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
New Juwel 300 setup and running 3 weeks now
- JimMooney (JimMooney)
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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- KenS (Ken Simpson)
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Regards,
Ken.
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- JimMooney (JimMooney)
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Looks great. If you darken the background, it would give the tank the illusion of more depth.
Any suggestions on how to do it? One of the juwel background posters?
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- cathaloc2 (cathaloc2)
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o'connor
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- JimMooney (JimMooney)
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- Acara (Dave Walters)
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always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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I know its just a matter of personal taste but I despise all those fake shipwrecks/airplanes/divers/clamshells...well you get the idea.
Plastic plants have improved ten fold in the past ten years IMO, and are now acceptable to me.
I know the fish don't give a damn but I much prefer making a cave out of a load of real rocks then a fake pirate ship.
I see you have a Black Ghost Knife fish there, why is it in a breeding net?
Before you go out and buy any background can I advise you to simply tape a black sack to the back and sides of the tank.
Give it a try and see how it looks.
It'll give you an idea of how dark you need/want your background to be.
Then go out and buy the one you like.
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- JimMooney (JimMooney)
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- C M C (C M C)
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- KenS (Ken Simpson)
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Ken.
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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I think the background suggestion is a good one, if you get an external background stick it to the tank using vaseline, it will stick tight to the tank and never move and looks better too.
Good to hear you added Corys, which ones did you get. You know they like to be in a group, so try get a minimum of three of any kind. The Garra should prove to be a good choice too, really active and lovely to look at. I have three at the moment and they are very boisterous, but only with each other, the chase each other around all the time, I have never seen them chase another fish. They are only a new introduction to the hobby in the last 12 months or so, I don't think that much is known about them.
Daragh
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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I will always have one of mine dedicated to them.
I love a nice big shoal of neons, my Gouramis and I love my 8 Albino Corys. Just everyone seems to have a fixation on the Cichlids, and why not, I'm starting with them too. Very entertaining!
I understand the centrepiece notion, but I think that it is dominating the tank and the fish are the ones squeezing around the rest of the available space. I think a couple of nicely shaped bits of bogwood would look far superior. Again, its just personal taste.
If you want more live plants give me a shout next time you're in Rush.
I just had to get rid of a heap of Vallis and Camboba(?), but I could still spare some.
I have a BGK too, about the same size. It's fine with the fish.
That net will be freaking him out, although its probably easier to feed him in it! I'm worried mine isn't eating cos he's never out.
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- C M C (C M C)
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- georgina (georgina)
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I have a skull in my tank, and i like the ship you have in yours Jim, what size tank is it..looks huge in the picture!
G
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- Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)
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Just looking at the tank, you say it is only set up three weeks so be careful with the stocking level. I wouldn't add too much more fish for the time-being.
Personally i would also take the Black ghost knifefish back, as previously said, it will get bigger and munch away on anything that fits it its mouth.
Also i noticed a plant you have in the front right (as we look at it), its a small green/cream striped coloured plant. It looks like one of those houseplants that are occasionally sold as aquarium plants, i would bin it because it'll end up just rotting in 5/6 weeks. That is assuming it is a houseplant, can't quite make it out from the picture.
Other than that, it's looking very well.
Smoke me a Kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.
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- JimMooney (JimMooney)
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I have two Cory Cats (Adolfoi) both wild caught. Think I might pick up another two

A pic of the Rainbow Gara. Really nice fish I have 3... one goes solo never goes near the others.The remaining two seem to hang out with each other.

I feed the BGK with bloodworm and brine shrimp
Also i noticed a plant you have in the front right (as we look at it), its a small green/cream striped coloured plant. It looks like one of those houseplants that are occasionally sold as aquarium plants, i would bin it because it'll end up just rotting in 5/6 weeks. That is assuming it is a houseplant, can't quite make it out from the picture.
I'll keep an eye on it.. I'll make a return visit to the shop to check the name. Have it written down somewhere but cant seem to find it.
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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Like Jim, I feed mine frozen cubes of bloodworm, but the thing is, when you drop the cubes in, the other fish devour them, even at night.What are you feeding you BGK :?:
I also drop in a few sinking catfish pellets for the cories and I have seen the BGK nibble on them. He's very skinny though and I don't hold out too much hope for him. Perhaps I should take him out.
Oh, one trick I have started to do with the bloodworm is to peel back only a bit of the foil on top, and bury the whole thing into the sand (or wedge the edge under a rock). The fish can only nibble at it in turns and soon lose interest, which means the cube lasts longer. I'm sure the BGK has figured it out by now, but still I've not seen it eat from the packet directly.
Oh, and what is a Garra?
Must google that one.
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- arabesque (Mick Veale)
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Gav in tropicalworld parnell street sells a lovely background
www.backtonature.se/english/slimline.html
the white one would look great in your tank.
i got the same stuff for my tank and used it to cover the filter box.
you could either just place it in or use magnets or marine epoxy to keep it in place.
www.micksmedia.com/uploads/IMG_0222.jpg
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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Oh, and what is a Garra?
Must google that one.
The Garra is Garra Flavatara.
BTW that is a stunning picture of the Adolfi.
Daragh
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- zale (Mark carroll)
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Regarding the BGK mine didn't kill any fish but 9 of my neons lost an eye, they are very shy and nocturnal and being so close to the surface & light with no cover is probably freaking it out.
In a tank that size the other fish will probably be fine till he gets about 6 inches long, so I'd take the chance, just count them all first thing every morning.
Again Nice Tank :wink:
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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- JimMooney (JimMooney)
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- Cardnim (Andrew Hanley)
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One thing is your amazon sword. It is showing signs of nutrient deficiency (yellowing leaves and holes appearing) If you put a plant substrate under your gravel when you first set the tank up, then it is probably exhausted after 8 months and may need something like the JBL 7+13 balls to replenish it.
If I had to guess at what nutrient deficiency would cause those symptoms in the plants then Id say potassium (a deficiency in this causes not only yellowing of the leaves, but also small holes to appear), but if you have snails in the tank, then its probably iron deficiency and the holes are down to the snails.
Just a guess though

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- JimMooney (JimMooney)
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- Cardnim (Andrew Hanley)
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And are you dosing ferts at all?
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- Coler (Coler)
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- JimMooney (JimMooney)
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Does it have a fertilising substrate in the tank?
And are you dosing ferts at all?
I used two types of substrate TETRA PLANT COMPLETE SUBSTRATE as a base
and then covered it with AquaGrit. I've used no ferts bar the substrate.
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- adriano210 (adrian kraszewski)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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