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
went out to bray, sealife the other day
battery ran out when i got the black tips and hammerhead tank

ah well, another excuse to head up

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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.
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- fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
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at the end of the day it becomes nite
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- Ieva star (Ieva Fogta)
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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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Creat stuff Des must go myself Johney
Figured you would like that last photo Johney

Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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Were you allow pet the rays in that pic?
Gavin
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- Ieva star (Ieva Fogta)
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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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Yea Jay its a cracker hows all ur gang
Settling in quite well bro. Just waiting on a Spiny Puffer and that will be the lot. Will post up a vid and a few pics when it settles.
Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.
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- Ieva star (Ieva Fogta)
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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.
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no bother Jay, your grand man
fishmad - nikon D60
Gavin - not sure if you could pet the rays ???, too busy snappin' i suppose

Des
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- Peteemax (Pete Maxwell)
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I was in Sealife last summer some fantastic fish.
Pete Maxwell
ITFS Member
Location: Ashbourne
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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I had planned to head out there recently for my 1 day annual holiday. Must head out soon for a look round.
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just a pity i couldn't any shots of the big boys
they where being fed and all........
12 quid if you get your ticket at the door, 7.50 if you pay for it on the net and print it out yourself

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- mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
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12 quid if you get your ticket at the door, 7.50 if you pay for it on the net and print it out yourself
Good to know, savage pics Des....

Follow me up to Carlow
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- 2poc (2poc)
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I noticed a lot of fish with deformities, bent spines, mad mixes of fish - i.e koi with African cichlids & Gouramis and some fairly scruffy tanks - i.e. there was a clownfish tank overgrown with algae & heaving with bristleworms. The bass in the native tank looked like they were wasting away, there was a big wrasse there with mad puffed out eyes as if it had been caught at depth. One of the big carp was floating looking half dead & when I mentioned it to someone he said it was from the heat, I suggested they run a chiller but they didn't have one

Maybe I was there on a bad day but I left there disappointed & thinking that I really didn't see much that I wouldn't see in the LFS.
I still like the place, maybe through nostalgia from being there as a child when everything looked really unusual.. I think keeping fish makes you over analyse them sometimes rather than just sit back and enjoy watching them...
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the day i went was very hot and i didn't see any floating or gasping going on
they have a chiller on the octopus
now that you mention it the clownfish tank had got bristleworms
if you look at the 10th photo down the fish up the top has big bulging eyes
this is very interesting
firstly i don't think it's fair to say that you don't see much that you wouldn't see in the LFS
they must've givin the place a good clean since you where there but it has me thinking is the place being run properly and are the fish being cared for properly
i wouldn't say i'm for or against but definitely curious
any opinions on this ?
also what about Galway Atlantaquaria, tis a bit of a drive but is it worth heading out there ?
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- JohnH (John)
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also what about Galway Atlantaquaria, tis a bit of a drive but is it worth heading out there ?
Des,
I was there a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon there.
now, this might be that I'm easily pleased...who knows?
And - would it be worth the drive right across country for you? - again that's a point for discussion but with the motorway now coming right to the Galway Racecourse roundabout it's a doddle of a drive - just as long as you don't object to paying tolls!!! - For myself I do object since we already pay a small fortune in both road and fuel tax.
But that's only my opinion, doubtless someone will defend the tolls.
Rant over, give Atlantaquaria a visit, take lots of snaps and then post them and details of your visit and your opinion of it, you could even look in on Peter at Aquapaws whilst you're in Galway - give him my regards.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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I'll check it out so

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- 2poc (2poc)
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I've also been to the aquarium in Barcelona which at the time was Europe's largest and pretty amazing. I was in one in Amsterdam zoo which was pretty impressive too.
Re: not much you wouldn't see in the LFS - if you think about it Des the only fish that you wouldn't see were the sharks and the native species. Thinking about it, they didn't have any unusual freshwater fish... Fake corals in the tanks too.
Re: Whether they're well looked after, I don't know.. I met a couple of guys from the aquarium doing a demo at a fishing show and they were older, seemingly experienced guys who knew what they were talking about. It must take a lot of work to maintain the big display tank at the end of the tour too so there must be experienced people on hand. On the day I was there a few weeks ago all of the staff were teenagers - possibly weekend staff?
The big bulging eyes usually happen with fish that are collected at depth, the curious thing is these species in particular - bass and wrasse are common in shallow areas and typically wouldn't be targeted at depth so not really sure what the cause of the eye problem is.
Don't get me wrong, for some reason I do still like the place but if I'm honest I think they could do with a decent injection of cash to upgrade it. They are part of a franchise as far as I know
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