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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

New member

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24 Oct 2012 10:07 #1 by daemoneire1 (Anthony)
Hi everyone. I have a 60 lite tank with 4 goldfish and 1 small pleco. The tank is up and running over a year now and all going well. Going to buy a jewel 240 litre after christmas but not sure if i will stay with fresh water or try marine. Have being doing a lot of reading on saltwater and would love to set one up in my living room. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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24 Oct 2012 10:42 #2 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic New member
Welcome along.

The choice really is yours alone whether to go for Marines or F/W, but it might be worth thinking about getting the tank first, then start off with Freshwater and progress (if you feel the desire to) to Marine later.
That way you can 'find your feet' with Tropicals first and - should you make any mistakes along the 'learning curve' (and we all have) they won't be either so expensive (or discouraging) to put right.

But, wait and see what others suggest.

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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24 Oct 2012 13:50 #3 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
Replied by jeff (Jeff Scully) on topic New member
Welcome along,

and i would 100% agree with what john has said their

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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24 Oct 2012 17:40 #4 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic New member
Welcome along Anthony, glad to have you as a member.

Kev.

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24 Oct 2012 22:32 #5 by BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
Replied by BlueRam (Sean Crowe) on topic New member
How are you welcome to the forum,

Take your time with marines mate there's not much in it but you will need to get the basics right first try out how you are with tropical first and when you feel the time is right go for it you will not look back,

The way i find id best and would say for most people to do it go tropical and do what you can with that keep different types off fish breed them and try planted tanks and so on once you get all this right you will be more then ready for marine and have a good idea off hpw different systems run and if you have any issues you know what to do to sort them.

Also by doing this will save you a LOT off money so that you will not have anything go wrong.

Sean

Sean Crowe

ITFS Member

Location: Navan

Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving

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25 Oct 2012 05:09 #6 by Hicker12 (Stephen Hickey)
Hello and welcome. :)

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25 Oct 2012 07:46 #7 by daemoneire1 (Anthony)
Replied by daemoneire1 (Anthony) on topic New member
Thanks everyone. I think I will go with tropical for a while and see how i get on with that. I don't really like the look of planted tanks but will try a bit all the same. I won't be getting the new tank until after Xmas but that gives me loads of time for research and planning. I will most likely be back here for advice then. Thanks again for the advice.


Tony.

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25 Oct 2012 11:39 #8 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic New member
If I were you, I would buy another Filter an external, and get it running in your current Tank, this will get seeded with all the necessary bacteria, then transfer it to your new Tank, cutting down the cycling Time.

Kev.

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25 Oct 2012 13:35 #9 by fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
Replied by fishmama (Maria Kennedy) on topic New member
Hi daemoneire1, welcome to the forum :cool:

I'm just curious to know what pleco do you have in cold water, did he survived already a full winter?
If so I want to have one of those too for my goldfish tank :woohoo:

In there I have now a salt-and-pepper cory, really cute, but the temp is already down to 15 degrees, I do not think I can keep him (her?) in there for longer....

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25 Oct 2012 14:16 #10 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
+1 on the Pleco question

And welcome to the forum

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25 Oct 2012 18:32 #11 by dubdero (derek kearns)
Replied by dubdero (derek kearns) on topic New member
Wise words from the lads I'm keeping fish a few years and only now I reckon I'm ready for marine fish I tend to do a lot of research before I by a fish or set up a bio -top so that's my twopence worth

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25 Oct 2012 18:41 #12 by dubdero (derek kearns)
Replied by dubdero (derek kearns) on topic New member
Just an idea my first set up was a lake tanginika bi.top easy to set up as its just rock work .Fish are hardy and nice colors stay away from tropeus fish as there harder to keep out of tanginikas setup.Type it into you tube you be hooked on this setup.

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26 Oct 2012 14:40 #13 by daemoneire1 (Anthony)
Replied by daemoneire1 (Anthony) on topic New member
I have a heater in the tank set to 21 degrees. The goldfish don't seem to mind the temp. I brought the temp up gradually over a couple of weeks. One of the goldfish lost its colour but other than that, all ok.

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26 Oct 2012 17:26 #14 by fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
Replied by fishmama (Maria Kennedy) on topic New member
Cool, you could have a winning combo there, in particular if you have fancy goldfish, I don't think they mind too much the temp, and at 21 pleco should be ok, a bit on the cold side, and it could decrease the grow rate (which, considering how big they get, it could be actually a good thing!).
You probably already know this, but be careful because at warmer temperature the goldfish tend to eat too much, as metabolic rate increases, for the same reason they consume more oxygen and the water hold less oxygen; also at higher temp the toxicity of ammonia is higher (even thou the nitrifying bacteria are more active and may be compensate for that), and bacteria, parasites, fungi are more active.
So as long as you have good water circulation, maybe an areator, and good water quality, your goldies should be fine.
Goldfish can change color in time, in particular when they reach maturity, but also could be a sign of stress or poor water condition!

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