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Welcome to the ITFS/CFKS WebsiteWe are dedicated to the promotion of fish keeping in Ireland by helping other fish keepers through our forums.Assisting new fish keepers by articles in our Beginners Section and helping advanced fish keepers with our Articles Section and links to other resources on the Web.Each society has regular monthly meetings and these meetings are listed in the "Upcoming Meetings" section on the right. |
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The June'09 Photo Competition This month Gavin from Wackers is kindly offering a EUR50 voucher for the winner of the Photo Competition. Submit one picture (no theme this month) to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it before Tuesday, the 30th of June 2009 and the winner will receive a EUR50 voucher !!! We looking forward to receiving your entries ! Some Rules: The Forum Team |
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ITFS Fish Show '09  The Irish Tropical Fish Society show took place Sunday 17th May 2009. The last show was in 2007 and prior to that there were no shows for about 5 years. The 2007 show was a great success this year was even better, so I think it is safe to assume that there will be one in 2010. Preparation begins weeks and months in advance organising a site, sponsors, insurance etc. On the weekend itself the work starts early Saturday to collect the show tanks from our storage facility on the other side of the city, getting the staging set up, all the tanks washed and cleaned and generally organising the hall. Water is provided at pH 7.0 and pH 8.0 though it is recommended that were possible exhibitors bring as much of their own water as possible. Benching is from 6 – 9 pm Saturday evening, but just like all well organised events, fish start arriving early afternoon and right up to when judging starts at 7:30 Sunday morning! The show opened to the pu  blic at 2pm and there was a queue at the door, it looked like the opening of a new IKEA store. The standard of fish on show was far ranging and of a higher quality than the 2007 show. Throughout the afternoon there were raffles for spot prizes and draws for various aquariums from a complete marine set-up to a 2 foot starter pack. Several sponsors had set up stands and had some great show only offers available. The Best Fish in Show was won by D Dalton with Hemiancistrus sp. L128, first reserve was K  Simpsons Tropheops Chilumba and second reserve L Sullivans Chromobotia macracanthus (Clown Loach). The all important U12 class was won by I Kirwan with a single tail goldfish. This year saw many more breeder team entries with most of these sold after the show. The largest classes were Catfish (G&H) and Cichlids Dc. There were very few entries in the Characins and Livebearer categories. The best thing about the show was that lots of fishkeepers that had not been to a show before were encouraged to bench a fish from what they saw and  hopefully we will have even greater numbers in 2010. We maintained our no fish lost or injured status from 2007 and when the show closed at 6pm all the fish were packed for return to their home tanks and a few very tired volunteers stayed to strip down the staging and tanks and clean the hall, leaving everything as if we had never been there while promising to be back to do it all again next year... June 2009 |
