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
RAMS
- daveyw (david whitham)
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Info such as what is best to feed them to entice spawning , what plants is best to use for them
how many hiding places ,
Have you ever breed any to adulthood temps water ect.
I want to get a full spectrum of peoples experiences and what worked well for you but may not have worked well for others
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- Gavin (Gavin)
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In addition I might add that the quality of rams is just not what it was..they are terribly line bred and i have reports from some breeders that there is a significant cull with the fry.
plants wise echinodorus sp. are good, some of the dwarf species,anubias for laying on.
dont make me come over there.
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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My female is pink bellied at the moment.
I can not tell if they have definatley paired off though.
When the female first went in she was fighting with the male and chasing him around ( she is defo the more dominante of the pair) That stoped for a while and they were then side by side some times they are together and sometimes doing there own thing .But ever now and then the female will be aggresive towards the male and chase and nip at him.
I have introduced some flat smooth stones . But I will keep my eye out for the clay pots ( its nearly a plastic now). The male and female I purchased were from 2 different shop and look very different
Finally did you use almond leaves or capputa leaves ?
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- Gavin (Gavin)
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dont make me come over there.
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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I came home last night and my female was putting the finishing touches to a pit she had dug in the corner of the tank.An then the pair continued to clean and dig another pit about 15cm away .
The 2 of them are gaurding the second pit now but they still seem to be cleaning .
So they seem to be paired not to bothed if this spawning is not sucessful as its there first bash at it . I have read it can take a couple of attempts to perfect their peranting skills.
Can't wait to go home and see if there are any eggs
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- mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
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Follow me up to Carlow
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- Peteemax (Pete Maxwell)
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Hope all goes well.
Pete Maxwell
ITFS Member
Location: Ashbourne
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- Gavin (Gavin)
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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in a clutch a couple of inchs in diameter.
I have some cardinals in that tank should I try to segregate them ?As they are very curious but the Rams have gone into protection mode
I was going to leave the eggs with the male and female to hone there breeding skills for future spawning .
All excited now can't wait to get home
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- Peteemax (Pete Maxwell)
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Just spoke to herself and she was at home for luNch and we have eggs about 100-150
in a clutch a couple of inchs in diameter.
I have some cardinals in that tank should I try to segregate them ?As they are very curious but the Rams have gone into protection mode
I was going to leave the eggs with the male and female to hone there breeding skills for future spawning .
All excited now can't wait to get home
Thats brill.
How many eggs usually hatch from such a big clutch?
Pete Maxwell
ITFS Member
Location: Ashbourne
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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But I have a cluctch of electric blue with way over 100 survived in another member set up and they were all about 6 weeks old
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- Peteemax (Pete Maxwell)
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Good luck with them anyway and keep us all updated

Pete Maxwell
ITFS Member
Location: Ashbourne
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- tina.d (Tina Doyle)
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tina
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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Unfortunaly the pair ate most of the eggs last night, but there is still about 50-60 left .
I supose they are only getting the hang of it as it is there first spawn.
I managed to save some of the eggs ( only about 10) Had to put them in a breeding tank , but lack of oxygen maybe a problem as I have read that the parents fan the eggs to oxygenate them . Will see how it goes though. See how many are left when I get home . Although this morning I notice a couple of tetras nippin in and trying to grab a couple of eggs .
By the way mine dug a pit in sand and rolled in a few sooth pieces of gravel in a cleaned them then layed the eggs on them . Pretty amazing really . My daughter was jumping up and down with excitment . Had to explain to her this morningg why they ate the eggs .
I have smooth larger stone in there but there prefered to dig a pit .
I will try to introduce a piece of slate rock before the next spawn as I have seen a video of a guy using this and it is very easy to remove
Will keep you all posted and let you know how the extracted eggs get on also
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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I did save a few eggs but I fear they have not been oxygenated enough to hatch.
I will perciver and get there though.
I was thinking about getting a small pleco at the weekend one of the smaller varieties mabye a brisltenose. But do you think they would gooble up the eggs as well.
Also I was thinking on the next to try to use a tank divider ?
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- Gavin (Gavin)
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dont make me come over there.
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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I have noticed a small brownish mark on the glass but it is very small about 1/4 inch diameter. Will do a test and see if anything is out of the ordinary . Due a w/c the weekend so i normally test before a change and then a day or 2 after .
But all this fish seem very happy and spawned . Water is clear .
I did treat for ich a couple of weeks ago and its all cleared up
Was more so looking for an effective clean up crew but some thing that anit going to gobble up eggs
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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I changed the lighting cycle to promote spawning . I think this may have created the problem .
I am getting some new plants next week hopefull just waitin to get payed ,
So this should also help .
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- dar (darren curry)
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here's a thread Kev started www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...id,8/id,76021/#76074 you might find the answer in here
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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By the way the java and balls you gave me are flying cheers
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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I have put a nice piece of bogwood in with some nice brood leaves planted on it and the seem to absolutley love it . Just want every thing read rfor the next spawn
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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see how it goes.
I did notice that this time they we taking shifts in guarding the eggs where as last time they would guard and then get side tracked foraging for food.
Even at breakie time this morning the male atayed gauding while the female feed
I have a good pic of the male gaurding took this morning will try to get it up
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- Peteemax (Pete Maxwell)
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Pete Maxwell
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Location: Ashbourne
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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My golds are very interested in whats going on but have not hit maturity yet they are about 2 months away .
But the combination the male is a long fina nd the female standard , so both the blues and golds should give a nice mixture
I will post some pics up on the male blue long fin ( daddy ) he is fab
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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- daveyw (david whitham)
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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