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
Creating Brackish conditions?
- gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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Basically what do ya add to tap water to create brackish conditions in an aquarium?
I used almond leaves in my Sa cichlid tank it worked straight away and once the leaves soaked they sat on the bottom and gave a nice natural effect
Something fishie going on here
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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What salinity depends on setup and species you would like to keep because a bracking stream would have as high a salinity as an estuary and so on. But i wouldn't use freshwater salt because its not the same stuff.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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A lot of brackish fish are kept as normal freshwater; then there are the "classic" brackish.....so the list can be quite big.
Some fish will not do well if the water is not brackish whereas others can thrive in non-brackish.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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- gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
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Or maybe Mollies
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- Alex (Alex)
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Some puffers are freshwater... Malabar puffers for example. cute little fella's. Cant say i know much about other species but majority are brackish and marine alright.
irish-zx10r :
I used almond leaves in my Sa cichlid tank it worked straight away and once the leaves soaked they sat on the bottom and gave a nice natural effect
I thought the title said 'blackwater' too at first...

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- hammie (Neil Hammerton)
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Ie for water tests: marine tests or fresh water tests? Kh important? Etc
When I finally get enough info ill set up a proper brackish tank that will eventually turn full marine as the fish mature etc (species dependent)
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Don't know much about puffers though apart from I'd say they'll eat the mollies if they were big enough

I wouldn't say many molly fry would survive with puffers in the tank unless the female was removed but they do breed like wabbits lol
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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Something fishie going on here
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- gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
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- CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
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. Probably from standing in the LFS all day staring at all the goodies plotting the next missions LOL
and from looking over his shoulder in case the "wallet keeper" sees what he is at......
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Ive never come across enough definitive information on water parameters for brackish water to actually take the plunge yet!
Ie for water tests: marine tests or fresh water tests? Kh important? Etc
When I finally get enough info ill set up a proper brackish tank that will eventually turn full marine as the fish mature etc (species dependent)
Brackish water is like freshwater: there is no definitive set of water parameters that cover all.
ian
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- JohnH (John)
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It's really very interesting, even if it doesn't totally answer your question.
John
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/artic...breeding-4-eyed-fish
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
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It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- hammie (Neil Hammerton)
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Ah yea thats a given.
Brackish water is like freshwater: there is no definitive set of water parameters that cover all.
ian
What I meant was...... do I need marine test kit or my fresh water test kit up to the job?
Is there any need for skimmers etc or is that over kill?
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Ah yea thats a given.
Brackish water is like freshwater: there is no definitive set of water parameters that cover all.
ian
What I meant was...... do I need marine test kit or my fresh water test kit up to the job?
Is there any need for skimmers etc or is that over kill?
I used my salifert tests for both marine and freshwater without a problem

You can run a marine tank without a skimmer too
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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It is easy for a skimmer to work on a marine tank, but not on freshwater.
Hence, there is no point in fitting a skimmer.
My persistent brackish water tanks are actually changeable and change from freshwater to around 1.005 SD.
Such examples here are the mudskipper tanks.
But some of the brackish fish are kept in either full freshwater or full marine (eg mollies which I do not keep as persistent brackish).
There are some differences between marine and freshwater tests but generally it is only at the level of sensitivity eg there is little point in having a marine pH test kit that is sensitive to pH range between 6.5 and 5.5.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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