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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

Striped Raphael catfish

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08 Aug 2013 15:29 #1 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
Has anyone any experience with Striped Raphael catfish ( talking catfish )
I got one last week just wondering does anyone else keep them.

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08 Aug 2013 16:08 #2 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
Had one for years, hid during the day beside a outlet pipe, always seemed to have a fat belly, so I suspected he was eating more than I was feeding him .....

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08 Aug 2013 18:45 #3 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
Did it eat other tank mates ? Or was it feeding on all the leftover food? it seems happy enough with African cichlids

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08 Aug 2013 19:01 #4 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
I had mine with adult mbuna, never saw it take a fish or fry, just nearly always had a fat belly. Found him a proper home, in the end.

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09 Aug 2013 09:40 #5 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
He does not come out much during the day and likes to hide in the back corner but when he does come out he is amazing to watch
Hopefully I will upgrade on tanks before Xmas and I will give them all a better home. I getting the itch for a 350L corner tank


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09 Aug 2013 10:13 #6 by Ski (Alan McGee)
I would stay away from the corner tanks. They look very nice but you're limited with what you can put in them. I had to get rid of mine

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09 Aug 2013 10:35 #7 by CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
mmmmm Alan, I wonder, ..... red bellied arowana :P

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09 Aug 2013 10:46 #8 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Ha ha you got it crusty, along with clown knife, Oscar and peacock bass!

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09 Aug 2013 10:56 #9 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
It was my first big tank so if I get a bigger tank I will change the 190 into a community tank

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10 Aug 2013 09:41 #10 by paulv (paul vickers)
i have 3 raphaels, 2 stripped and 1 spotted in a big tank, they are one of the smallest fish in my tank but from what ive read on them they dont worry any other fish with them, i make sure i put sinking cat fish pellets, prawn, muscle, behind the bog wood and rocks they hide behind so they feed good. if you ever have to handle him/her be very careful as their fins are like well sharpened spears and will spike your hand badly.

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10 Aug 2013 10:31 #11 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
I was told they have put there spike out through the bags in the lfc I use a bucket with a lead to keep in some heat so I didn't have any bother.
I have a few catfish now so feeding in handy with the pellets I might try what your saying and add some other bits of food into there hiding places.

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11 Aug 2013 18:41 #12 by dubdero (derek kearns)
My favourite fish love them can keep with anything over two inches .I found gas looking at when eating

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11 Aug 2013 19:23 #13 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)

My favourite fish love them can keep with anything over two inches .I found gas looking at when eating


What do you feed yours and what size tank would I need for keeping one of these.
Lucky enough all my fish are over 3inc but I have seen the odd fry cichlid swimming in and around the plants.

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12 Aug 2013 10:06 #14 by paulv (paul vickers)
they dont grow that big 6 maybe 6 and half inchs max so a 200l tank is plenty for one of them. as for feeding them, they eat pretty much anything but love meaty foods like sinking cat fish pellets and prawn, blood worms, meal worms. as i have alot of big cat fish in my tank i make sure food drifts to where the smaller cat fish hide.

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12 Aug 2013 23:22 #15 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
I got some frozen cooked prawn tonight from tesco could I feed some to my catfish ? Will other fish eat the prawn or what's the best way to feed the cichlids and catfish?

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13 Aug 2013 06:53 #16 by paulv (paul vickers)
let the prawn thaw out and cut them in half before feeding them. depending on the size of your fish it will eat atleast one whole prawn. dont forget variety is the best way to feed any fish. whatever your feeding your cichlids now the raphael will most likely be eating that too.

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13 Aug 2013 09:29 #17 by irish-zx10r (James feenan)
Thanks I haven't used meet foods yet only the sinking pellets for catfish
I use floating pellets for my cichlids and flake food.

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14 Aug 2013 17:49 #18 by dubdero (derek kearns)
Sinking pellets and they also took blood worm which was feeding the other fish

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