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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

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06 Sep 2010 19:17 - 06 Sep 2010 20:08 #1 by des (des)
two years since i was last there
battery ran out when i got the black tips and hammerhead tank :(
ah well, another excuse to head up :)







































Last edit: 06 Sep 2010 20:08 by des (des).

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06 Sep 2010 19:21 #2 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Great shots Des, especially the Octopus. Yeah Sealife is class. I try to go once a year to see the tanks and evey time, I come out grinning like a kid.

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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06 Sep 2010 19:22 #3 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
great pictures des i love it up there you would walk it in 5 minutes but i always spend at least a hour in it try to get up every 2 months.what camera you using

at the end of the day it becomes nite

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06 Sep 2010 19:24 #4 by Ieva star (Ieva Fogta)
Creat stuff Des must go myself Johney

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06 Sep 2010 19:29 #5 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Ieva star wrote:

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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06 Sep 2010 19:33 #6 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Nice one Des,the dogfishes purse are great and the cow fish always looks abit alien when I see them! Super pics.Fair play.
Were you allow pet the rays in that pic?
Gavin

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06 Sep 2010 19:36 #7 by Ieva star (Ieva Fogta)
Yea Jay its a cracker hows all ur gang

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06 Sep 2010 19:38 #8 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Ieva star wrote:

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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06 Sep 2010 19:50 #9 by Ieva star (Ieva Fogta)
Ill look forward to see the vid im breaking mine down soon going back to freshwater in a while

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06 Sep 2010 20:00 #10 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Are you serious? Your mental!! Here, go to the pm service. Sorry for the hijack Des...

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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06 Sep 2010 20:06 #11 by des (des)
cheers Lads

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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06 Sep 2010 20:17 #12 by Peteemax (Pete Maxwell)
Great pics Des.

I was in Sealife last summer some fantastic fish.

Pete Maxwell

ITFS Member

Location: Ashbourne

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06 Sep 2010 22:26 #13 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Some nice pic's Des.
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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06 Sep 2010 22:40 #14 by des (des)
definitely worth taking a trip out there
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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06 Sep 2010 23:24 #15 by mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
des wrote:

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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07 Sep 2010 07:56 #16 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:went out to bray, sealife the other day
I was there a few weeks ago Des and have to admit I wasn't impressed overall. I liked the sharks/rays and the final big display tank.

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 :ohmy:

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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07 Sep 2010 09:48 #17 by des (des)
i did notice one fish with a bent spine i must admit and there was a yellow lab in the gourami tank, the gourami tank is right next to the malawi tank, i was under the impression that he jumped over the barrier and would most likely be put back in come feeding time/ when noticed
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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07 Sep 2010 10:38 #18 by JohnH (John)

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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07 Sep 2010 11:10 #19 by des (des)
cheers John
I'll check it out so :)

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07 Sep 2010 12:40 #20 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:went out to bray, sealife the other day
I was in the Galway one a few years ago and liked it, as far as I remember they had some impressive large pike.

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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