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
RE: The Weather
- andrewo (andrew)
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AAArrrgh!

Hopefully all will be well by the weekend and this daft weather does not reoccur again?
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- Alex (Alex)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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I spent the whole day just getting enough water to do some water changes tomorrow.
but i think the little bit of snow we get is great. Stick on a hat/gloves and go for a walk. Its so peaceful out. Its a nice break from the normal hustle and bustle.
It's even great to see kids out playing that are normally stuck in doors with a game controller stuck to there hands.
I watched a neighbor today driving a bit fast in his new car. He drove up the road, straight in to his driveway and bang straight in to his house.

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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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To keep the pond clear you can place a deflated football in it. Just remove the ball every day and use this as a starting point to clear come of the ice.
I have a tank outside that i have to take an axe to each day to clear the ice.
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- Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
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Yes the weather is messing with the water quality in the mains and the lack of pressure makes it longer to get water for water changes.
I spent the whole day just getting enough water to do some water changes tomorrow.
but i think the little bit of snow we get is great. Stick on a hat/gloves and go for a walk. Its so peaceful out. Its a nice break from the normal hustle and bustle.
It's even great to see kids out playing that are normally stuck in doors with a game controller stuck to there hands.
I watched a neighbor today driving a bit fast in his new car. He drove up the road, straight in to his driveway and bang straight in to his house.
Please make my week and tell me it was the prat with the black BMW?
Daragh
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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Please make my week and tell me it was the prat with the black BMW?
Daragh[/quote]
No such luck. It was another prat.
What made it funnier (for me) is his daughter is getting married tomorrow. I would say that is why he got the new car.
He must have entered his driveway at about 20MPH.


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- andrewo (andrew)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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I usually have to pay to go away to the snow but not this year.
I think it's strange how it effects people. Kids out playing, neighbors out talking to neighbours.
It seems to bring a touch of tranquility to the place.
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- Dub (Glen Coughlan)
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- dar (darren curry)
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I think it's strange how it effects people. Kids out playing, neighbors out talking to neighbours.
It seems to bring a touch of tranquility to the place.
spot on Darren, i was only commenting to a neighbour in the next estate as me and her cleared the way for a girl to get her car out that trough out the year you would be lucky to get a glance off folk but yet a bit of snow and we're all out digging each other out, which is one of many things that is wrong with society, no sense of community, i'm living in my estate around six years and i only know one family that i could and do knock in for a bowl of sugar, lets say some one asked me do you know brian brown? i'd say no but yet it could be the family facing me less than 20 metres away that lived there the six years i'm here. the kids are not allowed socialise because the parents isolate them away and then complain as young johney sharpens his "family" engraved axe while watching hard core internet pornography, sure the neighbours kid came in and he is allowed on the computer 24/7 this lad has nervous twitching and screams at the computer "DIE DIE DIE" i wouldn't mind if he was playing a shootem up or an action packed game but he wasn't and then he repeats the same to his mother and grandmother if that's the way things are going i say let it snow all year long, it's the least of our worries
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- Ma (mm mm)
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I am wondering if all the summers massive forest fires and the volcanic activity has anything to do with all this.. Apart from higher heating costs it hasn't affected my fishtivities at all.
MArk
Location D.11
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- andrewo (andrew)
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- sparky (sparky)
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Air have cancelled all flights till the 29th, a few people went POP!
MArk
Sorry, what?!


-Brian
Location: Dublin 24
"Make it idiot-proof, and someone will make a better idiot"
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Amazing how quickly people remember not to put their Fingers in the Fire having burned them before but we had this Snow/cold situation last January and lo and behold, it turns into a crisis. You'll hear, "but this isn't the usual Weather" BS ! If it happens once it can happen again.
The amazing thing about Ireland is we are satisfied to moan and when the worst passes it's forgotten and then bitched about when it repeats it's self.
Every time we get the slightest hint of a decent summer HOSE BANS !
No pre-emptive attempts are made to ensure sufficient Water is available to stave off these shortages, no Water containment plans are decided upon, no extra Reservoirs etc are planned.
The Snow, imo, isn't gone, it's only late December, there's a few Months left and winter will return and we'll be caught on the hop again.
Kev.
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- Ma (mm mm)
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Mark. wrote:
Air have cancelled all flights till the 29th, a few people went POP!
MArk
Sorry, what?!Tell me they havent! I'm supposed to be on a plane at 6 tomorrow morning to go see the in-laws... Well, I suppose it might not be the worst thing if the filght was cancelled...
-Brian
I'd check with the airline, but that is what they did on the 21st, haven't been at work since then. It may have changed.
@Kev
Missus is in Helsinki -25 in the city, colder outside, not a word of complaint either, ducks to water eh hoser:)
Mark
Location D.11
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
Merry Christmas to all.
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- derek (Derek Doyle)
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Be very careful breaking holes in the Ice, the shockwaves in a pond can and do kill Fish, the easiest way to deal with these conditions is to drop the depth of Water by an inch or two by pumping it out via hole in the Ice, the resulting gap / Air pocket will act like an insulator and allows toxic gas buildup from decaying plant matter and waste to escape and Oxygen to get to the Fish. A second layer of Ice rarely forms and the hole in the Ice only needs any snow removed from it. I've had Ponds over 20 years and worked every time.
Kev.
Merry Christmas to all.
that sounds a great idea kev. my neighbourhood heron saved me the trouble of worrying about my fish for this particular freeze up. but i will remember this tip for when i restock.
30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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