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
dwarf puffers?
- fourmations (NIall SMyth)
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i am thinking about putting some dwarf puffers
in my 54l juwel, there are 4 tetras in there
which i could give away or move to my 100l
i am interested in them as they seem to
be brimming with personality and to be fun in general
is it true that they have issues with their teeth
getting too long,
is a 54l too small?
any advice welcome, i have done a bit of reading
but would welcome any tips,
assume no knowledge
rgds
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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hope it helps
paddy
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- fourmations (NIall SMyth)
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what would you be thinking for stock amounts
20 seems excessive in a 54l, is it?
are they expensive?
are they easy to get in dublin?
i havent checked the ph in my tank in ages
but will have a look later
thanks
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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paddy
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- fourmations (NIall SMyth)
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regarding stocking, I like to understock more than anything
so 10 would probably be the max for me
one more thing...
i believe you should get 2 females for every male
to keep things peaceful
would your average lfs be able to sex them
and would they give you what you wanted male female wise
i have been to lfs's and they would look at you like
you were mad if you asked for a male female mix
regards
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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Also they quickly get to know there keeper. Try get someone else to do the handling of them and you feed them. They wont see you as the bad person.
Mine used to come to the front of the tank when i was in the room but once i netted them and moved them they will hide when they see me. Anyone else can approach the tank and they wont hide. Who said fish were stupid.
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- fourmations (NIall SMyth)
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platy, i will watch out for that!
i like the idea of them having personality,
i have only ever had tetras and rasboras and need a
change to something more interesting!
BTW i am open to alternative suggestions in a 54l,
but they have caught my eye!
they will go in a low light planted tank
non co2, tetra ex600 filter,
is there any issue with light plant dosing and easycarbo?
its not vital but i may use it if its no problem
there's pea gravel in there at the moment?
is that okay for them, do they prefer sand?
i was going to use the usual low light plants
and maybe moss on roots, any issues there?
should i specifically create hiding holes
or will deep planting and rooty areas suffice
(im not huge fan of caves and that sort of thing)
many thanks
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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They will use stem or bushy plants to hide from each other when they need to.
Once they have a few places to hide away from the rest they dont seem to be fussy on the tank decor.
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- fourmations (NIall SMyth)
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just wondering, are they antisocial in a group?
do they hang out together or are they loners?
are they at each others throats all the time?
cheers
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- reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
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im starting to miss mine:(
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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You will have to consider how to feed them. Mine will only eat live food. If it dosent move, it's not food.
Snails are great for keeping there teeth in check. Ramshorn snails are easily cultured. Just use a plastic tub filled with tank water. Lightly aerate if you can. Add some snails and feed them something like algae wafers. They will eat almost anything but i say algae wafers because it is a good idea to gut load your live food for carnivorous fish with vegetables. A little bit of green in there diet will do them good.
I also feed them white worms and brine shrimp. They dont touch any prepared or frozen food for me.
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- fourmations (NIall SMyth)
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my ramshorns in my planted tank are tiny (1-3mm)
are they all this small
or have I a funny strain or something
will these suffice for breeding for dp grub
i see a lot of folk use pond snails as well,
Is this a better road to go down?
regards
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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I found some pond snails can get to big for the puffers but they can mannage most under 1cm.
Dont forget to suplement their diet with other food.
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- fourmations (NIall SMyth)
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They have annhilated about 8 cherry shrimps
(including two big females)
since i got them on thursday!
so much for a peaceful co-habitation!
i chanced my arm, as i have read that
a lot of them dont give a monkeys about shrimp
whereas some do, mine certainly did.
i went in to look at them today
and they had fat bellies!
and not a shrimp in sight
rgds
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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Since they have gotten a taste for shrimp maybe you could supplement there diet with frozen prawns? (€5 a bag in aldi).
If the puffers trust you, you should be able to hand feed them. Use a small piece of prawn and gently wave it about at the surface. This should get there attention. It may be a few days before they take food from your hand, that's if they do at all. But if they do you wont be just trowing food in to the tank watching it sink to the bottom. That's what my puffers would do. Once it hit the bottom and stopped moving they weren't interested.
Hope this helps.
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- fourmations (NIall SMyth)
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i might even supplement them with cherrys now and then,
at the rate they are breeding in my main tank
the odd shrimp treat would not even dent the numbers
and may keep them in check
having said all that, i did a 40% w/c
and a bit of a clean up on the dp tank tonight
and noticed a few cherries cowering in my redmoor roots,
so the dp's havent had them all, after all.
but they are obviously scared, they are all over the place
in my main tank and practically swim with my rasboras
i left it as was, as trying to catch them would have
upset the tank too much, i might try trap them tommmorrow
and return them to my main tank.
rgds
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