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
Hello all...
- ger310 (Ger .)
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- denverbre (Denver Breslin)
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Yep, you're dead right, the knowledge on this forum is staggering, I know it's helped this novice immensely1
What have you stocked your tank with now? You'll have to put a few pics up too

Denver
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- JohnH (John)
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it won't be long before people start asking you to post pictures of your tank and contents - they like looking at other people's fish!
So, be warned!
John
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N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
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It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- JohnH (John)
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There you are - no 1.Welcome to the forum Ger.
Yep, you're dead right, the knowledge on this forum is staggering, I know it's helped this novice immensely1
What have you stocked your tank with now? You'll have to put a few pics up too
Denver
:o)
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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- ger310 (Ger .)
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i've got a peaceful community at the moment,
3 bleeding heart tetra's
3 black widow tetra's
5 mollies
6 harlequins
2 bulldog pleco's
1 albino corydoras
3 green corydoras
2 glass cat fish
7 rummy noses
cheers again Denver and if yeh any suggestions,dont be shy..thanks man
What do you call a three legged Donkey?
A Wonkey....duh ha

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- ger310 (Ger .)
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Welcome along Ger,
it won't be long before people start asking you to post pictures of your tank and contents - they like looking at other people's fish!
So, be warned!
John
Ahh that will be no problem John,sure i love staring at other tanks meself,and thanks for the welcome
What do you call a three legged Donkey?
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- denverbre (Denver Breslin)
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I almost fell into the same trap as yourself about buying the pretty fish without researching preferred parameters and temperaments etc but found this forum as my tank was cycling and very quickly became apparent that fish are just as quirky as people.
We've all made mistakes and I doubt there's one person on the forum who hasn't suffered loss in their tank or had to return a rogue fish, I know I've suffered both!
Be sure to test your water regularly and do regular water changes. One of the guys on the forum stated it perfectly earlier in the week, "We don't keep fish, we keep water" - igmillichip
Denver
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- ger310 (Ger .)
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Cheers Denver
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- ger310 (Ger .)
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- denverbre (Denver Breslin)
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yes,i've done water changes 4 times so far (enough in the first 2 months?) and added tap safe every time i added new fish + i add filter start once a week.i have checked the filter and heater and its all good as i see it and my water has always been clear
You should be changing 20% per week (maybe more with the number of fish you have in the tank)
You need to add a water conditioner to the tap water every time you add some (something like Nutrafin Aqua Plus) which is supposed to help remove / neutralise heavy metals and it removes Chlorine and Chloramine which is added by the water board.
When I say check the water, I mean with a good test kit which analysis for Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, PH and water hardness. Clean your filter once a month in a bucket of tank water. Are you using an internal filter or external canister filter?
How long is the tank running at this stage? Not sure there's any benefit to adding filter start or safe start. If your tank and filter is mature, there should be plenty of good bacteria there so shouldn't need to supplement it with additives.
Hope this helps!
Denver
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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If you any questions just shout! Oh and get some pics up! We all like looking at pics!
Gavin
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Mick...

Follow me up to Carlow
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Sean Crowe
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Location: Navan
Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
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