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
opinions on most efficient algae cleaner
- newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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- newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
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jim
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- doreilly (Donal O Reilly)
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Well i was just asking about the 2 i mentioned based on people that had experience keeping both!
jim
Aaagh, I see.
But is not a bit like asking "who is the best singer in the world ever" out of Justine Beiber and Rownan Keating

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- m4r10 (m4r10)
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Aaagh, I see.
But is not a bit like asking "who is the best singer in the world ever" out of Justine Beiber and Rownan Keating
What kind of question is that? Everybody knows that Bieber is the best ... ever ... singer!!!
And that's a fact, because my daughter told me so

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- Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
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Sewelia, Beufortia, Gastromyzons etc
Well I'm off to google to look all of those up as I have no idea what any of them are.
I have a house full of beliebers also, the 10 year old may be lost but I'm working hard with the 4 year old, she may still be saveable
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I think a mixture of both Ottos & SAE's works really well in a Planted Tank.
also agree with Ian on the Hillstream Loach etc. great Algae Eaters and cool looking Fish, they always remind Me of little Mach Aircrafts in the Tank...

It's worth taking into consideration the size that SAE's grow although I honestly think they are a bit better than Ottos at getting the Job done...
Bulldog Plecs are great Algae Eaters, Japonica Shrimp, Sumatran Gobies help with the awkward stuff...
actually strangely enough, I've noticed that Ameca Splendens seem to be Whopper Algae Eaters but I wouldn't recommend them in a Community Tank...
Des
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- newbejkjimk (damien kelly)
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But is not a bit like asking "who is the best singer in the world ever" out of Justine Beiber and Rownan Keating
+1 Ian
LOl trust you dude
Cheers des i'll have to look into it the otto's i have were great in the beginning but lately have become lazy lol lil cling ons are not paying there way!
jim
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- louis (David Knowles)
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- Melander (Andreas Melander)
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I love Ottos as fish myself but I just wanted to add that I have had the same experience as what Jim described.
My Ottos munched away on the algae like crazy in the beginning but have lately become "lazy" and now seem to prefer other foods.
Melander
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- LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
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"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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- Gilly (Sean GIllivan)
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so judging by my fish i can only put it this way....
Siamese algae eaters treat the consumption of algae as a pastime
Otto's treat it as an obsession.
Im not talking about the entire population of both species . Just my fish from observation.
Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures.
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