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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

Tanganyikan community tank update

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27 Jul 2015 18:00 #1 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
So I think I bought this tank around March and it's been sitting around and it's been bothering me been so busy with work,kids ,fiancé


So I finally got the substrate and rocks.

Moved the tank into the sitting room and put the sand in(I emailed the company that makes the sand and they emailed me back clarifying that the coral sand is natural sand so it does BUFFER the PH).

Wanted to make the tank look as natural as possible i wasn't putting much thought into rock placement didn't want it to look organised so only spent about 5 minutes placing the rocks.

Next step is get a good few shells to litter the bottom right corner for my multi colony.

And get a filter and a heater and then just fill the tank.

Here are some pictures if anyone has any suggestions feel free to comment.


Regards
Craig Coyle

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27 Jul 2015 18:29 #2 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Pics

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27 Jul 2015 18:41 #3 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Sorry guys having problems uploading the pictures

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27 Jul 2015 18:58 #4 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)

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27 Jul 2015 19:22 - 27 Jul 2015 19:23 #5 by alan 64 (alan)
Looks cool mate
Last edit: 27 Jul 2015 19:23 by alan 64 (alan). Reason: spelling

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27 Jul 2015 19:28 #6 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Thanks Alan mate.

Should be filled and up and running in a week hopefully.

Been a long time coming tank just sitting there for months.

Might pop a few giant val s behind the big rocks at the back haven't decided yet

Craig

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28 Jul 2015 18:47 - 28 Jul 2015 18:50 #7 by ger310 (Ger .)
Please no plants!!! noooooooooooooooooooooo ha

I can't tell from the pics if there's a background on the tank but for me it's just gotta be sand,rocks/stones and a black background for a Tanganyikan set up.......each to there own though :)

Are you just stocking Shellies in it?

And i think i said this to you before but i have 10-15 escargot shells here if you want them for nothing? but if memory serves me correct, your out beyonder though?

Ger

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)
Last edit: 28 Jul 2015 18:50 by ger310 (Ger .).

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28 Jul 2015 19:13 #8 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)

Please no plants!!! noooooooooooooooooooooo ha

I can't tell from the pics if there's a background on the tank but for me it's just gotta be sand,rocks/stones and a black background for a Tanganyikan set up.......each to there own though :)

Are you just stocking Shellies in it?

And i think i said this to you before but i have 10-15 escargot shells here if you want them for nothing? but if memory serves me correct, your out beyonder though

Ger

Hahahahahah yeah ger a bit to far although if you wanted to post them I could pay pal you the postal fee?????

Yes ger the backround is all black.

And I'm going to stock with some less known tangs I've done quite a lot of research and have picked what I think (hope ) will be the best mix.

I am really in 2 minds about the plants

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28 Jul 2015 19:26 #9 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
The mix of fish I'm going to have in the tank I'll just have the multies as my shell dwellers

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28 Jul 2015 19:27 #10 by ger310 (Ger .)
Looking forward to updates on this dude :)

PM me your address Craig and i should be able to post them tomorrow ok

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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28 Jul 2015 19:44 #11 by alan 64 (alan)
I am with ger on the no plants I don't like any plants in African tanks but I spose everyone has there own taste

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31 Jul 2015 16:49 #12 by Santiagovalcarcel (Santiago)
Hi Craig

Nice set up, I have Tanganyikans as well, and tried few plants with no success, even Vallis died on me ... I am trying crinum calamistratum and see how it does and this is going to be my last attempt ! I personaly do not mind plants but my wife and daughter likes them so democracy wins.
Have a 400 lt tank with 100 lt sump
I Had a 3 male 3 female group of leptosomas that I took to seahorse 2 weeks ago, I needed to reduce numbers as my fish are growing would have been nice to give them to you instead, they were breeding group and very nice colors.

Currently keeping :

6 Blue Zaire frontosas - Juveniles biggest one at 8 cms ( may need to move a couple soon )
1 Black widow frontosa
4 Paracyprichromis nigripinnis ( 2 male 2 female ) this is stunning fish and one of my favorites
3 Lamprologus ocellatus gold ( 1 male 2 females ) breeding all the time but not successful to raise fry due to predators
7 Altolamprologus calvus black pectoral, Zaire - a pair bred but I think I have more males and they are currently fighting and disturbing female. They are pitch black with white spots ... stunning fish and my favorite, I had them all since very small and they have slowly grown to beautiful specimens
2 Ophthalmotilapia nasuta gold ( Male and female ) they are around 8-10 cms - male started coloring
2 Cyathopharynx furcifer not sure if male of female they are both juveniles.
1 Julidochromis ornatus or regani can't really tell but I used to have 2 of them and the bigger died ... I think it was killed by the other but not sure ... I can give it to you if you help me catch it :-P

Are you based in South ? I am in Sandyford

Cheers mate and let me know when you get some species in tank

Regards,

Santiago

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31 Jul 2015 19:11 #13 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
That sounds like a serious set up mate upload some pictures

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31 Jul 2015 19:14 #14 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Rest of the message don't write out.


Yeah mate I'm just down the road in ballybrack.

I love fonts but as my tank is only 260 litre I thought best not to keep them and go with smaller fish in small groups.

I have decided to go against plants in the set up so it will just be coral sand rock work and shells.

Regards
Craig

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01 Oct 2015 19:39 #15 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Some more updates have put finer coral sand in the tank and added the multies and added another filter as I am not impressed with the ehiem Ecco 300 very bad flow and doesn't seem to be up to much so i will have to look for a stronger external in the near future.

Hopefully getting some leptosoma next week.

Regards
Craig

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15 Oct 2015 19:39 - 15 Oct 2015 19:44 #16 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Added some fish to the tank
File Attachment:


File Attachment:



Regards
Craig

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Last edit: 15 Oct 2015 19:44 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle).

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15 Oct 2015 19:50 #17 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Little video of feeding time :)

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15 Oct 2015 22:25 #18 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Nice job - I especially love that you used natural rocks and didn't go for tufa or Texas holey Rock - looks much better this way !

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16 Oct 2015 05:21 #19 by Santiagovalcarcel (Santiago)
Very nice mate ! your tank looks pretty cool

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16 Oct 2015 06:58 #20 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Thanks lads I'm really happy with it at the moment.

Yeah Jim I have always preferred natural looking rock.

Thanks Santiago I'm quite happy with it at the moment.

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16 Oct 2015 07:03 #21 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
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Picture of the whole tank

Regards
Craig

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16 Oct 2015 07:07 #22 by helix8008 (Tomas Novak)
Really nice natural looking tank.

What's the tank volume? Tanganyican cichlids live in calm waters with nearly no current, so unless your tank is more than 500l you should be ok with Ecco 300.

Tom

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16 Oct 2015 08:10 #23 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)

Really nice natural looking tank.

What's the tank volume? Tanganyican cichlids live in calm waters with nearly no current, so unless your tank is more than 500l you should be ok with Ecco 300.

Tom


The tank is 260 litres it's a Fluval Osaka.

I just want to get a spray bar for the filter I put a little internal filter into the tank aswell to improve water clarity.

Thanks for the kind words :)

Regards
Craig

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16 Oct 2015 08:19 - 16 Oct 2015 08:21 #24 by helix8008 (Tomas Novak)
If its only water clarity you might want to try replace one filter bio media with Fine Filter Wadding. They sell cheap in seahorse but their site is down atm. Also I would replace the plastic rings with blue sponge, they dont do great job.

Tom
Last edit: 16 Oct 2015 08:21 by helix8008 (Tomas Novak).

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16 Oct 2015 09:05 #25 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Tom's right about the filter balls & the wadding - the plastics balls are nearly useless - I actually got a tank with a sump full of these and ended up throwing them all out. If you;re using an internal as well as external. I'd fill the internal with fine filer flooss & change it regularly.

As for the Eheim 300, my expreience of it has been poor. I have one and found it incapable of properly filtering even a 200l tank with only a pair of small cichlids in it. I replaced it with a JBL e1500 - the difference is just incredible - the Ecco 300 is relegated to a 70l tank .

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