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
- Ma (mm mm)
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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

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

Some Cherry closeups



DD Nano 90L Breeding Ancistrus sp L1111s




My 150ish L QT as I sold my other, Many Tetras in there Rummies Serpae GLight BNeon XRay BAires RedEye n more

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
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- dar (darren curry)
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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
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- Melander (Andreas Melander)
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The tanks looks good as well, keep us posted on the progress.
Melander
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- mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
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Follow me up to Carlow
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- Ma (mm mm)
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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
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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Daragh
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- dar (darren curry)
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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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- Ma (mm mm)
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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"

Mark
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- Ma (mm mm)
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A few more pictures from today



My first successfully bred fish

One of my first fish

Parent and young, almost same size

A daytime shot of the DD, placed to get some algae growin

Mark
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- 2poc (2poc)
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Have you room for more and bigger tanks in there?

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- Ma (mm mm)
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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.



cheapo aldi light, 6 euro ta very much, 8w

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

Temporary home for tetras and some other homeless fish after I broke down and sold the planted


snake viv

Pinky stuffed and resting, he doesn't like to be near the heat mat after eating. He's named MadEye Moody.

Mark
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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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- Ma (mm mm)
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Something no respectable fish keeper should be without, a pile of fishroom crap:)

A pair of clear seals, 6 of these, 4 still to set up.




My Kindom for a new spine.
Mark
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- mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
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Mick......

Follow me up to Carlow
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- Ma (mm mm)
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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
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- Jim (Jim Lawlor)
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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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- dar (darren curry)
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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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- Ma (mm mm)
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@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
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- r2potat2 (Derek Martin)
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- Ma (mm mm)
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@Dar some Glowlights you left behind.


Curious Red Eye Tetra


Can I get an ID on this fellow please.

I have coral sand here, would that be suitable for shrimp?
Mark
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- dar (darren curry)
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p.s that was sold to me for my tropicals and i'm quite pee'd off wit who sold me it.
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- Ma (mm mm)
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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.
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Mark
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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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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- Ma (mm mm)
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@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
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- Ma (mm mm)
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Heres 4 more
Cherry shrimp tank

Tiger Shrimp

Dario Loach temporary home

Clown Loach tank



The Pump 20, got it from Kev, quiet as an eheim 200 with 6 adjustable lines, the dogs @*&^%

Still tryin to ID this catfish, anyone?


Mark
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