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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

Starting a tang community tank

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05 Apr 2010 21:15 #1 by alkiely (alan kiely)
Hi all,

Ill be startin a tang community tank over the next month or so, have been looking at fish and i really like J. Transcriptus, N. Leleupi, J. Regani, O.Ventralis, L. Caudopunctatus, Cyrprichromis Leptosoma. They are just some of the tangs but what esle could i mix with them or would they all mix in a community setup.

Im looking for a mix of open water, rock dweller and bottom dwellers can i do that......?

Alan

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05 Apr 2010 21:33 #2 by Peteemax (Pete Maxwell)
You could get some ocellatus for bottom or petricola catfish

Pete Maxwell

ITFS Member

Location: Ashbourne

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05 Apr 2010 21:41 #3 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
ok here's my input, keep only one type of julie unless you have a big tank otherwise you'll only be left with one species from my expierence.. tried2 species in a 200 litre and ended up with only transcriptus, but have kept 3 species in my 800 litre tank as for companions to your setup depends on the size of tank, tropheus are nice, some shellies like the lamp.brevis are the biggest shellies i've kept and hold their own against much larger fish, but until i know tank size i'm a bit slow to recommend.

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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05 Apr 2010 21:44 #4 by derek (Derek Doyle)
those fish should mix ok, but maybe omit one of the julie species to avoid conflict. some of the more unusual species you could add are triglachromis ostostigma or chalichromis brichardi. any of the larger shelldwellers or calvus would be fine. you could also add young syno multipunctatus or petricola.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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05 Apr 2010 22:41 #5 by alkiely (alan kiely)
I have a 400L 5FT tank.

Can i add i shellies well bigger shellies to the mix with either syno multipunctatus or petricola...?

Im looking for a good mix of fish and colour, as for stocking male and females with what ive said above for some of the fish id like is it pair or 1 male and say 2-3 females...?

Also if anyone could post up names of some nice looking tangs that would be great.

Alan

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05 Apr 2010 22:57 #6 by alkiely (alan kiely)
Derek just googled pics of chalichromis brichardi and triglachromis ostostigma great looking fish.

Can anyone give me the name of a good tang book to read up on them have read a few but looking for the gossip according to tangs if its out there.

Alan

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05 Apr 2010 22:58 #7 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
yep some of the bigger shellies would be fine, well they are in my tank, you've good room for choice there with the tank size, maybe some benthnochromis tricotti beauties but BIG, jumbo leptosoma, Spathodus erythrodon etc for something more unusual. A mix for 1 male to 4/5 females works well for me but others may have a different opinion than me. enjoy these super fish, they are addictive

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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05 Apr 2010 23:00 #8 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
back to nature guide to tanganyikan cichlids is the best i've come across as a book

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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05 Apr 2010 23:14 #9 by alkiely (alan kiely)
I have read the back to nature malawi book was very good great pics of the fish.

Is it hard to get females......?

Just a little of topic i have t8,s with reflectors on the tank, i really wanna make the fish stand out and see all the colours they have would upgrading to the new juwel twin t5 unit be worth it......?

What mix of tube would word best....?

Alan

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05 Apr 2010 23:57 #10 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
the back to natures are fantastic books, as for getting females i think the general rule when buying juvies is generally the males are bigger than the females unless your talking julies which have larger females than males. other than that i generally buy a group and hope for the best.. as for lights i use a marine blue and a sunlight bulb heres a vid from about a year ago might give an idea what you can do
www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...w/catid,36/id,48338/

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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06 Apr 2010 07:37 #11 by alkiely (alan kiely)
Yeah that is cool looking could watch them all day long, what are the fish with the thin black and white stripes on them they are the biggest fish in the tank by the looks of it.

What to you feed them......?

Alan

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06 Apr 2010 07:46 #12 by alkiely (alan kiely)
Came across this fella Eretmodus cyanostictus could i keep these also and are they hard to come across.....?

Alan

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06 Apr 2010 12:54 #13 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
the big black and white guys are the frontosa which when fully grown will top out at about 14"+ so they limit what you can put in as they Will eat anything big enough to fit in their mouths.
the Eretmodus aren't too hard to get, nice fish if boisterous amoung conspecifics.
I feed mine a mix of Spirinula, Jbl Tanganyikan food , mysis, cyclops, some chopped prawn on occassion and chopped mussels, and they all go crazy for catfish and pleco pellets..
Enjoy

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 Apr 2010 22:31 #14 by alkiely (alan kiely)
Well ordered myself the back to nature tang book,

Has anyone out there got any fry......?

How should i go about stocking the tank..? dont wanna be adding 3 fish here 4 fish there etc would like to do it in maybe 3 goes if possible.

Ill be getting coral sand and lava rock, i really wanna keep a mix of rock dwellers,shellies and open water fish, can anyone give a a list of fish i could keep with the ones a posted earlier and on the numbers of each please.

Alan

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