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
My Tank
- gstar (gstar)
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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Looking for opinions on tank and fish
Parrot Fish x1
Silver Dollars x2
Clown Loach x2
Angel Fish x2
Red Tailed Shark x1
Striped Catfish x1
[...]
The rest of the fish are fine bar the Redtailed Shark.
He more than likely will either kill or severly stress out
all the other fish, especially the Dollars and the Angels.
Edit : deleted the forceful comment about parrot fish !

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- gstar (gstar)
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The shark doesnt bother anybody just keeps to himself
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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The red tailed shark will get too big for your tank and the bigger it grows the more territorial it will get
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- Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)
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Some people do not like Parrotfish as they are not a true species and people think they are ugly and kind of wierd looking. Many Parrotfish sold are dyed too which increases some fishkeepers dislike of them.
Parrotfish tend to have swimbladder problems, especially when they get bigger, due to the genetics of hybridisation i suppose. I had one about 2 years ago and it developed this problem. It could not swim properly and regularly swim around in circles.
I didn't read the deleted comment but all i can say is that while i personally don't like them (now that i know more about them), some people do.
Your tank is looking well, i would also keep an eye on the Red Tailed Shark

Smoke me a Kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.
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- Didihno (Didihno)
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Then it might get tetchy with other fish that come into its territory.
You will be amazed at how many of these 'simple' creatures really exhibit behaviour as they get older.
Personally i think parrots are an abomination, but people like them and they always sell.
You continue to buy whatever you like, but listen to what others say too, especially about fish that will kill others.
We all learn lessons the hard way at first, I was no exception.
Learning all the time mate!!
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- gstar (gstar)
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i only started bout 6 months ago so still learning
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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Apart from the issues that were already stated you should also bear in mind that angelfish are a softwater species from South America whereas all Central American cichlids (your parrot fish) are hardwater fish and as a consequence require different water parameters.
Silverdollars are shoaling fish and a minimum of six fish should be kept.
I also see serious aggression issues with your clownloaches and the red tailed shark. I'd get rid of the shark and get another 1 or 2 clownloaches. Again, a shoaling fish.
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- gstar (gstar)
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So thats wot happened to the other 3 angelfish water was to hard yeah i taught the parrott killed them
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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- gstar (gstar)
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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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- gstar (gstar)
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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40mg/l is Ok (not ideal but OK) for your fish.
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- gstar (gstar)
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