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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

Gasping for air???

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19 Mar 2013 18:59 #1 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
Well, one of my lads is hovvering around the top of the tank, seen in attatched picture, it's just the one guy, did a water change 3 days ago, seen him like that so immediately tested my water, results as shown

PH - 8
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

Results seem fine, anyone any ideas? He is swimming around like normal but spending most of his time up there this eve??

Cheers

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew
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19 Mar 2013 19:15 #2 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Replied by Ski (Alan McGee) on topic Gasping for air???
Can you move the spray bar above the water line?

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19 Mar 2013 19:17 #3 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
I can yes, that be a good idea?

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew

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19 Mar 2013 19:23 #4 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Replied by Ski (Alan McGee) on topic Gasping for air???
Yeah it would increase the amount of air in the water. Ripples on the surface of the water will do the job

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19 Mar 2013 19:45 #5 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
That look ok? Seems to be creating to bubbles in the tank alright

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew
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19 Mar 2013 19:52 #6 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Replied by Ski (Alan McGee) on topic Gasping for air???
I think so. As long as there's ripples on the water surface, that should aerate the water. I usually have the whole spray bar out of the water to create a bit of a waterfall to try and get as much oxygen as possible in there

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19 Mar 2013 19:54 #7 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
I would if I could, the way the lid on my tank and the piping on my JBL makes it awkward so I will need to get some extra smaller joints but no big deal

Thanks a mil for the help

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew

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19 Mar 2013 20:03 #8 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Replied by Ski (Alan McGee) on topic Gasping for air???
No problem. Hopefully that should help

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19 Mar 2013 21:03 #9 by Aquaman (Brian Gillick)
or try an airpump with an airstone.

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20 Mar 2013 00:34 - 20 Mar 2013 00:40 #10 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
can you put up a full tank pic so we can see the tank set up i have a feeling its a bullying situation and he's trying to hide and thats the only place he can find thats not taking over by another hard ass fish show us the full tank pic and tell us how many fish are in their as this is quite common with africans if not over stocked

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.
Last edit: 20 Mar 2013 00:40 by jeff (Jeff Scully).

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20 Mar 2013 00:55 #11 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
i agree. the fact that his fins are clamped and that he's the ONLY one like this seems to suggest he's become everyone else's bitch. with rift lake cichlids, if they're not handled right, there's almost always some poor sucker at the crappy end of the pecking order. overstocking pays...

"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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20 Mar 2013 01:08 #12 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
the fact that his fins are clamped and that he's the ONLY one like this seems to suggest he's become everyone else's bitch.


:laugh: :cheer: :laugh: spot on mate, :laugh: everyone else'e bitch :laugh:

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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20 Mar 2013 08:58 #13 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
Here it is, 10 of em in there, tank is 240litres

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew
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20 Mar 2013 09:21 #14 by christyg (Chris Geraghty)

Here it is, 10 of em in there, tank is 240litres


You need another 20 fish in there especially if theyre mbuna

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20 Mar 2013 10:00 #15 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
yeah thats your problem in a 240 you deffo need about 30 of them and alot more rocks id have the hole back of the tank built up with ocean rock

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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20 Mar 2013 10:56 #16 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
Oh and i have 2 pleco's in there too

I will be adding more, just didnt want to do it in a hurry, but i didn't think i could go up to that much in a 240litre???

is there anything i can put in there in the form a a shoal?

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew

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20 Mar 2013 14:49 #17 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
African cichlids are better off introduced in groups, the bigger the better. One or two fish introduced at a time are basically being put into an environment where territories have already been established an NONE of those guys will give it up easily. A small cichlids with a well defined territory will often see off a much bigger fish with none. Obviously not everyone can afford to dump 30 fish into a tank in one go, but in the case of these guys, the softly softly approach doesn't do them any favours. Crowds diffuse the aggression. Try and buy a few at a time and add/move around rocks as you introduce them. They use the objects in the tank to define territory, so if that landscape changes it means everyone has to figure it all out again, giving the new guys a chance like everyone else. Hope this helps

"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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20 Mar 2013 17:14 #18 by christyg (Chris Geraghty)
Lemonjelly is spot on, even to move one or two rocks means they have to re establish territories, and if you introduce a group of around 6 (no less than 5) you shouldn't have any problems.

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20 Mar 2013 17:29 #19 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
Ok, Thanks, Can anyone suggest a group of fish that will work well in the tank i have and look well? a shoal of something?

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew

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20 Mar 2013 17:57 #20 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
I'd like to see a video to get a better picture.
But assuming it isn't ammonia poisoning (and the test results will not show ammonia poisoning), then a battering is a good possibility.

In many of the Mbuna, the top-dog takes the lowest part of the tank, and the under-dogs take the higher portion of the water.

I note that the rocks in the first pic do not go up high enough to act as a refuge.

Floating a few up-turned flower pots may give a temporary refuge for the sub-ordinates.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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20 Mar 2013 19:37 - 20 Mar 2013 19:45 #21 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
Here you go

*video doesn't seem to be working

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew
Last edit: 20 Mar 2013 19:45 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid).

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20 Mar 2013 20:57 #22 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
Here's some changes

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew
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21 Mar 2013 16:31 #23 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
That's looking a lot more like it :cool:

"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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22 Mar 2013 15:54 #24 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
yeah man thats much better now just work on more fish

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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22 Mar 2013 16:50 #25 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
pm sent regarding fish

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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22 Mar 2013 20:30 #26 by McQuaid (Mark McQuaid)
Added some new fish today, and he's back to normal form, has his colour back and looks to be alot better already

240 litre mixture of cichlids

55 litre marine tank currently holding a few coral and clean up crew
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