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
Transporting fishes ...
- Valerie (Valerie)
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From my very short experience, it seems Galway is not the really the right place to be to source nice/healthy tropical fish. :cry:
I will have to consider going further afield in order to source some more community fish (Edenderry/Dublin ...).
Seeing these little creatures are rather delicate, I would not want to put them in any uncomfortable/distressing situation, any advice for transporting them ?
What do you transport them in? How do you keep the temp up? How long can they stay away from a tank? Any other hint?
Again, thank you for your help! (One day ... I will be able to join the other side of the fence and help

Valerie
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- ChrisM (ChrisM)
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Bag fish indivudually,they dont cost that much but the fish do so dont take any chances.I recently brought four 3-4" Frontosa to a guys house about 30 minutes away and bagged 2 to a bag as thay were really peaceful in the tank.When I arrived one Frontosa had been ripped to shreds while the other 2 in their bag were perfect.
Make sure there is plenty of air in the bag and the bag isnt filled with too much water,better more air and less water when possible.
Try to maintain temperature of the water which is easy in a car,harder travelling on buses etc.
Pack the bags tightly into a larger bag and try to use a dark bag so the fish are less stressed,the less light the better.
Avoid too much movement on the bags.
On a four hour journey obviously the above requirements become more vital tha on a half hour journey but fish will arrive safely if you follow them.
Hope this covers everything.
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- JohnH (John)
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I regularly (well, quite often) bring fish over by car from England and, apart from one time when fish had been fed before being bagged - sadly some of those didn't make it due, I think, to Ammonia build-up in bags - I've had no problems.
I've brought fish back to here from Dublin and Kilkenny (not quite as far as you'd be bringing them, I grant you) with no ill-effects either.
Temperature loss would be minimal (assuming you'd be travelling by car) as the ambient temperature in the car would prevent serious heat loss.
Most shops now will top up the fish bags with oxygen rather than mere air which would be of some benefit too. Also, you could ask for a polystyrene box, many shops are glad to give you one if you spend a few bob.
This would help as well as in maintaining temperature but also by providing a fairly shock-free container within the car.
You might think of coming down the Limerick Road and looking at the shops in both there and Ennis on the way (if you can figure out the one-way system!). I'm told there are several quite good shops in both these venues. T'would be a lot less stressful than driving to Dublin anyway!
Let us know how you get on.
John
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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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- serratus (Drew Latimer)
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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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Get a styrofoambox to put the bags with fish in. Does three things actually four for you, prevents heat loss, the bags don't roll all over your car and keeps the fish in the dark which will calm them down. Add afew drops of ammolock or a similar product to the bags. This will prevent the build up of ammonia. And if a bag burst you still have some chance of the fish surviving since the water will not just leak into your car.
If your dealer cannot provide you with oxygen your fish should be OK for 4 hours or so anyway. Should you be travelling any longer just open the bags and let the old air escape and put new air in.
Incidentially if you are planning to transport any sort of labyrinth fish don't use pure oxygen.
Holger
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- JohnH (John)
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Incidentially if you are planning to transport any sort of labyrinth fish don't use pure oxygen.
In the Corydoras book I was reading last night I was not surprised to see that this includes Corys as well; always good to know these things. I have a consignment of them coming from UK next week - I'll have to get on to the seller to tell him not to do the oxygen addition as I think he did plan to do that!
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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- Sean (Fr. Jack)
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Incidentially if you are planning to transport any sort of labyrinth fish don't use pure oxygen.
In the Corydoras book I was reading last night I was not surprised to see that this includes Corys as well; always good to know these things. I have a consignment of them coming from UK next week - I'll have to get on to the seller to tell him not to do the oxygen addition as I think he did plan to do that!
John
John I think a labyrinth is a sort of lung, while cory take air through their gut *not a lung thing(and some how absorb the O2, I would be surprised if cory are not shipped with 40% O2 instead of the natural O2 in normal air
That would be a ecumenical matter!!!
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- JohnH (John)
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Incidentally, would you know the percentage of o2 there is in 'normal' air?
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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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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corys are ok with pure oxygen. I have done that before without losses.
To answer your question, the atmosphere contains approx 21% oxygen
Holger
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- Sean (Fr. Jack)
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That would be a ecumenical matter!!!
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- Acara (Dave Walters)
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always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!
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