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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

N. guentheri eggs

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30 Jun 2016 15:51 #1 by Bill (Bill Hunter)
Well, Róisín and I soaked her N. guentheri Zanzibar eggs and we have waited and waited. Nothing! I've had a good look, so has Róisín and we can't find any eggs, not a one. I'm very disappointed for Róisín, this was to be her first foray into fish keeping and a terrific bit of learning for her. She was so excited and extremely patient, but now she is disappointed. I just hope she understands that sometimes these things happen, I'm sure she does, I explained to her. We learn, and move on and upwards.
I've got 3 packages of S.Am. annual eggs from the same seller which need a couple of weeks yet before being wet but I'm off to see if there are actually eggs in those packages before I continue storing and then wetting them.

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30 Jun 2016 16:23 #2 by Bill (Bill Hunter)
Checked the Simpsonichthys santanae and definitely saw eggs in there. The due wetting day is tomorrow so I've just gone ahead and wet them now. So perhaps we can put the N. guentheri down to a mistake.
Bill

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30 Jun 2016 16:49 #3 by helix8008 (Tomas Novak)
Sorry to hear that. Its shame but its how it is, there are ups and downs. Good think is there will be ups too for patient ones ;)

Good luck

Tom

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30 Jun 2016 17:24 #4 by wildlifebiology93 (Sean O'Sullivan)
Sorry to hear this news Bill. The joys of buying bags of dirt over the Internet.
Dry them out again and try again in a few weeks.
I had one batch that had to be wetted three times before I got fry.
I have sent you a message.

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01 Jul 2016 12:38 #5 by Bill (Bill Hunter)
As most of you have probably read by now, two of Róisín's 50 eggs have hatched so she is bouncing along on cloud nine at the moment :cool: Tonight I will remove the peat and dry it off again for a couple of weeks.
4 eggs of Simpsonichthys santanae have hatched out of 15.
Bill

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01 Jul 2016 18:45 #6 by robert (robert carter)
hi . I wetted a batch of the same Sean kindly sent me at 18.30 but one and quarter hours later no sign of movement ,must be doing something wrong .

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01 Jul 2016 18:56 #7 by wildlifebiology93 (Sean O'Sullivan)
Give them time Robert.
You will have fry before you log off tonight.
There was a good few sets of eyes in the peat staring back at me before they went in the envelope.
A watched egg never hatches :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

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01 Jul 2016 20:43 #8 by wildlifebiology93 (Sean O'Sullivan)

hi . I wetted a batch of the same Sean kindly sent me at 18.30 but one and quarter hours later no sign of movement ,must be doing something wrong .

Anything yet Robert??
I am sitting here feeling what I think a father would be feeling awaiting the birth of his first born :)

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01 Jul 2016 20:55 #9 by robert (robert carter)
Nothing as yet , must be doing something wrong , used the water from the community tank let it cool to 20 deg c . Are you hoping for a boy or girl or maybe twins :cool:

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01 Jul 2016 21:12 #10 by wildlifebiology93 (Sean O'Sullivan)
Octuplets at least Robert :P

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01 Jul 2016 21:32 #11 by Bill (Bill Hunter)
Hi Robert,
I initially put the N. guentheri eggs into water at 15c. They had actually been in the water for 4 days before they started to hatch. You might have to wait the same length of time.
With the S. santanae I took some RO water and put it in the container and dropped an ice cube in to bring the temperature down to 10c. The first 4 of those hatched after about 4 hrs, I've left the container to climb on it's own to room temperature and and a few more have hatched today. Róisín's container has had two or three more hatch today so I'm going to leave them in the water until tomorrow.
What did surprise me was how tiny the N. guentheri are, I expected them to be slightly larger than the S. santanae but they are actually about 2 thirds of the size and with the peat background extremely difficult to see. I, very, very gently, used a spoon to ease the peat away from one end so that there is a clear section of the white container with very little peat on it and it makes them much easier to see.
I don't think you will have problems, it'll just take a little time, especially with warmer water. Those initial rains in nature are of a much lower temperature than the ground the eggs are in.
Keeping fingers crossed for you.
Bill.

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01 Jul 2016 21:37 #12 by robert (robert carter)
Hi Bill thanks for your post , i have the egg in a semi transparent container and even put a sheet of while paper under it to make viewing easier , will check again in the morning ,but you reckon it could take up to 4 days , so there is hope yet .

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01 Jul 2016 21:50 #13 by Bill (Bill Hunter)
It did for ours, but there are a few things that will make the difference; initial water temperature, stage of the eggs etc. I think the eggs you got from Sean were already eyed, so you might have a nice surprise within 24hrs. The frustrating part is that nature does things in her own time and she isn't a member of the forum and reading the same info we do lol :laugh:

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02 Jul 2016 12:49 #14 by wildlifebiology93 (Sean O'Sullivan)
Any developments Robert?
As Bill mentioned , The fry could be lying on the peat and it would be hard to find them.
Their size is also why you have the debris from your pond prepared in advance as to have a food source in the form of insufuria small enough for them take.

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02 Jul 2016 13:32 #15 by robert (robert carter)
As yet no signs of life , but Bill did say it could take 4 days so we live in hope

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02 Jul 2016 20:37 #16 by robert (robert carter)
Checked the eggs at 18.00 hrs as i was leaving for work still no sign of life .

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03 Jul 2016 11:49 #17 by robert (robert carter)
Just checked the eggs again ,no sign of life . So reckon i must be doing something wrong , anyone any ideas. Thanks Robert

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03 Jul 2016 12:40 #18 by wildlifebiology93 (Sean O'Sullivan)
I can't figure it Robert.
I saw at least eight eyed up eggs in the bag when I checked it before i sent it to you.
The only thing I do different than you did is that I wet the eggs a lower temperature .

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03 Jul 2016 13:04 #19 by Bill (Bill Hunter)
I think it's the temperature, Robert. You're trying to hatch the eggs at the normal temperature for keeping the fish. I would normally hatch at 15c but on this particular occasion I had to drop the temperature to 10c before they hatched. It's possible to hatch at temperatures above 15c but percentages will be lower, belly-sliders will be higher.
Don't forget, these fry are really going to try out your eyesight something wickedly as well :blink:
Bill

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03 Jul 2016 19:23 - 03 Jul 2016 19:25 #20 by robert (robert carter)
was out for the afternoon and just back in and surprise I have one tiny fry , so just it until tomorrow and vsee what happens , Bill just checked the temp of the water its 18.2 deg c. if it needs to go lower how do I do that
Last edit: 03 Jul 2016 19:25 by robert (robert carter). Reason: added sentance

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03 Jul 2016 21:37 #21 by wildlifebiology93 (Sean O'Sullivan)

was out for the afternoon and just back in and surprise I have one tiny fry , so just it until tomorrow and vsee what happens , Bill just checked the temp of the water its 18.2 deg c. if it needs to go lower how do I do that

First of many I hope Robert.
As Bill mentioned they are tiny so there might be another few in there.

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03 Jul 2016 23:44 #22 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
For this species, I would usually incubate them at lowered temperature but hatched them at low 20s C.
Hatching would be normally very rapid (within 40 to 60 minutes after wetting) if a first wetting was sufficient.

I also would use aged water that had had fish in it (but not adult killifish though)

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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04 Jul 2016 07:41 #23 by robert (robert carter)
Well still just the one fry , the water i used was from the mature tropical tank that i allowed to cool

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05 Jul 2016 17:13 #24 by robert (robert carter)
and now there are none, found the one fry dead this afternoon .

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05 Jul 2016 17:17 #25 by Eric (Eric Corcoran)
Re dry the peat and try again in a couple of weeks.
What did you feed the lone fry ?
When you wet the peat again have another tub ready with water and moss in it so if any do hatch you can transfer them


Eric

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05 Jul 2016 17:54 #26 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Unfortunately all my fry have been lost.


Bar joining the BKA has any one any good source for killifish eggs going to give it a week let the microworms take hold then try hatch some more.

Regards
Craig

at the end of the day it becomes nite

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05 Jul 2016 17:54 #27 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
Oh off topic but Robert I finally got around to getting that app for your webcam tank looks great.


Regards
Craig

at the end of the day it becomes nite

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05 Jul 2016 18:56 #28 by Bill (Bill Hunter)

Unfortunately all my fry have been lost.


I'm always wary of feeding any newly-hatched fish with anything other than infusoria, I'm not saying that's why you lost them, but that's how I always did it. So far ours are still alive and will go onto microworm later this week.
I'll second Eric, dry off the peat and incubate again for a couple of weeks.
Bill.

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05 Jul 2016 19:01 #29 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
What's the best way to culture infursoria Bill

at the end of the day it becomes nite

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05 Jul 2016 19:30 #30 by wildlifebiology93 (Sean O'Sullivan)
I agree with Bill.
Infursoria is a great first food for the tiny fry of some of he killifish species.
Have you got a planted tank Craig?
If you do you will probably have a culture going already unknowns to yourself.

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