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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

Changing 180L Tropical Tank to Cold water

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25 Mar 2011 22:48 #1 by dolf_peeters (Dolf Peeters)
Guys,

The price of heating my 180L Tropical tank has me nearly broke(our leccy bills are €250is every 2 months :dry: )

So, a friend will be taking my 7 remaining fish and I'm going to turn my tank into Cold water setup.


So questions:
I have real rocks and the white gravel in my thank currently would this be ok for cold waterfish?
what kind of water readings are required for cold waterfish?
will the standard filter system(on the jewel180 tank) be ok?
what's available in cold water fish, is it just Gold fish?
do I need to invest into anything extra?

Thanks

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  • eire1978 (eire1978)
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25 Mar 2011 22:52 #2 by eire1978 (eire1978)
Replied by eire1978 (eire1978) on topic Re: Changing 180L Tropical Tank to Cold water
i can tell u there is no way ur heater is costing that.

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25 Mar 2011 22:56 #3 by dolf_peeters (Dolf Peeters)
probably not all that but... the bills were 60/70notes less when before we got the tank

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25 Mar 2011 23:00 #4 by paul (paul)
Replied by paul (paul) on topic Re: Changing 180L Tropical Tank to Cold water
Its ok i had a similer bill last month

I would think the filter system your using would be fine along with the decor in relation to differant fish i would not be to clued in on them

just make sure you dont stop using the filter otherwise you will be back to the begining of your cycle

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25 Mar 2011 23:02 #5 by dolf_peeters (Dolf Peeters)

just make sure you dont stop using the filter otherwise you will be back to the begining of your cycle


That wouldnt bother me to much, only a few months to get set up again:)

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25 Mar 2011 23:06 #6 by eire1978 (eire1978)
Replied by eire1978 (eire1978) on topic Re: Changing 180L Tropical Tank to Cold water
did u setup tank in the winter as bills will normal get higher in the winter?

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25 Mar 2011 23:07 #7 by JohnH (John)
You should be able to use your set-up exactly as it is now.
In the main Goldfish prefer a harder, higher pH water but after so many generations of captive breeding (sure, aren't they a variant of the ordinary Crucian Carp originally?) this wouldn't be SO essential.
You need to bear in mind that cold water Fish need a higher oxygen level than comparative-sized Tropicals - so less stock too.
They eat more so excrete more - increased maintenance.
Presumably you have the tank indoors?
If this is the case there are a number of 'Tropicals' which live quite happily at room temperature, White Clouds, some Corys, Variatus Platies (if you can still find those) and quite a lot of freshwater Shrimps will do pretty well at lower temperatures as well.
Doubtless others can suggest more - but if you go with Goldfish the 'styles' are almost endless, from the 'fancy' to the common-or-garden 'ordinary' ones.
Goldfish, you must remember, are very good at eating most aquatic plants though.

Good luck with your new venture.

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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26 Mar 2011 12:28 #8 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Hi Dolf,
Long time no chat mate,sorry to hear you are getting out of the malawis (if memory serves me right?).
If I was you Id go for fish which you can keep at lower temperatures rather than actual goldfish.
What I mean by that and as JohnH has touched on,is you have more options by keeping smaller fish than goldfish and can as a result mix n match etc..

An awful lot of shrimp will survive in coldwater,and white clouds,some corys,hillstream loaches,bitterlings,sticklebacks etc...

Much better options for the tank than goldfish i feel and far less messy!!The tank is sizeable enough to house plenty of these fish but with goldfish you wont be able to house too many due to their messy nature,size etc..

Gavin

Gavin

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08 Apr 2011 22:12 #9 by dolf_peeters (Dolf Peeters)
the malawi's are now gone :(

must must go to check the shops to see what I can house and what they need.

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08 Apr 2011 23:17 #10 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Give me a shout if you need some shrimp,Ive a good few in my tanks.

Gavin

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09 Apr 2011 17:49 #11 by andrewo (andrew)
The ESB bill is a real massive heacache problem tho for fishkeepers. Wonder anyone has any tips on keeping the bill low?

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