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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

suggestions for a new community tank

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10 Jan 2008 22:42 #1 by waterdragon (claire feely)
I have a new 84L tank and so far
1 black molly , 1 dalmation molly
4 female guppies ( one has just produced 14 fries ...oh oh)
1 dwarf gourami
1 pearl gourami

Any suggestions on how much more I can add and what would suit ?

Also my pH is on the high side and I have bought some bogwood which I am soaking in a bucket to get the colour out of it.I have been doing this for the last 5 days . Does anyone have any idea how long I should do this for before adding it to the tank?? I dont want the water to go brown.

Thanks

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11 Jan 2008 01:19 #2 by Acara (Dave Walters)
Welcome aboard.
As for how long does it take to stop the water going brown,how long is a piece of string?It can take months,depends on the wood.What you buy in shops these days labelled 'bogwood',could be anything,mangrove roots,any wood stressed by sandblasting,etc to make it look like bogwood,etc,etc.I have pieces in my tanks that have been in over a year and still the water colour is a lovely brown.Keep it soaking and keep changing the water regularly,may take a while,but keep at it.
Incidently,I found that I couldnt keep guppys alive in tanks containing bogwood,others may be different,thats my experience.
If you have a test kit,post all the parameters here for folk to see,and you'll get responses.The bogwood should help to lower the ph,but I believe the mollys and guppys prefer harder water.

Dave.

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

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11 Jan 2008 09:41 #3 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re:suggestions for a new community tank
Aussie Dave, thanks for that tidbit, it explains why I can't keep blasted guppies alive for any time.
(oh and of course the standard is supposed to be rubbish these days).

Waterdragon,I have find it pointless to try and stop the water staining. Don't bother, its what the fish want (if you are keeping river based fish) anyways as it matches their natural habitat.
You could buy the resin (fake) bogwoods instead, they don't stain water and nowadays look pretty realistic too.
What are you using for a substrate (sand/gravel in the tank)?
Some sand will raise ph even further, also some rocks will too.

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12 Jan 2008 23:50 #4 by waterdragon (claire feely)
Thanks to both of you for the advise.
According to my test strips the pH is between 7.5-8.0
Gh 180 KH 180-240 .Hence I was going to try the bog wood.Have gravel and 3 live plants so far.

Also any feelings on adding a single siamese fighter fish to my collection ???

Thanks

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13 Jan 2008 01:29 #5 by Acara (Dave Walters)
I would be reluctant to add the fighter.IME fighters and guppies dont mix well,I've had a male guppy drag a female fighter around as she had his dorsal fin in her mouth.Fighters,despite what a lot of folk will say,aren't a great community fish,they just don't last too long in that environment.Besides,they prefer their water to be a bit on the softer side than what guppies do.They will live for a while that way,but they won't enjoy it.Thats my experience,others may be different.

Didi,if my skin wasn't tougher than your average guppy,I might be upset by these digs you poms get in at me!!!;) ;) :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Dave

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

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13 Jan 2008 11:22 #6 by Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)
As far as stocking the tank, I would stick with a few small tetra's. My favourite tetras are \"Neons, Cardinals, Bleeding Hearts, Rummy Noses\" All are ideal community fish.

You could also try some more livebearers, Swordails are lovely fish.

IMO if your Ph is that high there isn't much a piece of bogwood is going to do in the way of lowering it. What type of sustrate have you got (Sand/ Pea Gravel/ Coarse Gravel/Coral Sand)?

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

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13 Jan 2008 23:37 #7 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re:suggestions for a new community tank
Waterdragon, with that ph you are wasting your time trying to keep most 'community' fish alive.
Speaking from experience here I had my first tanks in Balbriggan, where the water is about 7.8.
The only fish that did well for me were a few Gourami, that I eventually gave away because I went with the fish that would love the water, African Cichlids. Research them a bit before you choose your fish. Be warned though, they are addictive!!!

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14 Jan 2008 21:33 #8 by waterdragon (claire feely)
Thanks again for all the advise and suggestions on fish to add .

Can I ask what effect the \" substrate\" has on pH.
Mine is pea gravel ......

How long will it take for me to know if my fish are \"suffering\" from the high pH. They look happy and livley and all 14 guppy frys born last week are doing well. But is it a slow process???

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17 Feb 2008 23:00 #9 by Trimax (Trimax)
Many Commonly sold fish are captive bred over many generations and as such they have a higher toleance of PH and hardness then their wild counterparts. Iv'e seen people kill tankfulls of fish by tinkering with PH and Hardness in an attempt to adjust it to match their natural habitat in the wild, even if they do it very slowly over a period of weeks it can be disastorous. For many of these extensively CB fish water hardness and PH means little (As long as it's not in the extremes) so long as the suppiers/breeders water parametres are simular to your own. It's makes more sense to try and match where these particular fish have come from then to try and match the conditions there wild cousins are used to, That said if your fish seem to be doing fine in your water then I wouldnt bother tinkering with the parameters. Chances are they come from a long line of CB fish that are used to levels that would kill Wild caught specimins of the same species. Also attempting to lower PH in water with a high KH is a waste of time and will lead to disastor in the end unless you happen to have an RO unit in your home.

I have Guppies, Mollys, Platies, Swordtails, Neons, Glowlights, \"Black neons\", Bristlenose Plecs, Cardinal tetra's to name but a few living in a PH of 8.2 quite happily for years, and the Livebearers have no problem breeding in this. Avoid sharp changes in PH,GH whatever you choose to do:)

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17 Feb 2008 23:04 #10 by Trimax (Trimax)
The only thing I will say is that although many fish species can be conditioned over generations to live in normally hostile water parameters they will never show there best behaviour and colouration and some will never breed in anything but there Ideal water parameters.

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29 Feb 2008 12:59 #11 by Dobarchu (Adrian Redican)
Jimkel wrote:

I have Guppies, Mollys, Platies, Swordtails, Neons, Glowlights, \"Black neons\", Bristlenose Plecs, Cardinal tetra's to name but a few living in a PH of 8.2 quite happily for years, and the Livebearers have no problem breeding in this.


Hi Jim,

What't your water hardness like? I have hard water and I'm wondering about the tetras, as I'd like to get some. I've seen references to where they can adjust to highher PH but I'm wondering about water hardness, I've come across one comment where it was reckoned that the salts build up in their system and eventually kills them. At the moment I only have live bearers.

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