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
Freshwater tank day 1
- Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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Sounds like this could be a very interesting set up. Good luck with it.
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- ted30 (Damo Mac an Bhaird)
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Location: Carrickmacross, County Monaghan
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- Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
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- Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
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Sorry Gar... I could still throw you a few if you need.
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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- Jaffacakehead (John McPartland)
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All I really knew about stone loaches before was that there's loads of them in the local river and they're great bait for pike.
I found this website with some info:
www.loaches.com/species-index/barbatula-barbatula
There's also a few vids on Youtube.
I think they're really cool fish in an ugly kind of way. They kind of look like a miniature Barbel.
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- Jaffacakehead (John McPartland)
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www.arkive.org/minnow/phoxinus-phoxinus/info.html
I've always found it very hard to keep minnow for more than a few days. They like to jump out of uncovered tanks and they need loads of oxygen. They are very skittish and bolt for cover at any sudden movement.
They are cypranids and actually related to carp and goldfish.
The females are bigger and more full bodied than the males. They get visibly full with eggs when in breeding condition.
The males get spawning tubercles on their heads which look like raised white dots (similar to goldfish) when ready do breed.
I do know a guy who breeds them in a rain barrel to use as bait with no problem at all and he feeds them oatmeal. He has a few stones in the bottom and they lay eggs on those.
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- gardoyle27 (Gareth Doyle)
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really interested in this, are you gonna add more plants and stuff or leave it as is?
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- scubadim (scubadim)
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- sincgar (Feargal Costello)
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would a chiller work or would these guys adapt as the water probably heats up during our tropical summers
PS Used to love catching sticklebacks in the local river when filling tubs for water for cattle in the good old days. all you needed was a bucket!!
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- Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
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With regards to keeping them indoors I dont think that would be possible with the heat. They are in my cabin at the moment which I am not using for anything so there is no heat on.
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- Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
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- Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
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Bad day.. Lost a stickleback back today and I reckon I am in a bit of trouble with most of them..
The minnows however are the opposite they some to be thriving and are now all out when eating. I am wondering if I need to worm them ?
Maybe its because the temp today was 17oC and the tank is now 16oC...
The best way I can describe them is that the slightly rocking back and forth...
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- Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
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- Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
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