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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
I think I just made a major booboo
- pointer28 (Noel Lambert)
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Although I live in the midlands I often call into a decent proper aquatic shop that I know a few hourse from home when I'm in that part of the country.
I have always had great experience here, the fish are healthy and happy and the owner knows what he is talking about.
Anyway, I called in yesterday specifically looking for some nice small cichlids to put in my 65 ltr community tank. The owner wasn't there but the girl on duty was very nice and polite and seemed to know her stuff, or so I thought. I went away with my new fish and a nice new book as well.
I got home and put my new Banjo catfish and my two new cichlids into the tank and all seems fine. The cichlids are happy and causing no problems and are lovely to look at. The Banjo hasn't been seen since but I think that's normal, plus my substrate is a lovely soft coral sand so he's probably buried in it underneath a plant.
I then went online and tried to find out some information about my new purchases. So, I googled \"Melachromis Auratus\" and to my shock and horror, if the websites are to be believed, they really aren't a suitable fish for my tank and according to some sites \"the most aggressive African cichlid there is\".

So, what do I do now? At the moment they are only 1.5 inches long and causing no trouble after there first night but are they going to turn into the fish from hell and kill everything in sight?

Help please, I really know nothing about Cichlids and was relying on the expert opinion of the fish shop I dealt with (bigger fool me)

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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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The most obvious solution here is to return the fish to the pet shop. Most pet shops will take them back especially if its only a day later,explain to them that they arent suitable for your tank and that you purchased in error. They should have no problem with taking them back.
Gavin
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- 2poc (2poc)
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They are headbangers - best to bring them back alright.
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- Sinbad311 (Simon Kennedy)
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I have a few Melachromis Auratus in my malawi tank with yellow labs and kenyis and I have no bother with them at all. The labs and kenyis were in my tank long before the Melachromis Auratus arrived and I think they knew there place so to speak. Even now the Melachromis Auratus are adults and there is still no trouble. Once ur tank is big enough and maybe a male with 2 or 3 females I'd say they might be ok. Shame to send them back so soon coz they're nice fish.
Best of luck with them
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- pointer28 (Noel Lambert)
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I went in looking for some kind of a dwarf cichlid like Kribensis or MacMasters as I have a pair of Rams and I was told they are also good in a community tank.
Because it's not my local shop it would take me half a day and plenty of petrol to return them and end up costing me far more I'd be saving.
If anyone in the Westmeath area is interested in taking them PM me.
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- Sinbad311 (Simon Kennedy)
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- pointer28 (Noel Lambert)
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I'd happily give them away for free to a fish keeper that wants them.
Beautiful fish, I just don't want them killing all my other fish.
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- JohnH (John)
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if you already have Rams in here and were looking to add Kribs or, even worse, Macmasteri I would really like to point out to you that Coral sand is hardly the best substrate for any of these fish, although Kribs will tolerate harder water with higher pH at a pinch the other two Dwarf Cichlids are from softer, lower pH waters in South America and Coral sand, being primarily made up of shells of Coral Polyps, is not really conducive to making your water ideal for the conditions required for these fish - in fact Coral sand and gravel is often used as a hard water buffer to raise the hardness and pH of water...exactly the opposite of what you would ideally be trying to create. Perhaps someone could clarify also about the Banjo Catfish, I think, but am not sure, that these also come from soft water too?\"my substrate is a lovely soft coral sand\"
Now, for your new Auratus the use of Coral sand or gravel would be fine as Lake Malawi water is hard and alkaline...but you mightn't be keeping those anyhow? I have read about these too and there have been a few posts on this Forum regarding them if my memory serves me right (use 'search' function to look back). But a 'normal community fish' they aren't - this could actually be said of many, if not most, Malawis too...they're just too boisterous - much the same, actually, could be said of Kribs when they get the reproductive urge upon them - they can be little demons too.
They could be fine for a while but I think you shouldn't make any long term plans to keep them, and anyway a 65 ltr tank wouldn't be really big enough anyway.
Sorry to be being the bringer of bad news, but these are a couple of things you ought to be aware of.
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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- serratus (Drew Latimer)
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Auratus are mad!! however, as i have said before, in the correct size tanks are usually ok...please do research before buying......PM me if you want any further info!!!!
Best of luck!!
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- john kelly (John Kelly)
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well ive made mistakes to but i would keep em in my view .
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- Tropical Aquariums
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- African Cichilds (Tanganyika, Malawi, etc...)
- I think I just made a major booboo