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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 to the site, new to fish...

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29 Oct 2008 21:53 - 29 Oct 2008 21:56 #1 by dolf_peeters (Dolf Peeters)
Hi all,

unfortunatly I'm approaching my 30th birthday:angry: (January) and fortunatly my wife is going to buy me an aquarium as it is something I have wanted for a while ;) .

I've done some reading and research, but a lot of it goes over my head, cycles, nitrate, nitrite, ph, salt ... :huh:

I understand that the tropical fish are easiest to keep, and that salt water fish are difficult to keep.

anyway, .... help :S !

What do people recommend? are salt waterfish really that more difficult than tropical fish?

oh and I'm on a well, does that make a differnce?
Last edit: 29 Oct 2008 21:56 by dolf_peeters (Dolf Peeters).

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30 Oct 2008 02:42 #2 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
Welcome to the forum,
I dont know about marines having never kept them, but tropicals are relatively easy once the basic setup is done right.
Below i have given you two links about cycling what its about and how to do it
www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/cycling.php
www.bluecrayfish.com/cycle.htm


I'd strongly advise buying the biggest tank the "boss" will allow, larger volumes of water are more stable and also a good master test kit, it will let you know when the tank is ready to go, and what ph water you have (important to know so you can suit your fish to your water quality)...
When the tank is cycled usually about 4-6 weeks (i know its a long time but its worth it) you can start adding fish slowly as nitrite etc will spike during introduction of fish, when this goes back to zero, then you can get more fish.

As for being on a well it shouldn't make too much of a difference as your well water should be filtered before it comes out of your tap. i'd err on the side of caution and use something like easylife just to be safe anyway.

So when you've got your tank and know what its ph the water is let us know we can advise you on what to get etc.

look at the beginners section as well a lot of your questions will be answered there.

Again welcome to our forum and the highly addictive world of fishkeeping
Seamus

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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30 Oct 2008 07:20 #3 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Welcome to the forum Dolf
some good advice there from Seamus ;)

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30 Oct 2008 07:55 #4 by dolf_peeters (Dolf Peeters)

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30 Oct 2008 09:58 #5 by Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
welcome on board Dolf, the wait and anticpation is the hard part the joy is the livestocking

ITFS Club Secretary
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
see the ITFS tab above for more information www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/itfs

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30 Oct 2008 10:17 #6 by karlo (karlo kennedy)
howdy
and welcome
if there is any thing you need to know just ask no mather what it is even if you want to know why the sky is blue or if this fish will go with this fish lol, there is alot of people that knows loads
all the best with the mad world of fish keeping
regards
karlo

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30 Oct 2008 10:26 #7 by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods)
HI Dolf,
Welcome to the forum.
some very good advice there and you are doing the right thing getting information first!!!

get the basics right and the rest follows

I would suggest you do a bit of window shopping in a few LFS and get some idea what you would like. then you can research them and have things right from day one.

And any questions just post here and i am sure that you will get all the help you need!

Mickey

Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods

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31 Oct 2008 00:14 #8 by derek (Derek Doyle)
hello dolf
well water can be very hard, so it would be wise to get a sample checked before you decide on the type of fish to keep. ie. angels gouramis tetras are best in soft to neutral water and most livebearers and all african cichlids require harder more alkaline water.
marine fish and inverts are more difficult and expensive to keep so it would be advisable to start with freshwater.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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