly approach to each other. Manfred and his team also take care to keep it that way. The forum team, with its past and present moderation team, provides high-quality expert advice, and the team and members have decades of aquaristic experience that is not often found.
It is a pity that we cannot precisely quantify how many beginners and especially thousands of fish we have been able to help over the 25 years. Many fish have survived thanks to the expert advice of forum members and have received an optimal home where they thrive. This cannot be sufficiently appreciated:
THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed for more than 25 years and continues to help.
The forum, its team, and members place great emphasis on expert advice. When a question is raised, it cannot be expected that a positive answer will be given just because of membership! This means that it can sometimes be unpleasant for fish keepers. If they make mistakes, we will clearly and unequivocally tell them, and this is without compromises for the living beings. This clear “no” may not be liked by some, but those who accept it are enthusiastic and run excellent aquariums with healthy fish, whose well-being is the most important thing for all of us.
Our information platform plays an important role in the aquaristic community because it provides a platform for the exchange of knowledge, experiences, and support for many aquarists. It is nice to see that Cichliden-Forum.de has built a strong community over the years and continues to contribute to aquaristics.
After the takeover of the forum by Manfred, it was technically updated, the content significantly expanded, and the connections were also broadened. Today, the forum offers a platform on many topics of aquaristics, such as: fish, aquarium technology, equipment, care, plants, and more.
In addition, regular monthly online presentations via Zoom have been established for continuous education. Here, well-known experts or also aquarists present important topics of aquaristics, and there is an online exchange of experiences. All of this significantly exceeds the offerings of a simple forum. We are now also much better connected, i.e., regular cooperation is taking place with organizations and associations. Among many would be DCG e.V., VDA e. V., BNA e. V., ZFF, VDA AK-fish diseases, Zierfischfreunde-Warendorf.de, Aquarienclub Braunschweig, and many other organizations and forums across Europe and even overseas.
But also species protection with In-Situ or Ex-Situ is becoming increasingly important and is an ever-growing topic in the forum.
Our offerings in the forum are very extensive and can only be partially mentioned here; just take a look and experience our great community for yourself.
- The forum itself has more than 335,500 posts and more than 38,760 topics
- Over the years with more than 11,600 members
- Posts and experiences of more than 25 years of aquaristics!
- Exchange with many long-term experienced aquarists
- Very friendly and pleasant approach among all members
- Beginners are always addressed correctly and friendly and can ask anything
- Our forum-blogs (own blogs can be created)
- Our forum-calendar with many dates from C-F, DCG, VDA, ZFW, and other organizations
- Tabs for the forum for all members
- Our gallery of images and videos
- Personal notes for everyone
- Database of links with >134 links on aquaristics
- Our tooltip when hovering over terms/abbreviations
- BBCode "Tab menu" for a clearer arrangement of texts
- Extended search functions with preview
- Showroom - presentation of aquariums with images
- Map of South America with water values
- Map of Africa with rivers and lakes
- Map of Lake Malawi with locations and species
- Map of aquarium manufacturers
- Map of traders and breeders
- Our list of species
- Our blog "News and Tips"
- Our extensive FAQ for beginners and advanced
- Our forum-market - selling/searching
- Weather reports, storms, and grassland areas from DWD
- With your own regional information, you also receive your individual reports from DWD
- Discounts with many manufacturers or traders for our members
- Many regular online meetings via Zoom, with aquaristic topics
- with high-quality presenters
- Image puzzles with interesting prizes
- Organized bulk orders with discounts
- Our forum's annual mug
For our meetings and our Zoom-presentations, we have prepared a calendar so that members have quick access to dates and links. After a short time, the calendar has developed into an extensive planner of dates for all possible vivaristic events. The calendar is now available not only in the forum but also online for everyone. On average, we have published more than 300 dates per year, and they continue to increase. Among them are, for example, Zoom-presentations, expert exhibitions, meetings of working groups and associations, etc., across Europe with many topics of aquaristics and terraristics. There are now 9 recorders who enter dates for you. On many websites, with organizations, forums, or as an online calendar, it is now possible to find the vivaristic calendar.
Take a look at it and note the dates. The offerings (mostly free) are enormous and of high quality. You won't find it like this in one place anywhere else. The vivaristic calendar also offers the opportunity to connect and meet to exchange experiences.
Link to the calendar: https://kalender.digital/Vivaristik-Kalender
In the future, we wish for many more interested parties who are keen on expert exchange of experiences and knowledge. Social media cannot provide this in this form.
To ensure that these 25 years do not just pass by, we organized a celebration of the 25th anniversary with DCG AK-East Africa. It took place on March 15 and 16, 2025. We met at Cichlidenstadel in Berghausen and then at the Krone inn in Bissingen. An extensive program was prepared, and everyone could meet numerous experts, specialists, and well-known personalities from the aquaristic scene and exchange experiences with them.
Unfortunately, the challenges for our hobby will not be any less in the future. We are facing major tasks, such as education and prevention of positive lists, reform of animal protection law, TAMG 2027 (ban on all medications for fish), etc.
It is important for the forum to be able to count on all members. Only in the community as a team are we strong! Please continue to engage. Of course, we will stand against all these negative trends and remain active with further connections to important associations and organizations.
In conclusion, heartfelt thanks to all former and all active team and forum members for their excellent voluntary work. Please continue in this spirit – thank you!
We wish all the best for the future of the forum for the next 25 years and many successes in sharing knowledge and supporting aquaristics and animal protection!
Team Cichliden-Forum.de
