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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

Our 'friend' is actually being sensible...

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20 Sep 2013 21:14 #1 by JohnH (John)
Quite a reasonable topic for us all to discuss, methinks.

www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.p...get&utm_content=html

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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20 Sep 2013 21:43 #2 by Finn86 (Paul Finnegan)
Very good article John, really enjoyed that. I have a confession to make, I was until today a Manager of a pet shop and everything I have learned and still learning to date is all on my own initiative. When I started I had no clue on how a fish should be kept. Since starting up my own aquarium and constantly doing research I now know right from wrong, and the pet trade ( not all of them ) doesn't help by selling bowls that are 12ltrs with a deal of 3 goldfish for €10. Every time I sold one a piece of me died, finally enough got enough and it was time for me to go.

Im not bad mouthing pet shops completely, I have explained countless times and I mean countless, but people want what they want, inhumane or not, and as of now a weight is off my shoulders and I am no longer apart of it.

So from experience you cant blame ignorance, because even after being told the hard truth most will still opt for that small cramped bowl becuase the fish will "only last for a week anyway"

End of rant :laugh:

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20 Sep 2013 23:45 #3 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
good article John,

Not all shops are like where you worked Finn86

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21 Sep 2013 00:03 #4 by Finn86 (Paul Finnegan)
No not all shops are like that, the specialist aquatic stores are excellent.

I can say for sure that close to 100% of pet shops in dublin ( not aquatic shops ) sell small bowls, no filter, etc to make a quick buck. Its not against the law, just moraly wrong and I needed out for my sanity :laugh:

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21 Sep 2013 08:39 #5 by davey_c (dave clarke)
Was never 1 for reading books and jeasus that article was written like 1 (sorry john). Ended up reading the 1st 2 paragraphs and then skipping down to the main points.... and as I suspected, their questions we have been asked year in year out by non-fishkeepers!! Nothing new at all but yet what gets me is its as much fresh writing material as it was last time it was wrote... I won't say much more though because I didn't read it all but I'd say a few here started off with a fish in a bowl :lol:
I just don't see how there's room for morals in fishkeeping... call me a broken record if ye will but its something that's said time after time with succession and not something I understand I supose. If you were the manager did you not do the orders? I have a couple of friends running fishhouses in small pet stores and they wouldn't have a clue... like I was in 1 and asked for a fish (quite a common fish to us) by common name and I was told "sorry but I don't know latin names".... also didn't even know what he had in stock and he was ordering them... morally pet shops should not sell fish unless they are willing to hire good knowledgeable fishkeepers imo....
Rant over :lol:

Below tank is for sale

my plywood tank build.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768

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21 Sep 2013 09:18 #6 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)

Was never 1 for reading books and jeasus that article was written like 1 (sorry john). Ended up reading the 1st 2 paragraphs and then skipping down to the main points.... and as I suspected, their questions we have been asked year in year out by non-fishkeepers!! Nothing new at all but yet what gets me is its as much fresh writing material as it was last time it was wrote... I won't say much more though because I didn't read it all but I'd say a few here started off with a fish in a bowl :lol:
I just don't see how there's room for morals in fishkeeping... call me a broken record if ye will but its something that's said time after time with succession and not something I understand I supose. If you were the manager did you not do the orders? I have a couple of friends running fishhouses in small pet stores and they wouldn't have a clue... like I was in 1 and asked for a fish (quite a common fish to us) by common name and I was told "sorry but I don't know latin names".... also didn't even know what he had in stock and he was ordering them... morally pet shops should not sell fish unless they are willing to hire good knowledgeable fishkeepers imo....
Rant over :lol:


Funny and sad thing is that fish don't get the same treatment as other pets mostly because the don't have brown eyes, fur and a wiggly nose. Reptiles and spiders etc. need specialist care (I know, I know... but you get my point) and tend to attract specialist keepers. However, fish fall uncomfortably between not easily anthropomorphised and easy to care for. As such, people find them easy to home but don't seem to care as much when they die. Makes them the perfect disposable pet :S

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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21 Sep 2013 09:38 #7 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
Very True Davey_c, PFK have a habit of rehashing the same articles time after time.
I must say I enjoyed this rewrite, had both a sense of humour and truth in it.
We have all met the gobshi@e in the fish section of a pet shop. Bottom and elbow spring to mind.
I too wondered who made the decision on Goldfish with bowl deal in the shop where Finn86 managed. (Owner possibly?)
And I did wonder how someone with (at the beginning) no knowledge of fish keeping got such a position. I suspect it was in an other area of pet care, Reptiles or small mammals perhaps. I do think this opens a can of worms on staff training, knowledge on livestock and how fish and animals are treated in (I hope) a small number of pet shops.
I like many others was given a goldfish as a child, and that is what first kick started my love of fish keeping.

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21 Sep 2013 09:59 #8 by Finn86 (Paul Finnegan)
In reality with larger pet shops you are told to order what sells. A pet shop manager isnt hired because they know everything about animals, it helps but sales and business awareness is number 1.

I have excellent knowledge on dog nutrition and health, small animals etc and which is the vast majority of sales, but when it comes to fish they are over looked. Most shops tell you to wait a week before you put a fish into a newly set up tropical tank, and I dont know where this came from. A tank is not cycled in a week nor can it start to cycle without ammonia.

Now dont get me wrong, if any animal in my store needed vet treatment they got it. Its like any job really you agree with some aspects but not all, for me I got sick of it. I enjoyed sharing my knowledge and helping customers care for their pets, thats why I was there, but a pet is a pet regardless and everything should be cared for equally.

Ill also point out I have worked in 4 pet shops since I was 17 and not once was the cycling process explained to me.

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21 Sep 2013 10:30 #9 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
I wish reptiles attracted a greater percentage of good specialist keepers than at present.

I won't get into a pet-shop dicussion here though; I'm waiting for PFK magazine to publish our "friend's" Top 10 of Top Tens !! (ie more money for old rope from PFK and NH). :hammer:

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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21 Sep 2013 21:52 #10 by Stem12 (Stephen M)
Great read, Found it quite amusing too..

Stephen M.

Juwel Vision 260-
20ltr-Fluval Spec-
19ltr-Fluval Chi-

Keep The Water Fresh-

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22 Sep 2013 09:27 #11 by paulv (paul vickers)
I agree with davey, hard to read all the filler just to get to the point he was making. Why would we even want to explain our interest to any one, its a personal choice.I dont see the point of stamp collecting but I dont expect a collector to justify it to me.
Maybe the pet shop debate could be a different thread. Sensitive topic I feel.

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22 Sep 2013 10:02 #12 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
If I were not a fish keepers, then of "10 things that non-fishkeepers just don’t get" the only one that I would be interesting in "getting" is number 6 (about fishkeepers being "Geeky" or not).

If I were not a fish keeper, I wouldn't give a hoot about filters or siamese fighting fish or water conditioners....and I guess few non-fishkeepers would give a hoot as well.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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