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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

Fish to breed

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01 Jan 2017 20:09 #1 by robert (robert carter)
Hi all , my kribensis fry i breed are going in the next couple of weeks , i will then have my 10 gallon breeding tank ready to try something else . So with very little experience what would forum members recomend to try . I would love to try angel fish but cant get a confirmed pair . I am not looking to make money from this just doing it for the experience. Thanks Robert

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02 Jan 2017 08:57 - 02 Jan 2017 08:58 #2 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
Maybe a Labyrinth species?

Or one of the Cory species?

Or one of the Pleco species?

Something less common that needs proper conditioning...Its more of a challenge that way...Ya have to simulate nature to get it to work....

The problem with fish that just breed without any help is moving them on...Ya end up with a bunch of young fish nobody wants...

Although if you bred a nice tough strain of Guppies people would bite your hands off for them...Its the common beginner "I want colourful fish in my tank" story....And you know yourself Guppies are a just add water job...
Last edit: 02 Jan 2017 08:58 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered).

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02 Jan 2017 18:07 #3 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Fish to breed
Robert, I've been giving your question a bit of thought and I'm afraid your limiting 'factor' is the restriction of the ten-gallon tank.
Your options really are somewhat curtailed by the tank size.
You'd like, you say, to have Angels breed but with this size of tank it really becomes a bit of a 'hit or miss' affair for anything but a really established pair.
Now, having made that statement I'll slightly contradict it by pointing out that I - and people I have known down the years - have managed to get Angels to breed in smaller tanks, so it isn't totally impossible.

However, as you have already found yourself, getting Angels to breed isn't the most difficult of tasks in Fishkeeping - getting beyond the egg stage (uneaten) is the less-simple bit!

As to suggestions of other species to consider there are lots out there. As you aren't looking to make a profit (that's a joke in itself) but are, I'm assuming, looking for fish with interesting breeding habits you might want to look at the Copella 'Splash' Tetras, I find these totally engaging watching them breeding - perhas fascinating might be a better description. Have a read up on them.
A lot of the Killifish offer 'interesting' breeding habits too, mops can be provided for them to lay their eggs in (I'm not talking about the 'Annuals' which require more specialised attention, though). And they can hatch there. Different species have different demands, but a good 'starter' group would be the more-common of the Fundulopanchax genus.
Rainbowfish, too, breed quite easily in smaller tanks - I like to use a similar method of collecting eggs laid in mops then letting them hatch in breeding traps. But, be warned, they do take an inordinately long time to grow when compared to other types of fish, but this makes the exercise even more rewarding in my view.
I've left what I believe to be 'the best' to last.
I know you already have had success with Kribensis but there are an awful lot more Dwarf Cichlids worthy of your attention, amongst my favourites are the Apistogrammas. Some are real devils to get to breed - requiring water which would make even the most dedicated Discus-fancier to wince at, but you could look at the more water-tolerant species such as A. borelli, macmasteri, possibly even agassizi but a really good starter could be perhaps the most water-tolerant of all of them - Apistogramma cacatuoides. You might even want to consider the Ram, too - although those emanating from the stew-ponds of the Far-East should be avoided like the plague, try to get European-bred ones, better, by far, in my opinion would be the Bolivian Ram which is much hardier (and simpler to get to breed). But,,,even in a ten-gallon tank you would need to provide a well-protected environment, though, as the male Dwarf Cichlids can be a bit (?) over-bearing prior to breeding so plenty of plants, caves and even the previously-mentioned woolen spawning mops can be very useful here.
So, that's a couple of us who've made suggestions, hopefully more will add to these to give you more to think about.

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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02 Jan 2017 18:47 #4 by robert (robert carter)
Hi john ,thank for your post , my first choice would be angels but havent got past the egg eating stage with these ,i actual think i didnt have a pair as the eggs were pure white so dont think they were even fertal. There was a guy on here that posted he had a breeding pair of angels for sale but cant find the post now . You mentioned rams , are they easy to sex and would i need more than just a pair. I just want to climb the breeding ladder slowly so something a bit more difficult than the kribs but not too hard . Thanks Robert

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02 Jan 2017 19:26 #5 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Replied by Jim (Jim Lawlor) on topic Fish to breed
How about small livebearers?

Xenotoca eiseni, Ameca splendens, Phalloceros caudimaculatus, Girardinus falcatus.

Many of the goodeids are a bit more interesting than guppies and platies. . . . .

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02 Jan 2017 20:59 #6 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Fish to breed

Hi john ,thank for your post , my first choice would be angels but havent got past the egg eating stage with these ,i actual think i didnt have a pair as the eggs were pure white so dont think they were even fertal. There was a guy on here that posted he had a breeding pair of angels for sale but cant find the post now . You mentioned rams , are they easy to sex and would i need more than just a pair. I just want to climb the breeding ladder slowly so something a bit more difficult than the kribs but not too hard . Thanks Robert


www.irishfishkeepers.com/forum/34-for-sa...ion-only-castleknock

If you do go down the route of the Rams and choose the so-called German Blue ones the male usually has the first rays of the dorsal fin longer than those of the female - also the pelvic fins tend to be a bit more extended as well.
A mature female - not unlike the female Kribensis - gets red around the flanks as she matures too.
In such a small tank I personally wouldn't be advising more than the one pair and pristine water conditions are rather helpful too. A pH around neutral and with water on the slightly soft side is also beneficial too. Another thing to consider is the use of what our American cousins call 'dither fish' smaller and in the main innocuous species of fish to divert the attention of the adults a) from one another and b) from the eggs/fry.
But, be prepared for disappointments if the stock isn't really top quality - there is an awful lot of rubbish Rams coming into Ireland, it seems to me, much the same as with Dwarf Gouramis too.
Hence my suggestion to start with the Bolivian lads.

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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29 Jan 2017 01:22 #7 by Cichlid-Paul (Paul Warren)
You could try a pair of Apistograma cacatoides, they are really easy to breed and very easy to sex. All you need is some caves just like kribs a male and female and they'll breed with a high protein diet and good water. They won't get parenting right the first few times but when they do they are excellent parents with a high survival rate. They are wonderful dwarf cichlids full of personality.

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