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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

Allowed a fishroom, it begins update

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13 Sep 2010 21:51 - 29 Sep 2010 10:52 #1 by Ma (mm mm)
Seeing as I sold my larger tanks herself has felt sorry for me, and sick of me kicking a football around the hall:), and allowed me a full room for my fish buddies, except the 450.

The first 54l Has a pair of Buenos Aires Tetras to breed hopefully, breeding Cherry shrimp in there also and it homes at the mo 3 2" Ancistrus and an L102 Also some closeups of the cherries

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Second is my Molly and his 3 ladies, I am pretty sure this guy is wild, several years old and his one offspring is a fantastic quality Potbellied Dalmation so I am trying to get more out of him before he kicks it he looks aged, the tank is an almost brackish setup

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Some Cherry closeups
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DD Nano 90L Breeding Ancistrus sp L1111s
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My 150ish L QT as I sold my other, Many Tetras in there Rummies Serpae GLight BNeon XRay BAires RedEye n more
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Just set it all up last week still workin on a second stand with 2 more 54L tanks to make it 4 in one row together. I want to have 8 54L tanks setup individually and go from there I guess.


Mark

Location D.11
Last edit: 29 Sep 2010 10:52 by Ma (mm mm).

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13 Sep 2010 22:05 - 13 Sep 2010 22:07 #2 by dar (darren curry)
YAY VICTORY,

give us a shout wen the cherry shrimp stock is available, i'm looking to expand my army of minnions


edit: may i borrow that magical football of yours

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
Last edit: 13 Sep 2010 22:07 by dar (darren curry).

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13 Sep 2010 22:25 - 13 Sep 2010 22:26 #3 by Melander (Andreas Melander)
You are a very lucky man, will try the fotball trick but I have a feeling I'm doomed to fail and will get even further away from a future fish room...

The tanks looks good as well, keep us posted on the progress.

Melander
Last edit: 13 Sep 2010 22:26 by Melander (Andreas Melander). Reason: spelling

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13 Sep 2010 23:11 #4 by mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
Savage Mark, give us a call there and u can pick up them clown plecs for the fishroom dude, savage news........:woohoo:

Follow me up to Carlow

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13 Sep 2010 23:38 #5 by Ma (mm mm)
Melander, I know what you mean, I used to have a fluval 240 vision 180 trigon 190 AquaOne 300 Azoo 200L, all sold, and only now I get some pity:)

dar wrote:

YAY VICTORY,

give us a shout wen the cherry shrimp stock is available, i'm looking to expand my army of minnions


edit: may i borrow that magical football of yours



Will give you a shout on the shrimp, have added some new blood, lookin for a thrid decent source of quality cherries to mix it up a bit, how are the ones I gave you gettin on?

Just been in the room Buenos Aires look like shes ready to pop, made a mop yesterday so hopefully it gets used soon.

As for the football, some very very big concessions in return for my fishroom dude, I paid dearly, herself is a shark at the negotiating table:laugh:



@Mick
Cheers matey any chance you are around tomorrow eve or afternoon?


Mark

Location D.11

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14 Sep 2010 00:02 #6 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Good news Mark. Hope it all goes well for you.

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14 Sep 2010 00:30 #7 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
Good news, be warned it is a steep and slippery downward slope. Always room for another tank :-)


Daragh

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14 Sep 2010 09:14 #8 by dar (darren curry)
Mark. wrote:

how are the ones I gave you gettin on?


grand. they had at least a batch of young but only one survived, one adult died of unknown causes and i was raising the internal filter (that i converted to an air pump)and it came apart and one swam right into the propeller and i was waiting to see tiny red bits all over the tank but no he jammed it got out and swam around like he was brain damaged but seems ok now

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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14 Sep 2010 10:46 - 14 Sep 2010 10:50 #9 by Ma (mm mm)
Cheers chaps, Always room for one more tank Darragh:)

Dar remember the young are like specs of dust at first so you may have more than you thought, it is also very easy to syphon out those small ones by acident as they are nearly impossible to see.

Still, I had 7 survive when I was away on holiday and ended up with 100s within 5 months. It might be a good idea to get a few from someone else to add to the gene pool as it were.

ALso the more secure the are in their setup the faster they will mulitply.



When I have a brew going I will give ye a shout and you can collect sone runoff shrimp to add to your gang.

This fish tending really frees up the mind, good auld therapy:) I tihnk I'd have gone nuts this past year without my fish buddies!


have started planting up the fishroom too, gonna get me some ferns today in Homebase, gonna green up the room bigtime. She's already calling it my "Fish panic room":laugh:



Mark

Location D.11
Last edit: 14 Sep 2010 10:50 by Ma (mm mm).

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14 Sep 2010 16:11 #10 by dar (darren curry)
no a fish panic room is where you'l run too in a panic, but sure you'l be living in it panic or no panic, it will be more like your fish sanctuary

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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14 Sep 2010 17:09 #11 by Ma (mm mm)
Thats what a panic room is so she tells me now


A few more pictures from today

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My first successfully bred fish
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One of my first fish
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Parent and young, almost same size
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A daytime shot of the DD, placed to get some algae growin
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Mark

Location D.11

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14 Sep 2010 18:21 #12 by dar (darren curry)
pm sent (sorry lads i hate seeing that too)

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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15 Sep 2010 07:50 #13 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:Allowed a fishroom, it begins
Nice one Mark, great to get a space to yourself like that.
Have you room for more and bigger tanks in there? :)

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29 Sep 2010 10:51 #14 by Ma (mm mm)
More tanks added
I think now some small 1x1' tanks for inside the cabinets as I think I am out of space now to fit any more in.

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cheapo aldi light, 6 euro ta very much, 8w
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Anyone ever used these things, stuffed them with mature foam media and attached an airline
I got 3 of them with 2 heaters 2 clearseal 54L rio 180 eheim eco extra t8 unit all for €200
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Temporary home for tetras and some other homeless fish after I broke down and sold the planted
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snake viv
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Pinky stuffed and resting, he doesn't like to be near the heat mat after eating. He's named MadEye Moody.
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Mark

Location D.11

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29 Sep 2010 11:07 #15 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
I see your keeping busy man :laugh: . Good luck with the project.

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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09 Oct 2010 20:18 #16 by Ma (mm mm)
A bit more done, back is in bits, got me a few pumps and heaters, so so many buckets of water, drain move fill fill drain move move move fill fill:angry:

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Something no respectable fish keeper should be without, a pile of fishroom crap:)
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A pair of clear seals, 6 of these, 4 still to set up.
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My Kindom for a new spine.

Mark

Location D.11

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09 Oct 2010 20:32 #17 by mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
Just goes to show u never can have enough tanks. Nice one Mark.

Mick......:)

Follow me up to Carlow

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10 Oct 2010 10:10 - 10 Oct 2010 10:14 #18 by Ma (mm mm)
mickdeja wrote:

Just goes to show u never can have enough tanks. Nice one Mark.

Mick......:)



Yep, hands are in shortage, so I "Drafted" my boy to help with the weekly work of maint:)
Cheers to R2 for the gear I got from him yesterday otherwise I'd have been fuqed.

Per tank breakdown
54L
2 x BA Tetras (Spawning but no hatches, added Riccia to kil the light)
3 x BN 2"
1 x L102 Snowflake
Soft water PH 6.8. 50% WC daily Salt 3g per 10L Riccia covered

54L
4 Mollies 3 female 1 male, 2 about to pop.
PH 7.5
Brackish

54L temporarily hoursing, Cheers R2
2 x 1" BN
1 x Syno
1 x Ornate Birchir
PH 7.5 Salt 1.5g per 10L

54L
3 x Tiger Shrimp from R2 again.
PH 7.8

DD Nano 90L
2 x Ancistrus sp L111 breeding pair
PH 7.0 Soft water (No hardness tester yet) Salt 2g per 10L

Rio 180
8 Rummy Nose
3 Xray
2 BlackWidow
4 Buenos Aires
3 Serpae
5 Emperor
4 Redeye
7 Black Neon
5 Glowlight
1 x Bulldog Pleco 2"
1 x BN 3"
1 x Tiger pleco I think 3"
1 x Homeless platty midget, looks like a fry that never grew, fully developed but tiny
1 x Homeless Altum Angel (A bit of nipping goin on but he is being moved)
PH 7.0 soft water Riccia cover Salt 1g per 10L

Have empty Eheim 150L and 4 x 54L clearseals to set up today and move more fish in, Panaque Syno Upside downs Loaches and Rustys. Running out of supplies fast!


Mark

Location D.11
Last edit: 10 Oct 2010 10:14 by Ma (mm mm).

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10 Oct 2010 19:39 #19 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
that looks tremendous Mark - more like a professional job than a hobbyist!

Hope the back is on the mend - keep the photos & updates coming - I can never get enough of seeing people's setups and the imagination & dedication that people put in.

Looks like one hell of a fishroom

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10 Oct 2010 19:51 #20 by dar (darren curry)
Mark. wrote:

Salt 1g per 10L


jesus mark with the amount of water changes ya get trough, you'd want to invest in a salt mine

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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10 Oct 2010 20:49 #21 by Ma (mm mm)
@Jim Cheers matey, still a fair bit to do, a few lids to cut lights to install. Pickin up a large 6 line air pump next week for the right hand wall as 54Ls will line both walls 8 in total and whatever else I can fit in besides the Rio and DD and Eheim tanks.

@Dar, interpet €2 a bag cant rmeember weight, few hunfred grams anyways, its the blackwater extract I am going through pretty fast.


All the 54L get 50% daily changes though not from tomorrow on, startin a new job tomorrow pending a 10 year security check:woohoo:


Mark

Location D.11

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10 Oct 2010 21:51 #22 by r2potat2 (Derek Martin)
Looks amazing Mark not long before you can start charging a few quid at the door Public Aquarium in the making ha good luck with it all

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17 Oct 2010 21:00 #23 by Ma (mm mm)
A few pictures of some fish in the QT

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@Dar some Glowlights you left behind.
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Curious Red Eye Tetra
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Can I get an ID on this fellow please.
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I have coral sand here, would that be suitable for shrimp?


Mark

Location D.11

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17 Oct 2010 21:17 #24 by dar (darren curry)
i once had coral sand and kept and bred shrimp, they just lacked hiding spaces and got picked off

p.s that was sold to me for my tropicals and i'm quite pee'd off wit who sold me it.

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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17 Oct 2010 21:24 - 17 Oct 2010 21:32 #25 by Ma (mm mm)
dar wrote:

i once had coral sand and kept and bred shrimp, they just lacked hiding spaces and got picked off

p.s that was sold to me for my tropicals and i'm quite pee'd off wit who sold me it.


Not ideal for tetras and plecos.
Grand, have the sand in a 54L, I tell thee matey, it is very clean. Tank is running overnight with a matured sponge filter, tomorrow a water change and in to hteir new home, will Tiger shrimp scoff Cherry shrimp?


Mark

P.S I wasw not lazy and looked for an ID, couldn't find the fish.

Location D.11
Last edit: 17 Oct 2010 21:32 by Ma (mm mm).

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17 Oct 2010 21:38 #26 by Ma (mm mm)
Buenos Aires, spawning pair, no spawn since adding Riccia and removing mops, waiting on new replacements.


Mark

Location D.11

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17 Oct 2010 22:10 #27 by dar (darren curry)
believe it or not the glowies scattered eggs twice with the sand, i thought the water conditions would need to be spot on for them to breed, but maybe that's just to hatch them. i had fish 3years with the ph at 8 and over the 3 years i'd say i lost four fish and two where recent loses, the other two where from a dump down the road from me that i constantly shop in and piss and moan about the crap they sell me. i suppose 8 is not to bad but yet not ideal. after our chat and with the gravel in the tank, i tested the water it was 7.2, now i'm wondering should i be letting my tap water with a ph of 8 sit over night and let the ph settle? if so i'l be heart broken doing water changes. i hate change of routine and between sitting water and them jaysus young shrimp wen syphoning the substrate or cleaning the filter my head will be done in

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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17 Oct 2010 23:03 #28 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
The room is coming along nicely Mark. Plenty of work put in.

As for the shrimp, i think the tigers might eat the young cherries. I remember someone telling me his before about tigers. Might be worth double checking.

I dont know what the synodontis is. Have you a better picture, someone might be able to ID it.

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18 Oct 2010 18:26 #29 by Ma (mm mm)
Cheers Darren, will try to get him to stay still for a clear shot.



@Dar
Those fish have been conditioned very well matey for a long time before you got them and fed on the best of foods, there can also be other factors that may lead them to breed. I think the biggest factor is that they are by themselves as I have them with 80 other tetras, and your conditions are good as they won't spawn if stressed in any way.

Fish may prefer a lower PH but if conditions are steady water quality is good and the food is right and there isn't a whole lot of disturbance then they may spawn away, I am thinking they also have a lot of space to themselves in your tank?

Corydoras will spawn and hatch in hard high ph water, my concern there is if the fry can break the surface.


Mark

Location D.11

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31 Oct 2010 20:19 #30 by Ma (mm mm)
Have managed to setup a few tanks this weekend now that I have got my air pump, 10 set up so far.
Heres 4 more

Cherry shrimp tank
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Tiger Shrimp
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Dario Loach temporary home
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Clown Loach tank
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The Pump 20, got it from Kev, quiet as an eheim 200 with 6 adjustable lines, the dogs @*&^%
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Still tryin to ID this catfish, anyone?
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Mark

Location D.11

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