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
pond visitor
- derek (Derek Doyle)
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30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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- arabesque (Mick Veale)
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when working in fish antics years ago
myself and dimitri went out one morning to
find that we had left the covers off the pond
and a heron/herons had eaten about 1000 euros worth of koi..

we startled him and he flew off bouncing off walls scrambling away
and left a nice trail of white behind him..!
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- arabu1973 (. .)
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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ITFS Club Secretary
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see the ITFS tab above for more information www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/itfs
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- derek (Derek Doyle)
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arabu; i put the net on the pond just after doing the vid. as the heron only flew a short way and was perched on a tree nearby and has been back several times since, but the fish are now safe.
mick; dmitri told me that story, he said the heron ..at on your head.
andrew; yeah i read that article, it was very good but i won't be getting a gun just yet.
30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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Regarding the stakes and fishing line stopping the heron getting into the pond, that is the method I used successfully for years, it is less unsightly than a net. It will not stop them coming and doing some window shopping.
Daragh
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- arabu1973 (. .)
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- derek (Derek Doyle)
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i neglected to replace the net and on monday morning the pond water was very clear but not a fish in sight. on investigation i
found 5 small goldfish huddling under the plants but six larger koi and goldfish were gone, including a shubunkin which i had
for five years.
i suppose they were taken by the guy in the above video or one of his relatives.
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- Acara (Dave Walters)
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Derek,I overheard you talking with Daragh at the meeting last week,and you mentioned the white tailed sea eagle.I spent a day looking at these and others on the Isle Of Mull a few years back,amazing size!Did you see the documentary on RTE2 tonight about them?
always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!
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- derek (Derek Doyle)
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and i'm going to andalucia next week and intend to visit gibralter and tarife to see part of the raptor and stork migration from
africa. though i'm dreading driving on the wrong side.
i have seen buzzards, hen harriers, peregrines, merlins, sparrowhawks and kestrels and the three irish owls in ireland but not yet the recently re introduced eagles or red kite.
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- Acara (Dave Walters)
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A friend of mine is/was(I havnt rung him for a couple of years,must arrange a visit) the RSPB man for the whole of the North of Scotland,and he pointed out a few osprey nests on days out stalking.I wasnt far from Aviemore,Loch Garten,etc,great osprey country.
I was approached at work one Sunday morning by a policeman and a ranger of some sort,we had a pair of lads in having breakfast(scrambled eggs!)who were under surveilance for egg collecting.They nabbed them and interviewed them in my office,but had to release them.
Enjoy the trip,that will be some experience.
Don't worry about the driving,it comes naturally,I didnt want to do it,but was surprised how easy it is.Only thing was occasionally pulling out of a carpark the fiance would,rather excitedly,remind me about which side to be on!
always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!
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