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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

accelerating cichlid growth

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07 Mar 2010 00:34 - 07 Mar 2010 00:38 #1 by jamie (jamie)
hey guys,

currently have a tank full of malawi and tang cichlids and a tank of malawi fry, just wondering is there a way of increasing the growth in both other than correct diet and regular water changes??

jamie
Last edit: 07 Mar 2010 00:38 by jamie (jamie).

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07 Mar 2010 00:37 #2 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
story jamie i got some stuff today in sea hourse its lake salt jbl aquadur is the name of it think noel was useing it at one stage and it was making a big differnce to the growth of his fish dont knoe if he use s the stuff i got but im sure its a simular product

at the end of the day it becomes nite

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07 Mar 2010 00:58 #3 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
bred a lot of them muself and the best advise is daily water changes of 10-15% and good quality foods... really seems to do the job

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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07 Mar 2010 10:57 #4 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Ditto on the water changes, be careful with feeding. Just feed a good appropriate diet....and don't be tempted to pump thm full of food simply to increase growth rate.

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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07 Mar 2010 11:12 #5 by JohnH (John)
I can remember reading some years ago about some scientific studies made initially on, of all things, Platies - and from what I remember they isolated a hormone, pheremone actually, which they discovered was being emitted by the fish which effectively stunted the growth in confined spaces of all but the most dominant fish. And when you think about it, even the largest aquarium we could manage is little more, in gallons, than the equivalent of a large puddle! If memory serves me correctly they went on to discover this was not only confined to Platies but to all fish subsequently examined.

This certainly explains comparative slow growth in captive fish.

After reading this I came to the conclusion that daily water changes were the way to go...along with the better quality foods as mentioned.

I would be interested to know if any of the more scientifically-minded here can add further to the pheremones theory?

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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07 Mar 2010 11:47 #6 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Yep John.

That is why I am 'old school' in believing water changes are so important no matter what fancy filter/skimmer/OrganicAqua or other marvelous devices are in use.

It is not only pheromones that need removing, but things like phenols as well (many systems do not remove phenols).

You all too often see the effects of lack of water changes in Discus.....those lovely big eyes on an elongated smaller body. Not good. Stunted growth....fish don't last long.

With malawis, you may find that regular water changes will increase aggression......and many people I hear reduce water changes to lessen that aggression. Personally, I don't think that that is the way to handle aggression.

The notion of 'a fish grows to the size of the tank' is often taken the wrong way.
I would modify that saying by saying 'a fish grows in relation to water volume it experiences' (plus food and other things).
Water changes increases that water volume a fish experiences.

I no longer keep Malawis and Tang's but my water change regime was rather massive and frequent water changes (in the realms of about 75 to 80% every day or 2).

As a warning though....I would not recommend suddenly doing massive water changes unless that is normal routine. You can't just let a tank fester for a few weeks then do a massive water change.

Fast growing fish such as Discus and Malawis are very prone to stunting due to inadequate water changes.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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07 Mar 2010 13:16 #7 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I would agree with regular water changes and good quality food. Also pay attention to your pH/GH/KH. Africans absorb minerals from the water which helps healthy growth and development. There are products you can buy, but you can also easily do it wiht epsom salts, marine salt and baking soda.

However, there are some fish that are just slow growers and there's not much you can do about it. Moori (dolphins) would be a good example.

Regards,

Ken.

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