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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

Tropheus "Orange" Bemba Community Tank

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28 Jun 2010 13:32 #1 by roealdo (j)
Got 10 of these off Gavin in FFF. They are settling into the tank now

Have been looking around for suitable tank mates.

Was considering 3-5 Frontosa and maybe some other fish.

I'm only scratching at the surface when it comes to this. Have a few books ordered but looking to get some info from you lads

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28 Jun 2010 14:05 #2 by Gavin (Gavin)
the frontosa would be a no no.

dont make me come over there.

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28 Jun 2010 14:06 #3 by Gavin (Gavin)
I'd love to see some pics in the set up btw.

dont make me come over there.

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28 Jun 2010 14:09 #4 by roealdo (j)
I got the list from here
www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...w/catid,43/id,65060/

Will try and get photos up tonight but probably tomorrow

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28 Jun 2010 15:52 #5 by dubfish (Alan Martin)
What size is your tank?
Tropheus do best on their own,there is a small few tangs that can be added without problems,i would suggest to add another 10 bembas,or 10 duboisi.
Any variant of Julies will be OK and gobies would be fine as well.

Regards Alan..

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28 Jun 2010 15:53 #6 by roealdo (j)

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28 Jun 2010 16:01 #7 by dubfish (Alan Martin)
288L is about the minimum you can keep them successfully,you could still add another 10 tropheus and a few others i mentioned above.Read as much as possible about keeping Tropheus,they require excellent water conditions i.e big weekly W/Cs and only feed a good Spirulina flake and NLS cichlid formula sparingly;) .

Regards Alan..

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28 Jun 2010 16:23 #8 by Gavin (Gavin)
..instead of big weekly water changes I would suggest small partial water changes a couple of times a week if you can. More time consuming,but better for the fish.

dont make me come over there.

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28 Jun 2010 22:02 #9 by roealdo (j)
Just checked the tank. The ammonia was .25ppm so I did a 20l change. I was using special blend and I didnt think that this would happen. I'll keep up daily 20l changes until this settles down

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28 Jun 2010 22:19 #10 by dubfish (Alan Martin)
How long is your tank setup,before you put the Tropheus in?

Regards Alan..

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28 Jun 2010 22:24 #11 by roealdo (j)
A week hence the special blend

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28 Jun 2010 22:30 #12 by dubfish (Alan Martin)
What special blend?? would it be Organic Aqua or tetra safestart?

Regards Alan..

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28 Jun 2010 22:48 #13 by dubfish (Alan Martin)
A week is not long enough for a colony of Tropheus,your going to lose them unless you get some filter squeezings from a seeded external ASAP.Open your External,put in the squeezings in and repeat every few days or you will lose them all.You have to do research on certain fish before buying them,and Tropheus need as must research as possible.I can help with the squeezings if you want, just pm for my number.

Regards Alan..

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29 Jun 2010 06:22 - 29 Jun 2010 06:28 #14 by roealdo (j)
I spoke to gavin about it. He recommend the special blend. It's not the same bacteria as safe start. I've read some good studies on it.

I'll keep an eye on it tonight

I'll be cleaning my other tank tonight and will dump some of the filter gunk into it tonight
Last edit: 29 Jun 2010 06:28 by roealdo (j).

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29 Jun 2010 08:04 #15 by Gavin (Gavin)
Replied by Gavin (Gavin) on topic Re:Tropheus
dubfish wrote:

A week is not long enough for a colony of Tropheus,your going to lose them unless you get some filter squeezings from a seeded external ASAP.Open your External,put in the squeezings in and repeat every few days or you will lose them all.You have to do research on certain fish before buying them,and Tropheus need as must research as possible.I can help with the squeezings if you want, just pm for my number.


special blend is the same stuff.Just better!:)

dont make me come over there.

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29 Jun 2010 09:44 - 29 Jun 2010 09:44 #16 by dar (darren curry)
Replied by dar (darren curry) on topic Re:Tropheus
wat size are they? did you purchase them all at the same time? the reason im asking this is because adding 10 fish would be a stress on the filter (minor? maybe, but when dealing with ammonia minor is not satisfactory), i'd also change more than 20l a day sure thats less than 1/10

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
Last edit: 29 Jun 2010 09:44 by dar (darren curry).

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29 Jun 2010 09:46 #17 by roealdo (j)
Replied by roealdo (j) on topic Re:Tropheus
all added in one go. they are about an inch

The reason I only did 20l was that I was advised on small changes at the start

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29 Jun 2010 09:54 #18 by Gavin (Gavin)
Small partial water changes are the way to go whilst adding special blend. large water changes kill too much bacteria and also change the makeup of the chemistry from one thing to another, sensitive fish such as discus and tropheus hate this. On most fish tanks I will recomend a 25 per cent water change once a week, small frequent water changes are better for delicate species.This keeps the water stable,also keeps nitrite and ammonia from building to a toxic level in between.\Testing is of course the key.

dont make me come over there.

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29 Jun 2010 09:56 #19 by roealdo (j)
Thanks gavin.

THis is what I'm trying to do

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29 Jun 2010 09:57 #20 by dar (darren curry)
Replied by dar (darren curry) on topic Re:Tropheus
yeah smaller more frequent is the way to go but i'd change at least double that which would be less than 20%, quick question did you use a test kit while use this special blendy stuff?

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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29 Jun 2010 10:01 #21 by roealdo (j)
Replied by roealdo (j) on topic Re:Tropheus
i've been using a test kit before and after the special blend. Before the special blend the ammonia was .5

I then added the special blend and then the fish and the ammonia is down to .25

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29 Jun 2010 10:08 #22 by dar (darren curry)
Replied by dar (darren curry) on topic Re:Tropheus
well your doing all you can at this moment so keep up with the water changes and get the filter juice asap

good luck and keep us informed

cheers, Darren

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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29 Jun 2010 10:14 #23 by Gavin (Gavin)
dont use filter mulm and special blend at the same time.Just follow the directions I've given you.As you can see from your tests the ammonia level was higher before you put the fish in.Without s.p they would all be dead by now, but in fact it is now lower now you have added ten fish.The ammonia will slowly drop to zero in the next day or two using it and the water changes.the reason I like this poduct is because you can test and see results happening with a test kit.Just have to be carefull is all.

dont make me come over there.

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29 Jun 2010 10:15 #24 by Gavin (Gavin)
poduct.I've invented a new word.I like it.

dont make me come over there.

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29 Jun 2010 19:05 #25 by roealdo (j)
Did a 10% water change when I got back. Added another dash of Special Blend. Will test the water later to see what the levels are then.

Some photos below. Excuse the quality





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29 Jun 2010 19:49 #26 by dar (darren curry)
very interesting and unique set up

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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29 Jun 2010 21:30 #27 by roealdo (j)
ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are all zero but the ph has gone up. All still seem to be fine

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29 Jun 2010 22:06 #28 by dar (darren curry)
great stuff just don't get lazy now keep checking it, ammonia spikes can be swift

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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30 Jun 2010 14:33 #29 by Gavin (Gavin)
Replied by Gavin (Gavin) on topic Re:Tropheus
roealdo wrote:

ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are all zero but the ph has gone up. All still seem to be fine


special blend it is the job.

dont make me come over there.

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30 Jun 2010 16:38 #30 by mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
Replied by mickdeja (Mick Whelan) on topic Re:Tropheus
nice pics....keep up the good work.......:) :)

Follow me up to Carlow

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