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
Well Hello There!!
- Maximusbiggus (Shane Griffin)
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I'm new to the forum and relatively new to fish keeping (just less than a year). I started off last August with a nice 46L Fluval Edge, which I still quite like, although I made some mistakes in the beginning resulting in the loss of some poor fishies lives I received some poor info from some, perhaps not so well informed, members of staff at a large pet store chain. this included wrong stocking advice amongst other things. Anyway, I kept at it and now I have a lovely tank set up with neon tetra, harlequin rasboras, a 1inch bn pleco and 2 ottos who have been very happy the last 6 months.
My latest investment into the hobby is the purchase of my Juwel Rio 240 in dark wood. I'm delighted with it, especially with the doors it's opened up to me in relation to what I can stock it with. I'll create a separate thread in relation to that tank.
I'm sure I'll be on looking for info from you guys in the near future.
Regards,
Maximus
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- Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
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- hammie (Neil Hammerton)
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Unfortunately I used to work in one of these large chain stores (wont mention which 1 tho) and I have to say the overall knowledge of most of their staff is diabolical. I overheard a conversation one afternoon of someone with a 60l tank wanting some tank mates for his neons and cardinals, he asked about Oscars and weather they would be good mix...... the girl dealing with the customer said they would!!!!!!!! I had to step in at that point and set the customer straight!
Anyway long story short I ended up selling the customer the right stock for his tank, I got called into the office as she made a complaint that I embarrased her and told a customer she didnt know what she was talking about!!!!!
It seems it all came down to her sales figures were crap and the oscars were a more expensive fish than the proper stock thus it would have brought her figures for the week up to where they should have been!!!!
So my advise to anyone is buy what you know in these shops, and if you want advice go to a specialist store!!!!
Im sorry to hear you got told the same kinda thing, but glad you stuck at it and everything is now sitting nicely
Best of luck with the new setup
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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we all being caught like yourself at the start best advice is let it in one ear and out the other come here from good advice before you go shopping. I am at two minds to contact the head over one of these pet stores with something terrible i seen only a few days ago if i had the money i would have bought some of there fish so they live for a extra few days
Something fishie going on here
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- anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
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Anthony
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- paulv (paul vickers)
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- Maximusbiggus (Shane Griffin)
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- Aroshni (Lydia Olivera)
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As Hammie has told you for advise its better if you look help in the forum, go to a specialised store or do your research on internet.
I have had bad experiences with a large chain store too, I lost half of my livestock because of a fungus infection 3 fishes brought with them, went there to complain and brought the fishes back and they gave me a fecking plant as compensation.
I won't buy never again from them, and I used to buy a lot since I have a dog and two cats too.
The feeling is like when I was young and got drunk with whiskey... couldn't smell it without almost puking.
Lydia
Lowtech Shrimps nano 30l
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...-lowtech-nano-shrimp
Lowtech Vision 180l Community
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...-lowtech-vision-180l
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- Maximusbiggus (Shane Griffin)
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I actually had a very similar problem with possibly the same store. Along with the bad advice I was sold fish with whitespot (a quarantine tank would have saved me here) that wiped out most of my livestock even after treating the whole tank. I couldn't get back to the store due to work so when I got around to going back after a week I was just told that I should have come back sooner and kept the fish. I went to another of their stores hoping for more knowledgable staff or better quality fish but their neon tank had whitespot. I pointed it out to staff who said they would quarantine the tank but over an hour later it still had the lights on (they said they would turn it off...)
I refuse to shop there now even for dry goods and for goods for my dog.
Surely other people have complained to management??
Anyway we have learned our lessons and I have learned to go to specialised stores and forums for advice. I just put it down to experience and hope I may be able to pass on some advice to other new comers who may face similar problems to myself. While some people worry about the financial loss that comes with losing fish I also worry about the suffering of the poor guys.
RESEARCH is definitely key!
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- MarkTipp (Mark Ryan)
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Look forward to seeing your new tankl!
Mark
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- carlowchris (chris)
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i used to go into that shop that hammie worked in and there are people in those shops that are knowledgeable and when i went in i used to deal with only those people,,,if you can only use those shops get to know the people in there,,and hammie you were sorely missed when ya left but no marines in there now anyway
so id say its your tank, do your research and never let anyone, in any shop, tell you what to put in it,
welcome
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- hammie (Neil Hammerton)
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Thanks for your kind words.... id say you do know the one im talking about..... thankfully she left before I did and she wont ever be giving BS advice to those customers again!
I fear however all I know is basics compared to some on here!!!!
I never gave advise that would make a sale, instead any advise I gave was to help a customer out of a situation or to encourage them to return to me (not the shop) again in the future!!!!
There are some fantastic dedicated websites that show husbandry and requirements for all the livestock you will ever think of!
Thats where I get my advise
Thats one of my reference point for learning
Use the tools available to you
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- Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
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I think I started at the same time as you. But i went nuts. As I type this messages I look around and see 9 tanks running LOL
Very very addictive.... You killed a few fish like we all do and now you know... So welcome to the enjoyable part of the hobby.
Stephan
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- carlowchris (chris)
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imagine how hard it was to keep fish 20 years ago with only a book from the library that some fxxcker had torn torn out the most important page??
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- ABdarudeone (Mick)
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im a newbie myself - started just over a year ago .. and all i can say is thank god for this site !
People on here DO know an awfull lot about fishkeeping and will give you some HONEST advice !
If it comes to dodgey FS .. one thing i know for sure - im not going back to anyone who gave me bad ideas in the past , and think we all should be allowed to actually name these places on the forum (just so everyone knows who they are) and maybe it will change their approach to any new, inexperienced customers visiting the shops ??
**Neither a teacher nor a native speaker**
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- Aroshni (Lydia Olivera)
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Hi and welcome Maximus ,
im a newbie myself - started just over a year ago .. and all i can say is thank god for this site !
People on here DO know an awfull lot about fishkeeping and will give you some HONEST advice !
If it comes to dodgey FS .. one thing i know for sure - im not going back to anyone who gave me bad ideas in the past , and think we all should be allowed to actually name these places on the forum (just so everyone knows who they are) and maybe it will change their approach to any new, inexperienced customers visiting the shops ??
Agree with you, I'd like to share my negative feedback, as I do with my positive one, with the rest of the people too as I'd like to know the opinions of the rest. I always like to read reviews about sellers or products in different places and for sure if the positive feedback is very low or the negative is very high I won't buy anything.
P.S: In the same store I got the infected fishes I asked a girl about a breeding box and she didn't know what it was...so she called another girl and the other didn't know neither so I explainned what was it used for and they still didn't know and stayed there talking between them about other stuff so apparently they weren't in the mood of learning something new that day...
Lydia
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www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...-lowtech-nano-shrimp
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