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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

Where should I buy my tropical fish?

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26 Nov 2007 18:27 #1 by DaveyH (Dave Horan)
Hi,

I recently set up a 25 gallon tropical tank, at the moment there are 5 random guppys I bought at the same store I bought the tank...but...

I would like to fill the tank with good quality fish - where should I shop in or near Dublin?
Thanks,
Dave

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  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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26 Nov 2007 20:33 #2 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:Where should I buy my tropical fish?
plenty of LFSs in the Sponsors section of the forum. Most of them lucky you around the Dublin area.

Sometimes it depends on what species of fish you are looking for.

Never buy fish from a tank where you can see sick or dead fish. If the shop runs a centralized filtration system, give the entire shop a miss

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27 Nov 2007 01:06 #3 by Acara (Dave Walters)
As Apistodiscus said,look at the sponsors of this forum.They are all a safe bet for buying fish.After that it all comes down to your personal preference,which ever is closest or easily accessible to you.When going to a shop for the 1st time,I generally just look around,keep a look out for dead/sick/deformed fish,etc(although,to be honest,all shops will lose stock for 1 reason or other,don't let a dead fish put you off a store).Listening to how the staff answer questions from other shoppers is a good indicator too.I often play 'dumb'(easily done in my case!)and ask some questions I know the answer to.
Ask what guarantee the shop has regarding live fish.
Like I said,the sponsors on here are all pretty spot on and I would buy fish from any of them.
Good luck with your purchasing.

Dave

always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!

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27 Nov 2007 03:08 - 27 Nov 2007 03:09 #4 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re:Where should I buy my tropical fish?
apistodiscus wrote:

If the shop runs a centralized filtration system, give the entire shop a miss


That will rule most of the shops then.
Nearly all the shops have installed new centralised systems but
they are restricted to about 9 tanks each.
It saves a lot of money regarding heating.
Last edit: 27 Nov 2007 03:09 by Anthony (Anthony).

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27 Nov 2007 10:06 - 27 Nov 2007 14:09 #5 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:Where should I buy my tropical fish?
Well, give the nine tanks a miss though. There are shops that run 20-30 tanks off one trickle filter. I know it's economics vs what's best for the fish.

Unfortunately a lot of shops don't quarateen fish before they put them out for sale and you will get fatalities due to transport stress. But I'd rather be safe than sorry, though
Last edit: 27 Nov 2007 14:09 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus).

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27 Nov 2007 13:01 #6 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re:Where should I buy my tropical fish?
apistodiscus wrote:

. But I'd rather be dave than sorry, though


Well Dave,
That wold rule you out of buyng from AV, the new Wackers, Petstop,Aquarium Solutions and the new Kinsealy set up.
All these run seperate centralised systems.

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27 Nov 2007 13:36 #7 by Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)
Dave... Classic.

I'd rather buy from a shop with a centralised system rather than a load of tiny tanks with undergravel filters in each one.

Fair enough disease can spread from tank to tank easily but I wouldn't go as far as saying to avoid the shop completely.

But hey different strokes.... yada yada yada

Smoke me a Kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.

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27 Nov 2007 14:12 #8 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:Where should I buy my tropical fish?
@Anthony,
I hope you will correct me on this one. Are you trying to tell me that they have all sorts of species swimming in the same water? Say Malawis and South American dwarfs at the same water parameters run through one filtration system?

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27 Nov 2007 19:24 #9 by MonsterFish (Monster Fish)
They do not have one giant centralised system, rather they have several banks of centralised tanks. Each system has three rows of tanks filtered by a single sump but with facilities to quarantine one of the 3 rows should any problems arise.
This means that not all species are in the same water, any number of banks can be present. Fish only share water with those in the same bank as themselves. This way fish with similar requirements can be housed in a single bank, while the bank next to it can have completely different parametres.

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28 Nov 2007 09:45 #10 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:Where should I buy my tropical fish?
Thanks for clearing that one up :)
Ok if you see sick/dead fish don't buy from the tanks that run on the same filter ( I know it might be hard to tell which tanks run on the same fikter if you can't look behind the tanks)

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28 Nov 2007 19:09 #11 by Fishanticskid (Fishanticskid)
Replied by Fishanticskid (Fishanticskid) on topic Re:Where should I buy my tropical fish?
Interesting thoughts on the centralised systems guys but want too throw a cat amongst you. If the store is any good they will honour there stock if they die they will replace them !!! (with a water sample). if a centralised system is maintained properly you should not have any prob’s with fish due to the volume of water in a centralised system combined with the benefits of p/skimmers,Uv,wet and dry filters etc …… all of which fair out way anything you could put into a holding tank

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28 Nov 2007 23:16 #12 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:Where should I buy my tropical fish?
Fishanticskid wrote:

Interesting thoughts on the centralised systems guys but want too throw a cat amongst you. If the store is any good they will honour there stock if they die they will replace them !!! (with a water sample). if a centralised system is maintained properly you should not have any prob’s with fish due to the volume of water in a centralised system combined with the benefits of p/skimmers,Uv,wet and dry filters etc …… all of which fair out way anything you could put into a holding tank


In an ideal world, yes. But I have seen a lot of shops with a centralized filtration system that was plain awful. UV bulbs not working or not changed in Gods knows how long, etc. An UV filter will kill most bacteria/protozoa if run correctly but very often flow rates are too high and render it ineffective and thus a centralized system is a very easy and effective way to spread disease.
I used to work wholesale and all new fish were quarantined for several weeks, treated as and when required and only then added to the centralized system. Best practice I guess

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