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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

Hi Everyone

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09 Jan 2008 23:53 #1 by steve1188 (steve1188)
Hi Everyone was created by steve1188 (steve1188)
Hi Everyone,

I used to be a fishkeeper until a few years back and am now getting back into the hobby having moved into my own place after 'flying the nest'.

I bought a juwel Rio 180 on monday (7th) and have it cycling away at the moment with a crushed coral substrate. Unfortunately money is an issue at the moment and I could barely afford the tank, so all I have is the internal heater and filter that came with the Rio.

I used to keep a community tank with the exception of a brief stint as the keeper of a large Oscar that was in need of a home :dry: .

I hope to keep Malawi Cichlids in my new tank, and having not kept them before, I would appreciate any help or advice from the forum. I have added 'SAFE GUARD' and 'SAFE WATER' at the recommended dose today and the water is within the safe limits outlined on my test kit.

I will be getting some rocks on Friday morning to add to my setup and will be using one or two plastic plants.

At what point should I start to stock the tank? And should I stock one or two small Hardy fish before I adopt any Cichlids?

I think the forum is great and I could have used it a few years back - Keep up the good work.

By the way I am living in Swords and will most likely be using Kinsealy Pet Store for the moment.

Thanking you in advance

Steve

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10 Jan 2008 00:25 #2 by Pauly (Paul Mulvaney)
In the tank you have I'd say about 5 yellow labs, 1 demanosi, a couple of albino zebras and a couple of others that take your fancy will do you fine. The labs breed very easy and all you'll have to provide are hiding places for the fry so that should keep you interested while moneys tight, maybe you'll even sell a few yellow lab fry, the shops are always willing to take them off your hands(although not for much, trade for other fish is better)

Don't waste your money on plastic plants either, they look cat and java fern will do ok if you elastic band it onto a couple of rocks for a month or so.

The water in swords is well hard enough anyway so you'll have an easy time of it too, best of luck.

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10 Jan 2008 02:18 #3 by steve1188 (steve1188)
Replied by steve1188 (steve1188) on topic Re:Hi Everyone
Any advice on when to start stocking? Was thinking of maybe a pleco or two? Or am I way off?

As you can imagine, im itching to get started...

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10 Jan 2008 11:20 #4 by pierce (pierce)
Replied by pierce (pierce) on topic Re:Hi Everyone
Hi steve welcome to the forum i think 6 weeks is the recomened cycle time for the tank if you can filter media from someone else it will cycle quicker and put a bit of flake food in the water there is load of cichlids keepers here on the forum of wich i am not one so thats just my opnion

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