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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

Sex of fish

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29 Nov 2008 18:05 #1 by gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
Hi all

have a few guppies and Platties, can anyone tell me how to sex them by looking at them??
Also looking for something nice to go into the tank with them, only a beginner so go easy on me:P :P looking for something that is active , colorful and bigger than the guppies or platties and will feed the same.

Thanks

Gerryberry

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29 Nov 2008 18:34 #2 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Gerry the guppys are easy to distinguish. The males have a gonopodium,ie.man bits! Look for it at the back of it belly,towards its anus. Its a small almost string like. You cant miss it. Also the male guppys tend to be more colourful and larger tails.

What type of fish have you got at present and perhaps more importantly what size is your tank and how long is it set up?

Gavin

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29 Nov 2008 18:47 #3 by gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
Hi Gavin

Have 8 tetra neons, 5 Platties varies colors and 2 guppies. Tank is a Rio 240 setup for a month now with assistance from Organic Aqua.

Cheers
Gerry

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29 Nov 2008 18:52 #4 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Ok realistically you now have a community tank going,which means that the fish all live in harmony! So you've the basics done, the dither fish in already and all that, so you are basically looking for a centre piece fish or indeed a larger fish ? I think Angels are lovely but they will probably eat your tetras so best to avoid them. Have you thought about Gourami's ?

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29 Nov 2008 18:58 #5 by gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
Have seen a few Gourami's in the fish shops Gavin but my knowledge is all but nothing regarding them. You are bang on with what you said, looking for a centre piece to beef up the tank.
Saw this big brown grourami's out in Kinsealy petstore and i have to say it was something else, I say it was a gourami but i wouldn,t be a 100% sure, would have to confirm. Would you have any to recommend??

Gerry

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29 Nov 2008 20:33 #6 by dolf_peeters (Dolf Peeters)
hi, I would also be interested to know how to tell the gender of fish, is it same for all species?

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29 Nov 2008 20:43 #7 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
No its different for each species,for example some species,the males is larger,other species the female is larger. And indeed in some other species you just have to hope you have a male and female in the group as sometimes they are very hard to sex!
So in short,its not possible to tell male and females the same way in all species,makes our hobby even harder when on the lookout for a spawning couple!!!!

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29 Nov 2008 20:54 #8 by gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
Hi Fishowner

How can you tell the sex of a platty fish???:huh:

Cheers

gerryberry

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29 Nov 2008 21:20 #9 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Is has a gonopodium if its a male and none for a female. :)

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29 Nov 2008 21:34 #10 by gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
how easy is it to see the gonopodium on the male platty, any other features to tell them apart.

Gerryberry

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29 Nov 2008 22:33 #11 by pkearney (Phil Kearney)
guppies, platties, swordtails and mollies are all livebearers
and the males all have gonopodiums(willies)and the females have
dark gravid spots on their bellies.egglayers on the other hand
are completely different and vary from one to another.
phil.

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29 Nov 2008 22:47 - 29 Nov 2008 22:49 #12 by Puggy (Fergus Cooke)
Replied by Puggy (Fergus Cooke) on topic Re:Sex of fish
Gerryberry

it is easy once you know, have a look at fish.orbust.net/livebearers.html . On younger fish it can be difficult.

Also if you start to find fry swimming around, you know you've got male and female;)
Last edit: 29 Nov 2008 22:49 by Puggy (Fergus Cooke).

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29 Nov 2008 22:59 #13 by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods)
Hi Gerry,
the picture below is of males


these three males are Guppy and Endlers livebearer you will note the colour is more eye catching in males second as Gavin said the male bits can been seen here now personally i would look for females first.


In the bottom right is an orange female as you can see the colour is more down beat you will also notice the female is a more rounded and the gravid spot will become more pronounced as it closer it gets to the drop. the silver female with spotted orange tail would have been days away from dropping fry.

there are a number of choices of eye catching tank mates a plec is always a good talking point. corys small but fun loaches etc

personally I go for a busy look something to see at all levels

but it is all a personal choice

check out the christmas practical fishkeeping it has some nice suggestions in there and a nice peace on breeding rays.

mickey

Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods

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29 Nov 2008 23:35 #14 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
A good reply mickey, and nice to see some pics ;)

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30 Nov 2008 13:32 #15 by gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
I think i finally got the picture on males versus females livebearers.Myself and my wife had our heads nearly stuck in the tank to see if they were male or females and it seems i only have 1 female in the tank.

Thanks for the pics Mickey and Puggy, as they say a picture paints a thousand words.Thanks for the help aswell LB, Phil and fishowner.

GB

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