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
Mr. Monster Fish
love these little fellers, cool looking fish, like a mini Jabba the Hutt
quite similar, wouldn't you agree...
a hard fish to keep fed
can't get a good shot of my one, he spends most of the time under the substrate with just his little beedy eyes showings
motionless for hours untill something small enough comes along for him to eat, in an instant, blink and you'd miss it, he bursts up out of the substrate, eats, then shimmies back down into the sand
defonitely a monster but on a small scale
i'll get a nice shot of him soon
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
-
- Offline
- Platinum Member
-
- Posts: 1142
- Thank you received: 36
Mick...

Follow me up to Carlow
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- Alex (Alex)
-
- Visitor
-
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- Dan Dan (Danny Murphy)
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 48
- Thank you received: 0
Any joy getting it to eat dead foods or is live all the way?
Please Log in to join the conversation.
i've tried to ween him on to alternative foods but with no luck
loads of other fish i have started off with live food and in time have taken to prawns and stuff but not the Dude, if it doesn't move around, he aint interested
not only that, but his food has to be very small, smaller than a tetra and has to skim along the bottom...
i find 10mm molly fry perfect but obviously not very feasible, doesn't like chandlers either...
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- Rolly (Ruaidri Hegarty)
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 75
- Thank you received: 7
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
-
- Visitor
-
but his food has to be very small, smaller than a tetra and has to skim along the bottom...
i find 10mm molly fry perfect but obviously not very feasible, doesn't like chandlers either...
Cherry shrimps maybe? Breed like crazy but I don't know how nutritious they are.

Please Log in to join the conversation.
Would love to see him Des. Any new additions to the catfish brigade?
Mick...
yeah, he's the man, love the way he always has a big gumpy head on him
can't look at him for too long though , feels like he's staring me down
like he's saying "back up or i'll eat ya"

new cats, yeah, spose there's a couple of new of ones to honest, moving around a lot of fish at home lately
new cats, a pajama cat, 2 big whopper syno's, a hassar cat, another shovelnose, 2 long nosed dora's, a big striped talker and a malarmo but he died unfortunately
i've been more so working on collecting a lot of gars and eels lately, rather than the cats...
got some huge eels recently, collected 2 tyre track eels yesterday, huge, about 1.5 - 2 foot long
nice addition in with the ray and the arowana and all them, thinking of adding a second niger cat to that tank...
Please Log in to join the conversation.
Had the joy of seeing the little Dude, vey cool and interesting little fish..
nice 1 Ruairi
how's the ornatipinnis ?
Please Log in to join the conversation.
des wrote:
but his food has to be very small, smaller than a tetra and has to skim along the bottom...
i find 10mm molly fry perfect but obviously not very feasible, doesn't like chandlers either...
Cherry shrimps maybe? Breed like crazy but I don't know how nutritious they are.
nice 1 Rory, that's my next plan to try keep him fed, got rid of the guppies, mollies, convicts to make space...
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- wolfsburg (wolfsburg)
-
- Visitor
-
Shed loads of moss and some decent shrimp food and they'll breed like rabbits!wolfsburg wrote:
des wrote:
but his food has to be very small, smaller than a tetra and has to skim along the bottom...
i find 10mm molly fry perfect but obviously not very feasible, doesn't like chandlers either...
Cherry shrimps maybe? Breed like crazy but I don't know how nutritious they are.
nice 1 Rory, that's my next plan to try keep him fed, got rid of the guppies, mollies, convicts to make space...
Please Log in to join the conversation.

Please Log in to join the conversation.
- joey (joe watson)
-
- Offline
- Premium Member
-
- Posts: 673
- Thank you received: 36
if he's single specimine tank the cherry's that dont get eaten may even start their own colony in your tank, so all you need to do is top it up every now and again with shrimp out of a breeding tank, if the Dude gets real piggy
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- joey (joe watson)
-
- Offline
- Premium Member
-
- Posts: 673
- Thank you received: 36
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
-
- Offline
- Platinum Member
-
- Posts: 1142
- Thank you received: 36
Mick...

Follow me up to Carlow
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- davcummo (david cummins)
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 11
- Thank you received: 0
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- Rolly (Ruaidri Hegarty)
- Offline
- Junior Member
-
- Posts: 75
- Thank you received: 7
nice 1 Ruairi
how's the ornatipinnis ?
He is doing great Des, didnt show himself for the first week, too many hiding places! Venturing out and about now though, looks great coming through the plants..
Please Log in to join the conversation.
- bart (Bart Korfanty)
-
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
- Posts: 335
- Thank you received: 77
i have colony of "freshwater shrimps" here
they are not like shrimps u would keep in aquarium
more like small crustaceans up to 0.5 centimeter
pretty easy to keep in small plastic tube/bucket
would be good food for him probably
can give u a few to starf of
pm me if u interested
bart
Please Log in to join the conversation.
(he is in there with the other fish but he's burrowed under the substrate)
i temporarily remove all the other fish and drop the level in the tank when i'm feeding the monster fish
why ?, the other fish will eat his food before he gets a chance
if i don't turn off the filter and drop the level they'll be destined for the filter sponge
such a high maintenance little fish but i love him...

Please Log in to join the conversation.
(this is what happens when you accidentally block the flash, all the light is reflected back at you, weird looking)
Please Log in to join the conversation.