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
First tank
When you do go to buy fish RESEARCH their living requirements and eventual size....Putting potentially big fish in a little tank is cruel and will STUNT fish leading to illness and death....And keeping naturally schooling fish in small numbers will also cause stress leading to illness and death...
STOCK the tank sensibly and feed sensibly....
WEEKLY water changes are ESSENTIAL (and not optional) for fish health....I recommend 50% weekly to keep fish and live plants healthy and to help keep dreaded algae at bay...
As regards tank size...Go as big as you can...Beacuse if you get bitten by the Aquarist bug (and you most probably will
) you will be glad you started with a bigger tank....Smaller tanks are very restricting as regards to what type of fish you can keep....Basically you will need -
A decent filter
A decent heater
Gravel for the bottom (Sand is best as its very easy to keep clean compared to stones which just turn green with algae over time) Rinse sand/gravel well in a bucket with clean water to remove dirt and dust...Its a pain in the arse but you will be glad you did when you go to fill the tank...Unrinsed gravel will lead to a filthy cloud of dirty water when you fill your tank...
An air pump and stone is optional but beneficial
A background if ya wanna do a background (Plain ones look best) (You can if you want paint plain fish tank backgrounds with acrylic paint - Looks terrific) (Other backgrounds come on rolls - Sticky back is best but you can use background oil to apply cheaper backgrounds) DO THE BACKGROUND ON THE TANK BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE (trying to move a fish tank full of water is very difficult and dangerous!
Decorations are totally down to yourself...You can do whatever you want once its aquarium safe
A decent water test kit (API Master Test Kits are what everybody starting out uses) They give you the 4 most important water parameter tests - Ammonia, Nitr i te, Nitr a te & PH................A test kit is also ESSENTIAL!
Live plants are a whole other aspect of fish keeping (If ya wanna do live plants stick to basic easy to grow hardy plants in the beginning) Live plants are great for helping to keep fish happy and tank water quality healthier...
REMEMBER that your tank water quality is the number one factor in keeping tropical fish successfully...Poor water quality is the number one reason fish will get ill or die....
Finally you should consider Quarantine Periods for new fish...It will save you alot of heartache...
Research fish thoroughly before purchase as regards eventual size, compatability with other fish and whether they need to be kept in schools or not..
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