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
First Marine Tank
- q547 (Joseph King)
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I'm getting my first marine tank next week, its only a little on (50l ish) as we're in a recession and all.
Anyway what can i stock it with? I had thought of a clown or two or maybe a mandarinfish?
Any suggestions?
Oh, while I have never kept marine's I've been keeping an assortment of fishies, (pond, coldwater and trops) for many many moons now. I currently have a malawi setup and a tanganyika setup.
All suggestions ideas will be taken on, as i said i know diddley squat about marines.

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- lampeye (lampeye)
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+ a couple of snails/hermits. MAX! this is assuming you have adequate filtration and dont overfeed like you would a cichlid tank.
keep an eye on evaporation/salinity rising and temperature stability.
lampeye
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- Seany (Sean Phelan)
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Mandarinfish is a big No No for now. They require alot of live rock and/or an attached refugium to supply its dietary fare of Copepods etc. Most tanks should be at least one year old before adding such a specimen.
Firefish are another posibility as would a yellow watchman goby (Real Character).
Your biggest problem in such a small tank is the stocking limits and keeping temperature flucatations to a minimum. Is it a FOWLR of Mini Reef you are aiming for. If your thinking Minireef keep your coral list on the beginner side also. Softies, Mushrooms and Zoanthids maybe.
i know diddley squat about marines
Finally do plently of research on marine fishkeeping. There are plently of good books out there to point you in the right direction. Speak to the Guys/Gals in the LFS and visit a few websites. Marinefish/Inverts as does all aquatic life, deserve to be cared for as would any pet. Armed with the knowledge required, you will enjoy your journey, with less headaches and provide a suitable habitat for your charges.
Wishing you all the best in your project. Any help you require will most definitely be available through this forum.
Kind regards
Seany
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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I reckon i'll start with a bit of live rock and then maybe a snail or a shrimp then maybe add the fish after a month of so. (lots of fish ideas now!)
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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If you follow peoples advise then you wont go far wrong,and this site is the right place for help thats for sure.
Gavin
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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I've been doing some reading up. I get the tank next week, so i was planning on starting with the water from there. Possibly some live rock, and then maybe a few snails with a shrimp or two in early december. Opinions?
Oh and on the subject of live rock, what kind of money am i looking at?
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- stevieg (ALAN FLYNN)
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- nonie (leonie troy)
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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It'll make it easy for people to point out if i'm gonna do something wrong.
It may even work as a beginners guide?
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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I would leave the shrimp for the moment. They can be a bit sensitive to new tanks. Maybe the end of January would be soon enough to add one.
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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I also noticed a few tiny soft corals (or something like that) which came in on the live rock, makes for somehing to look at in there anyway.
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- Loggser (Loggser)
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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Ok I got around to doing something with this tank. First things first, at the tail end of November I bought 3 red leg hermits and 6 Turbo snails. I left them in there on their own til Yesterday. Yesterday, I picked up a little piece of soft coral and my first fish! A nice little cardinal to get things going.
The plan for now is to see how he gets on this week and maybe give him some company by the weekend. Pic attached.
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- LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
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LB
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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- Seany (Sean Phelan)
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Let us know
Seany
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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- paulbohs (Paul Doyle)
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- Seany (Sean Phelan)
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May be a few Zoa's / Mushrooms / Yellow Polyps. Even Toadstools / Colts are out of the question as they grow to big.
Google "Nano Marine Tank". It wil give you a better idea of what your limitations are.
Kind regards
Seany
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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The plan for now is either a 2nd cardinal or remove him altogether and get more soft corals and some smaller stuff!
I need more money to get a bigger tank

I may possibly convert one of my african tanks though.... Hmmm....
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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- q547 (Joseph King)
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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that looks likea maroon clownfish (correct me if im wrong) they are very agressive and get huge.
lampeye
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