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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

wriggly things in a bucket!

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28 Jul 2009 22:15 #1 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi all

i have some wriggly things
in a bucket that was out in the garden
with old plants in it

i have seem them before in pots
that had filled with rainwater
and sat around for a while

any idea what they are?
they are about 3mm long transparent
with a black head, snake like shape (no limbs)
and they constantly wriggle,
there are spent cases on leaves over the water line

and the real question, would they make a nice snack
for my rasbora hengeli

regards

4

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29 Jul 2009 00:32 #2 by Mick0075 (Michael OSullivan)
They sound like mosqueto larva ! I have often been tempted to give them to some fish but have never been brave enough just in case ! So would love to hear others thoughts.

Mick

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29 Jul 2009 00:42 #3 by derek (Derek Doyle)
they are mosquito larvae and most fish will eat them. i have often fed them to my fish in the past esp apisto but have not bothered recently as there may be possible disease transference?
live food such as daphnia, cyclops and mozzie larvae have gone out of fashion, but the old fishkeepers always used them to get fish in breeding condition.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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29 Jul 2009 10:11 #4 by bart (Bart Korfanty)
can confirm the mosquito larvae
i was feeding them to fish for many years back in poland and never had any problems with health, but they were always from buckets and pools with no presence of any fish. Only problem that may occur is that the not eaten ones may quickly turn into mosquito and fly around and drink your blood hehe :-)

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29 Jul 2009 11:31 #5 by derek (Derek Doyle)
yes as bart says the old rule of thumb is if there are no fish present in the collection point these critters plus daphnia etc. should be safe to feed to your fish. your fish will certainly devour them with relish.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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29 Jul 2009 14:51 #6 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
thanks guys

the water they are in is fairly old
rainwater thats just sitting around

any idea on how to collect these fishy treats
without scooping up a load of the smelly water
but i suppose a net isnt gonna hold much water,


rgds

4

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29 Jul 2009 14:58 #7 by derek (Derek Doyle)
catch them in a net and then rinse the net under tap.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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29 Jul 2009 17:25 #8 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Either that or use the turkey baster and suck them up and squeeze them out through a net?
Same thing really I guess.

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02 Aug 2009 00:27 #9 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
great idea on the baster! works a treat
fishies are loving them

rgds

4

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13 Sep 2009 21:15 #10 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi all

im bumping this

will my mozzie larvae supply be a non runner in winter?
i'm guessing it will be.

its the handiest live food supply ever,
a bucket, water and plant matter in the garden
and i get mozzie larvae and some bloodworms

regards

4

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13 Sep 2009 22:23 #11 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
The short answer is yes they will die off once the water gets cooler. You could always bring them indoors :laugh: just kidding. I have done this in the past and they will hatch with the heat in the house. It didn't bother me but everyone else in the house didn't approve.

When they die off depends on the temperature of the water and also the depth of the water. I have 2 tanks outside for live food. One is 1 meter deep and the other about 30cm. The 1 meter tank supplies mosquito larvae longer than the less deep tank.
Some people disagree with using live food that mother nature supplied because of possible parasites been introduced to the aquarium. This is possible but in the past 4 years since i have been using mother natures own i have had no related problems.

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13 Sep 2009 22:27 #12 by Acara (Dave Walters)
platty,I've read that if there are no fish in the water you get the live food from,then you will not get any parasites.??

always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!

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13 Sep 2009 22:49 #13 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Hi Dave. Yes i have read that before and someone mentioned it previously in the tread.
I do usually keep some fish outside for the warmer summer months in these tanks, but i have been lucky to have no problems (that i am aware of) so far.
I had no fish outside this year because the brother decided to add some minnows. I didn't collect any live food from these tanks because who knows what these fish brought with them.

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13 Sep 2009 23:09 - 13 Sep 2009 23:21 #14 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
cheers platy

re: grindal worms

where do i get the culture?
i see it on ebay, is it a posted thing?
its hardly in the local lfs, is it?

rgds

4
Last edit: 13 Sep 2009 23:21 by fourmations (NIall SMyth).

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13 Sep 2009 23:57 #15 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
You can get them posted but you only get a few worms. It could be a month before there is enough to start feeding your fish from the culture.
I have never seen these for sale in any fish shop. AV had micro worms for a while but that's about it.
You should be able to get them through one of the clubs or someone off the forum might have a starter culture.
They are easy to maintain and dont worry you wont have worms crawling all over the house.:laugh:

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14 Sep 2009 00:36 #16 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
cheers platy

that was a hint if i ever heard one!
i though you were literally crawling with them!

i'll put the feelers out!

rgds


4

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14 Sep 2009 01:26 #17 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hey platy

just bought some culture on ebay for 4 quid posted
we will see what happens

rgds

4

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14 Sep 2009 01:27 #18 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
You are mistaken. I only have one worm that is my tapeworm. She keeps me trim and in shape.:laugh:

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14 Sep 2009 17:26 #19 by cardinal (Lar Savage)
Hi 4
PM sent
Lar

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