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
IS LESS MORE?
- lampeye (lampeye)
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im not sure but this may be the problem
we all like to feed our fish well twice a day (myself included). we like when they look a bit plump. Lately ive increased my water changes to 25 per cent twice a week but even if i do them every 2 days the gravel still seems manky. Ive no dangerous levels...even my nitrates are less than 5ppm, but still i think ive overstocked. ( rio 180 with a pair of discus, 30 cardinals, 6 marble hatchet fish, 4 small plecs, 1 panda cory, 2 apistos, 6 amano shrimp).
Aquascaping......looks great when its packed out wiith wood and plant setc but if you cant gravel clean parts of the tank imagine after a year what the dead spots will be like...(if you only have a couple of fish im sure thats fine)
lately ive been thinking less is more...
-less fish= less agression happier fish
- less aquascaping=more swimming space....easier to clean=happier fish (not saying bare tanks but adeqate swimming space.
-less food=less waste (not saying u should starve em)
IS LESS MORE?
what are your thoughts on this? maybe im way off.....
Beginners... check out the fish you fish u want to keep before u get em... how many can you keep in one tank?..is your tank big enough? -if not dont bother or better still plan your tank around the fish u want to keep.
lampeye
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- gm333 (gm333)
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- KenS (Ken Simpson)
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Your tank sounds massively overstocked to me. I'm not surprised if you're having problems.
Staying in or about the guidlines should mean that you'll experience few problems and have healthy happy fish.
Regards,
Ken.
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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lampeye
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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What kind of subtrate do you have in the tank.
Is it the black crushed glass?
If it is your cats wont like it. It is to corse on their little bellys and barbles.
I use this in some of my tanks with no bottom dwelling fish and find it to be a dirt magnet.
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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Your tank looks great.
What kind of subtrate do you have in the tank.
Is it the black crushed glass?
If it is your cats wont like it. It is to corse on their little bellys and barbles.
I use this in some of my tanks with no bottom dwelling fish and find it to be a dirt magnet.
I had it too. It is a dirt magnet and cats can do damage to themselves on it.
On the other hand I think your tank looks cool. You should see my Malawi tank. Thats what you call overstocked.
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- ChrisM (ChrisM)
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The thing I found out is you dont need to worry about it.Its what you cant see needs careful attention.Some fish just are messy.This doesnt mean to say their waste is more harmful because it is more abundant.My water parameters were spot on but you would never think it.
If you are having problems look at another filter,usually 5 times the volume an hour is enough.I would most importantly feed less.I have read many books and articles relating to this matter and you are not doing your fish any favours overfeeding them.
Uneaten food expands.adding to the waste problem.
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- Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)
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Smoke me a Kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.
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- Gavin (Gavin)
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if it's not african.
then more is more.
dont make me come over there.
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- Pablo (Pablo -)
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- Gavin (Gavin)
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sev's you can keep in large numbers and not have any problems. I have six big un's in one of my tanks.happy as larry.


dont make me come over there.
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- boroughmal (boroughmal)
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I allways advocate the use of air pumps & bubble walls, you can even fit them under the undergravell, that will stitr it up.
regards
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- Uther (Uther)
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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Aggression should not be an issue either.
I suggest you check your pieces of wood. Some types tend to rot fron the inside out.
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- bradan (bradan)
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2 scissor tails
2 red blue columbians
2 buenos aires tetras
2 red eyes
2 silver tips
6 neon tetras
i consider this to be full ...what ya think
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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as the old saying goes, 1 litre per centimetre of fish. It's about right for most species unless you have terrotorial issues with cichlids or amazingly enough some plecs.
Holger
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