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
Best way/accessories to add colour to tank?
- db76 (Dwane Brennan)
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- ger310 (Ger .)
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Just starting out, got second hand aquarium online 100l. I didn't like the gravel that came with it, so decided to change, but not sure whether to go with sand or gravel. Also looking to have a brightly colored aquarium and would appreciate any recommendations on how to enhance the colour within the aquarium. I know this may have been covered elsewhere and if so can you redirect me to the post.
Silica sand does a great job in my opinion and a decent cheaper option is play sand................paint the back of the glass (and side if it's against the wall) a nice marine blue for a bright colour......Acrylic paint is cheap and is easy to apply and also easy to remove if you wanted to change in the future.
Were are you based? as i might be able to help you out with a couple of things if your close to D.9
Ger
What do you call a three legged Donkey?
A Wonkey....duh ha

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- db76 (Dwane Brennan)
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- Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
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I wouldn't put anything too colourful in the tank decor wise it can distract from the colour of the livestock, a shoal of cardinal tetras against a dark background looks pretty good IMHO
Welcome and enjoy
Q
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- gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
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- Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
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Location: Clogherboy Navan.
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- db76 (Dwane Brennan)
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- db76 (Dwane Brennan)
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- JohnH (John)
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Tangs are marine fish as are Mandarins (although there might be freshwater counterparts with the same name).
Obviously you would have to decide whether to keep marines or freshwater.
It is often recommended that a newcomer starts with freshwater to 'learn the ropes' so to speak, then progresses to marine at a later date, although with the wealth of help and advice now available this isn't as strictly true as it had been in previous decades.
Doubtless there will be others following with their advice - that's the beauty of fora like this.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- db76 (Dwane Brennan)
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- anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
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I have silica sand from an aggregate supplier, 7 e the 20 kg bag, used a third of it.
I have a pair of blue ram, 6 pygmy corys, 15 néons tetras and 5 silver tip tetras.
I would rather had lots of small fish than a few big ones who look out of place.
Anthony
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- KatieH (Katie Holland)
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Do your research on the fish you want and avoid if they need a really large tank. Start small at least this way if mistakes are made your not at an expensive loss.
Your tank is small so you should stick to fish that suit that tank. Be careful of overstocking. Your tank might look like it's under stocked but it will fill out when they grow. Some species breed like rabbits (guppies mollies, platys) so watch out for them cause four fish can turn into 40 in a few months.
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- Homer (Kevin)
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Kev.
The Glass is always greener on the other side.
It's NOT "Chee lick", NOT "Chee Chee Licks"!!! Cichlids is pronounced as "Sick Lids"!!!!!
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- swai (Simon)
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A nice pair of dwarf cichlids and a shoal of small fish to add a bit of color and maybe some corys to keep the substrate turned over. That's what I'd do if I was setting up a community. I think Anthonys tank above sounds really nice with the fish he has picked.
Have a look at some species of apistogramma.
Marino, Dublin 9
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