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
fussy rams
- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Ive changed what i feed my rams, they are on peas and sweetcorn, hikari cichlid gold and hikari algae flakes but they dont go near the cichlid food and pick at the flakes.
What else can i give them to eat...? i need some kind of food that will sink to the bottom as they wont eat at the surface.
Alan
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Alan
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Fire tetras, albino, glowlights also Harlequins, plattys, mollies, SAE, corys
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Need a basic food for them ill give the nls a go see how i go i guess.
Alan
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- ted30 (Damo Mac an Bhaird)
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- ted30 (Damo Mac an Bhaird)
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Ive been feeding them bloodworm, artemia and peas and sweetcorn for the last few days and i have noticed a huge difference in them alot more active and coluring up nicely.
Even noticed my male and 1 of the females swimming around each other tail to head and lip locking so with a bit of luck they will pair of and add to the list of fish getting it.
Alan
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- Trimax (Trimax)
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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My big male ram died this morning, i watched him waste away would be they best way put it.
Wasnt eating anything at all, all my other rams are fine but they wont eat anything other than bloodworm, brine shrimp, peas and sweet corn.... is it ok just to feed them this or do they need more..?
Ive tried hikari gold pellets and waffers, nls, i got two different types of food from my lfs and still nothing, im gonna try some garlic in the food later but if that doesnt work im out of ideas can anyone else they me what i can feed them...?
Alan
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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Chop it up and throw it in Alan. Sorry to hear about the Ram. Ive one in a similar senario but age could the problem on her.
Gavin
Its poxy alright, tried everything with mine over the last 6 weeks they were skinny when i got them, i just think that it was too much for him in the end, he was abit older than the rest they where young shame was a lovely fish.
Hope yours pull through
Alan
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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- ted30 (Damo Mac an Bhaird)
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- alkiely (alan kiely)
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A lot of Bolivian Rams I've seen in pet shops are not in good condition. I think the reason could be that staff feed flake which is no good for Bolivian rams. They need high protein food that sinks to the bottom. They are after all bottom feeders. With some veg and frozen/live food. I lost five rams which I bought from numerous pet shops that were in bad condition. I thought I could bring them home and get them back to good health. Another thing I've found is a lot of them are infested with intestinal worms which further damages the health of the fish. I'm not surprised you've had deaths really. It's certainly heart breaking:(
As ive said before i got my first 5 which all died within 3 days, these looked better but skinny
Ted can you tell me what you are feeding urs please...?
Ive tried some many types of food, was even told today in a pet shop to feed them terrapin food.....?

Alan
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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- ted30 (Damo Mac an Bhaird)
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As ive said before i got my first 5 which all died within 3 days, these looked better but skinny
Ted can you tell me what you are feeding urs please...?
Ive tried some many types of food, was even told today in a pet shop to feed them terrapin food.....?
Alan
A staple diet of New life spectrum and Hikari Cichlid gold. Once a week frozen Bloodworm or brine shrimp and Peas/sweetcorn. Spirulina algae wafers once a week. Terapin food - I don't think so. My god who told you that. There's liquids you can get too soak food in to make them more attractive. I'm just unsure where you can get them.
Location: Carrickmacross, County Monaghan
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