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
Having a baby is easier than...........
- DalmationMolly (Mary Barron)
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5 guppys
4 mollies
2 bala shark
11 neon tetra
1 angel fish
thanks in advance, Mary
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- gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
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I am only a novice at this addictive pastime myself but what i learned over the past months off this forum and researching thru the net is a life saver.
On your question about fish stock levels i have found different people have different views on different topics so all you can do is to get a few opinions and then decide on which one you feel most comfortable with. If you search the forum on fish stock levels you should easily get a threads on the subject or maybe other members could give you a definite answer
Wish you all the best on your tank
GB
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- Loggser (Loggser)
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iirc think its an inch of fish per gallon, 125L tanks
is approx 30 gallons or so, giving ya 30 inches total
of fish

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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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Indeed we take our hat off to you for also venturing into the tropical fish hobby!
Firstly, as a beginner, remember there is never a question that shouldnt be asked, no matter how silly or simple it may be.
In terms of your tank,I presume the cycle was completed prior to adding fish. How long have you added the fish in, did you add them all at once ? Also how long is the tank running and did you add anything to speed the cycle up eg. Quickstart bacteria.
What temp are you running the tank at?
Next, the stocking of your tank sounds abit much this early on, the tank isnt established so introducing this much new bioload to your filter will make it have to work much harder and as a result can send the water readings into orbit. Good bacteria is essential in a tank,but when 25+ fish are introducted, the tank simply struggles to play catch up in processing the water and increased ammonia,nitrate and nitrite can often occur. The first bit of advise I would advise you is to get a water test kit. The test kit will determine how your water is, (imagine the air you breath is clear, remember gas is also clear). Similar to water, nitrites and nitrates cannot be seen, dead fish are often the first sign of a problem in the tank. With a test kit, you can monitor the water far more effectively and it can become part of your weekly maintaince. With the tank only set up 4 weeks,I doubt it is fully cycled as the amount of fish in the tank could well break down the cycle over those few weeks or at minimum effect the time it will take to cycle.
I hope Im not being too negative here, but prevention is better than cure, and as you said there is alot to learn early on, we have all been there.
Also in terms of stocking size, remember you need to also research the size of the fish when they are adults. When you buy them in your LFS (local fish shop), they are often juveniles and can grow much bigger, particularly the angel fish you have. Also the 2 bala sharks you have are gOing to grow far too big for your tank. Each bala shark can grow to 14 inches. You will need a far bigger tank to accomadate them when they start growing.
Do not buy any more fish for the time being, let the tank settle and get established. Perhaps you can post some pictures also of the tank and fill us in on the substrate, tank decor and feeding of your tank.
I hope I havent scared you with the advise above! Fish keeping is about fun, its the trying to understand and learning part that tends to test the best of fishkeepers!
Gavin
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- JohnH (John)
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Please don't let all you've read overwhelm you, Keeping Fish is really an elementary hobby...provided you follow a few simple facts.
There are no end of people who tell you (and me) that it's almost a science - I suppose in some ways it sort of it. But it isn't all the same!
Obviously, being a male(?) I have never had to experience first hand the 'discomfort' of having to give birth...but if keeping fish is harder then (if I had one) I would eat my hat.
As I hinted, there are certain rules you really have to abide by - but they really are pretty straightforward, honestly.
My fear is that you might have been told wrongly when you were told you could stock as many fish as you did as quickly as less than four weeks after starting your tank. The plan of attack is do everything in small increments.
But anyway, I really feel that if anyone told you it would be alright to introduce that many fish they were misleading you.
My suggestion would be to be prepared to take back your Bala Sharks at some point, as stated they will grow rather larger in size than your tank could accommodate - but that wouldn't be for a few months anyway. Before they grew too large they would have probably either eaten or had a pretty good try at eating your Guppies and Neons so at a point in the future you will have to decide what direction you would want to let your fishkeeping go anyway.
The advice to not buy any more fish for now is sound advice too.
But, you really have to make sure you do not overfeed the fish you have - fish are pretty cute at educating their owners to give more food than they ought really have and - honestly - you will do far more harm by overfeeding than underfeeding them.
In the wild fish are not fed regularly every day, they often have to forage for their food and don't always get as much as they might like - but generally they survive. In our tanks they are fed regularly - too often in some cases - and like as not it's far more than they actually need.
But I've strayed a little, what I was trying to tell you is that a rewarding and fun hobby...provided you keep within the guidelines, don't feel overawed. If you do get a problem (and we all do) ask away - one of the strengths of this Forum is that someone has probably made the same mistake already and will be more than ready and willing to offer advice learned from their own experience.
Good choice of hobby (not Science)...
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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- DalmationMolly (Mary Barron)
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On the question of temperature it is currently at 25 degrees, I feed the fish at 8am and again at 5pm but have reduced the amount given by a lot since I discovered it does more harm to overfeed. One of the Dalmation Mollys is pregnant (and no its not me!) and she doesnt seem satisfied with the amount of food she is getting. When all the other fish have finished eating she is still going around at the top of the water looking for food. Do pregnant female fish need more to eat?
Here is a pic of my tank, I have pebbles as a substrate
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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Yes the dead fish are probably due to the water not being fully cycled, thankfully you have read up about it now and know much more. Dont worry about mistakes, Ive made more than I care to remember,its all part of learning it. Keep up the research and reading the forums,there are people on here that know so much. I know its the first place I go to when I need to know something!Also what hours do you put the lights on in the tank.
Tank looks good, well done. Are those real plants, I think they are from the looks of it.
Gavin
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- DalmationMolly (Mary Barron)
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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I know the feeling re the dead fish,I think every fishkeeper has bad weeks. I remember last year I must of lost about 10 rummy nose tetras and lots of neons also. Was so discouraging every evening finding another dead fish. But this site is great for advise and help.At least you know now that the water wasnt cycled,so at least that should be done by now and means your tank will hopefully run more smoothly from now on.
Yes the pic of the tank below is a sand substrate. I find it abit brighter alright than the pebbles substrate, however I use pebble substrate also.
Gavin
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