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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

aquarist newbie

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28 Aug 2014 11:45 #1 by bigchoppers (Karl Dorney)
Im in the hobbie for 8 months now. My list of fish are :
3 Discus
2 dwarf gourami
8 X ray tetra
2 anscistrous cory
1 red tail black shark
1 female Siemens fighting fish
2 glass shrimp
Tank Is a 60ltr Marina from maxi zoo.
I have a 125ltr Rio with no lights that I'm gonna set up and use as my main tank. Mainly discus some tetra some shrimp and whatever plants I can get to grow in the warmer water that the discus like.
Wife is preggers with 3rd child n monies tight so I'm gonna try set up the new tank on a budget. Make the stand myself and hopefully make the light unit.

Thanks again a
N I look forward to getting to know ye all :P

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28 Aug 2014 12:20 #2 by ger310 (Ger .)
Replied by ger310 (Ger .) on topic aquarist newbie
Welcome to the forum bigchoppers.

i hate being the bearer of bad news but you should not have a lot of them fish in that tank........i'm scratching my head here that they are alive actually..........even that 125L would be too small for them Discus......and that fighter fishes fins must be getting a lot of nips!! between the mess the Discus and Ancistrus make i can only imagine the state of your water (unless your doing 90% daily water changes)!!

Are them fish in that 60L 8 months?

Sorry for the bad news dude and good luck with the third nipper

Ger

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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28 Aug 2014 12:35 - 28 Aug 2014 21:23 #3 by bigchoppers (Karl Dorney)
Thanks for your feedback Ger.
Discus are quite small at the minute. I know how big they can get Hence why I'm upgrading to a larger tank. What is the min size tank you'd recommend for 3 discus ?
The tank has been going for 6 months with all the fish in it. Ammonia and nitrate ,nitrites all fine. Water change once per week about 25%. All the fish seem to get along. Only the shark seems to bother the gourami. But apart from that they're all very placid. I might be able to source a 200ltr tank. But I just don't have the funds right now to drop big money in seahorse on a brand new 450 tank.
Last edit: 28 Aug 2014 21:23 by bigchoppers (Karl Dorney). Reason: spelled the guys name wrong

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28 Aug 2014 12:38 #4 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic aquarist newbie
I agree with ger I cant imagine all them fish in an 80 ltr what kind of maintenance are u doing on it

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28 Aug 2014 12:54 #5 by swai (Simon)
Replied by swai (Simon) on topic aquarist newbie
That is a whole lot of fish in a small tank! I'd try get the 125 set up soon as and move the majority of the fish over.

Are you using an internal filter on that 60? U must need to clean it everyday!

Anyway any questions on anything just ask, a lot of members here are very knowledgeable about fish keeping.

Marino, Dublin 9

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28 Aug 2014 13:06 #6 by bigchoppers (Karl Dorney)
I have everything I need bar the lights to set up the 125ltr. Any ideas on a quick fix. I was thinking of making my own LED set up. I heard it's the way to go. Since I have no canopy I was going to build one with the lights n all built in. Could it be that simple or am I kidding myself.
My brother in law is a sparks so I can get help on wiring it all together

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28 Aug 2014 13:15 #7 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
Welcome to the forum bigchoppers.

Like swaii said try to set up the 120 l as soon as possible.

If money is tight, you can use playsand as substrate and a desk lamp for lighting the tank.

But this tank will be too small for keeping discuss, so you might have to consider getting a bigger tank or bringing them back.

Anthony

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28 Aug 2014 14:11 #8 by carlowchris (chris)
Replied by carlowchris (chris) on topic aquarist newbie
Welcome bigchoppers

the only thing with making a diy led light is that some of the cheap ones you see on offer,do tend to loose their intensity very quickly,it might seem like a cheep option but if your going to have to replace lighting and probly going to upgrade your tank again,i think ypur going to end up spending more money

if you dont have the money to go fpr that big expensive tank and very few of us do,you should have a look in the for sale section here and on adverts but also look at the wanted section.sometimes people are looking to downsize so you may get a swap situation.and everybody wins


good luck either way though

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28 Aug 2014 14:31 #9 by bigchoppers (Karl Dorney)
Thanks guys for all your help. Hopefully I don't make anymore mistakes.
What would be the most ideal size for discus tank. Or what ratio litres per discus ?

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28 Aug 2014 21:06 #10 by baan (Fintan Breen)
Replied by baan (Fintan Breen) on topic aquarist newbie
welcome bigchoppers!

I've a 300 litre which I'm going to put 5 discus into shortly. Apart from that, I have 20 cardinals, a few corys and kuhli loaches and two bristlenoses (and about 20 bn fry which will be leaving shortly... although I get the feeling they will be replaced!).

One thing to keep in mind with discus is that as they grow, they are round, so unlike other fish they are high as well as long and this means that need more vertical space. A 2 foot tall tank seems to be recommended.

One other thing - watch the fish you are keeping with the discus. I can image a red-tailed shark being aggressive and may spook them.

I generally don't trust calculators, but this one may help in terms of stocking and will give you some ideas re tank size and filter, etc. www.aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php ... not sure what others think of this calculator - have ye used it??

Best of luck with it.

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28 Aug 2014 21:22 #11 by bigchoppers (Karl Dorney)
I managed to figure out how to change the file size of my pictures.
So here goes... my first attempt at a tropical discus aquarium. albeit the world smallest anyway :lol:
Attachments:

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05 Sep 2014 23:32 #12 by dshamrock2000 (Dave)
Welcome to the forum, I'm from Naas Myself, Your more than welcome to drop around to me and pick and choose from any spares I have

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06 Sep 2014 08:34 - 06 Sep 2014 08:37 #13 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
hello and welcome we all being in the same boat starting the hobby its not so long ago since I made mistake of overstocking a 110L tank.You get plenty of advice from here. if you are into diy go on youtube I have done a 6ft tank and unit for small money. I also have young wild kids so I unserstand money can be tight all the best with the hobby

james

Something fishie going on here
Last edit: 06 Sep 2014 08:37 by irish-zx10r (James feenan).

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06 Sep 2014 13:56 #14 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
Recommendations for discus on volume is 40L for the first one and 30 for any additional ones. But they also recommend a minimum of 5 Discus to avoid aggression (they are ciclids). So you are looking at 100L just for 3 Discus and that does not include substrate, rocks etc...

240L is a minimum i would say and you can score them cheap. (wouldn't buy a new tank from shop they are too dear).

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07 Sep 2014 08:10 #15 by bigchoppers (Karl Dorney)
I have my 125ltr tank cycling at the minute. I seeded it from media and water from my old tank. The light fitting I got with it is broken. So im going to loose the hood altogether. Ive ordered an LED light from aquatic villiage that sits on top of the tank. And im going to get glass made for a new cover so tge little buggers cant jump out. I know it'll only be a stop gap till I can source a 200 + ltr tank. Thanks for all the advice. N dshamrock200 its nice to know theres someone close by if I get stuck for anything.

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