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
Feeder Fish
- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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So, one happens to get an individual fish.....it, for some reason, will not touch dead or substitute food but is fond of a guppy.
What do you do? get rid of the fish? or not?
That is a question that a keeper would have to answer.
But, the situation of having a large predator that will happily take substitute food does not pose a question that needs answering.....my lungfish and Polypterus happily accept a good balanced substitute diet, so there is absolutely no need to even think about feeding them live mice, rabbits, fish or birds.
As has been mentioned, seeing nobs on YouTube feeding a live rabbit to an arowana is just not right....and the mentality of the person doing such acts in fun needs to be questioned.
Morals....again a fuzzy area. We see human society moving towards un-biased 'humanity', but even that is biased towards certain values (and they include religious) of those pushing the movement forward.
ian
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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ian
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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So, one happens to get an individual fish.....it, for some reason, will not touch dead or substitute food but is fond of a guppy.
What do you do? get rid of the fish? or not?
Well, the usual recommendation in literature and on Fish Websites is to ask to see the Fish eating first, then buy if it does.
Kev.
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- paul (paul)
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maybe there shoul be a time delay between people posting give others a chance
although there are only a few members that appear to post regular on most topics so when you dont see them post for a while you think thay have nothing else to add or possible lost interest
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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So having to fit your posts in quick is a good sign.
ian
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- tropi-paul (Paul)
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- JohnH (John)
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Scavengers, to a lesser degree, fulfil a similar role.
As usual, it is humankind which has upset the balance of nature, we bring piscine predators from the wild and shove them into Aquaria which are far from adequate in dimension…and that isn’t confined merely to predators either…then expect them to act in a natural manner.
Although this is veering away from the original theme, it’s still worth considering.
This has been a good debate with some myths and quite a large element of facts being quoted.
Personally I think it is for everyone to think carefully about this, then follow their conscience – mine is to not feed live fish to other fish, but that’s me – others feel differently and will follow what their views dictate.
Debates like this are good, but will never – in my opinion – change anyone’s views on so emotive a subject.
And yes, I do eat meat and fully realise where it comes from (Tesco’s). I’m also a Pike Angler, but would NEVER use a fish live bait to catch them (it’s actually illegal to do so here anyway – even though I have still seen it practised in Ireland, largely by other immigrants).
Next topic please…
John
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We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
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It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- mossy (gavin blanchfield)
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anyone get any live mice out there,i need to feed my piranha:ohmy:

good topic lads and good views
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- David (David)
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Feeding Live Food
There is no specific law in the UK regarding feeding live food to your pets. However what is illegal is cruelty to animals. Vertebrates can suffer pain whereas invertebrates do not, this is accepted by most authorities. Therefore it is acceptable to feed live food such as worms, crickets and other insects. However, feeding live rodents or lizards will cause them stress and pain, in this case you will be committing a criminal offence and if anyone sees you doing it can report you. In theory the RSPCA could take you to court for animal cruelty.
Taken from www.oscarfishlover.com/oscar-fish-food
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- JohnH (John)
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I think it was pretty conclusively dealt with 'last time around'.
John
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We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
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It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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I didn't want to be the first to say what you have just said but second will do, I agree totally, I think this has been whipped to death already.
No doubt it will be contested but I really hope it isn't.
Kev.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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- dar (darren curry)
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this topic will always twist knickers and best left alone kept behind closed doors
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- dar (darren curry)
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Ehm.... I think that is what Johnh and I were suggesting.....
yeah but i worded mine better

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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