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
80L coldwater tank
- Alex (Alex)
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The floating plants are Azolla fern and duckweed. Spider plants sticking out of the water and Gaint Vallis in the centre.
Right now i have some Golden WCMM but i'm eventually going to put an axolotl in there and put the fish in my pond.. probably in a few weeks.
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- anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
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Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,
And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN
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- Alex (Alex)
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Sure most hardy plants do well in cooler water. Java fern, Anubias, Vallis, Anacharis, Most mosses prefer cooler water....
fish... If you have a large tank weather loaches are good ones.
Paradise fish prefer cooler water and would do fine in room temp. (I currently have one in a planted tank, Temp 22 degrees)
I currently have minnows in the above tank... great little fish for coldwater.
Other fish that do fine in room temp include gold barbs, zebra Danios, guppies....
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- anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
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Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
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SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN
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- Alex (Alex)
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(This type) www.ebay.ie/itm/Aquarium-Biochemical-Spo...&hash=item2a1062e09a
Your better off with proper filtration if ye want to properly stock the tank.
What size tank r you thinking of? I think gold barbs are pretty nice and only get around 2.8".. I wouldnt put em in anything less than a 70L though..
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- anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
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Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
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SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN
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that's a really nice cold water tank
love WCMM myself, cool fish, Axolotl are fascinating creatures...
have to say, I think it's probably the nicest cold water tank I've seen
love the plants, looks great
fairplay Alex
Des
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- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
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have something the same on the go but not coldwater as i plan to use for breeding apistos
keep us posted
Sean
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Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
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- Alex (Alex)
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@anglecichlid Well the two sponge filters are driven by a strong air pump... Eheim (It has two outputs)
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- JennyF (Jenny F)
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Absolutly amazing though, what do you have in the tank stock-wise?
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- Alex (Alex)
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I have 10 Golden White cloud mountain minnows in there.
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- JennyF (Jenny F)
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Thanks!
I have 10 Golden White cloud mountain minnows in there.
I have the same minnows, they're in the breeding mode at the moment, males are at full colour and females fit to burst haha.
Amazing tank! I love a good planted tank even though I've never had one! (Unless a reef counts ...)
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- Alex (Alex)
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- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
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i would love to do something like this for an south American breeding tank
more and more photos please
ya should take a few more photos for the photo comp
Sean
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Im using two cheap spongefilters i got on ebay. They work great in lightly stocked/ heavily planted tanks.
(This type) www.ebay.ie/itm/Aquarium-Biochemical-Spo...&hash=item2a1062e09a
Hi Alex, how quickly were they delivered and have you any dimensions of them to give me an idea??
I have kept Galaxy danio, Emerald danio, Danae choprae and Leopard and Zebra danios at 20 deg.
Kev.
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- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
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Sean
Sean Crowe
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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by the way mate have u any off that surface plant to spare or could u tell me the name so i can look out for it
Sean
Hi Sean, Azolla is a potential invasive species but a cracker, in cold Winters, it will turn the most beautiful shades of Red and orange. It is a native of Eastern America, Carolina etc, where winters can be quite cold. filiculoides is the one in Ireland as an escapee. In an Aquarium it is a fabulous remover of Nitrates etc.
Kev.
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- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
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by the way mate have u any off that surface plant to spare or could u tell me the name so i can look out for it
Sean
Hi Sean, Azolla is a potential invasive species but a cracker, in cold Winters, it will turn the most beautiful shades of Red and orange. It is a native of Eastern America, Carolina etc, where winters can be quite cold. filiculoides is the one in Ireland as an escapee. In an Aquarium it is a fabulous remover of Nitrates etc.
Kev.
thanks mate would this last/trive in a heated Aquarium?
if so ill defo get some as love the look off it
Sean
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- Alex (Alex)
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Hi Alex, how quickly were they delivered and have you any dimensions of them to give me an idea?
I got them around 3 years ago so im to sure but usually its around 2 weeks (3 weeks tops) if they are coming from Asia which is cheapest. The filter in the link which is the exact same type as mine is 14cm x 14.5cm x 4.8cm.
by the way mate have u any off that surface plant to spare or could u tell me the name so i can look out for it?
As Stretnic pointed out its an invasive species... well It invaded my pond a few years back and im always throwing the stuff out every few weeks during the summer. I wont be around for 2 weeks as i have exams goin on in galway but after that im happy te give you as much of the stuff as you want. Azolla fern is also a super food, really healthy... you can boil it and eat the stuff

thanks mate would this last/trive in a heated Aquarium?
I tried it 2 years ago and it never thrived in my tropical tank... I didnt die but i never noticed much growth and it didnt look all that healthy, I removed it after a while. It does best in cooler water alright.
Quick Vid of the male Minnows havin a scrap.
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- seamusmacc (Jimmy Chang)
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- Melander (Andreas Melander)
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I would not have guessed it was coldwater unless you said it.
Melander
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- Alex (Alex)
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