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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

Moving common pleco

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26 Jul 2009 23:25 #1 by Mick0075 (Michael OSullivan)
I am going to move my pleco from my planted tank where he is causing havock to my tanganyikan tank.

My planted tank has a ph of about 7.2 and my tanganyikan tank has a ph of 7.8to8.1. any ideas on how to do this or would the pleco be able to handle the ph change. He is about 6 inches long and in the full of his health !

thanks folks

Mick

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26 Jul 2009 23:54 #2 by pkearney (Phil Kearney)
a south american pleco would not be at home in a rift valley environment. bring it to the the local pet shop.
phil

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27 Jul 2009 00:19 #3 by daryn (Darren Mc kenna)
I did the same thing about a month ago and the pleco is doing fine. the environment might be different but the pleco does not seem to mind.(at least mine anyway) You should try it out and see how he gets on :)

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27 Jul 2009 00:32 #4 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
i disagree phil,plecos live in a wide variety of water conditions quite happily for acidic to alkaline, i have one in a tang setup thats had algae problems and he's flying it in fact he's put on some nice size... mick put the pleco in a bucket 1/4 full with water from his own tank, add 10% of this volume of water from the tang tank and leave for 10 to 15 mins, repeat wait repeat wait do this till you've replaced at least the starting volume of water with tang water, empty some out and keep going till the ph matches your tang tank... its a slow process but you plec will be less stressed this way than just dumping him in.. hope it works for you it does for me
Seamus

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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27 Jul 2009 14:50 - 27 Jul 2009 14:51 #5 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I would agree with Phil. While he may be "fine" in a Tang set up, it's far from optimal for a South American Pleco. Best to move him on to someone who has a more suitable environment.

Regards,

Ken.
Last edit: 27 Jul 2009 14:51 by KenS (Ken Simpson).

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27 Jul 2009 22:08 #6 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
A lot of soft water fish may seem fine when they are kept in hard water. But they will be under constant stress trying to keep the calcium levels in the blood down. The calcium is taken from the water, but when there is to much in the water the fishes body has to work harder to reduce these levels.
It also effects how the fish takes in water osmoregulation.
Hard water can also make some fish infertile.
All these add up to a stressed fish. When they are stressed they are weaker which could leave them open to disease.

Just something for you to think about.

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27 Jul 2009 22:16 #7 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
I still have to disagree on this one, not trying to be arguementative but in the common pleco if this is the pleco we're talking about and i'm assuming it is is found in nature in waters from ph 6.2 to 8.2 so this would make them perfect for most setups... now if it is something different ie panaque etc then i'll happily concede on this point but if they are found in these conditions in nature they should happily survive in the aquarium

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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27 Jul 2009 22:30 #8 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
I didn't think they were found in water with a ph as high as 8.2. I would have taught up to ph 7.5 would be the max in there natural habitat.
But regardless of the ph it was the hardness i was referring to. I dont think you will find water in the amazon as hard as that of the African lakes. Except maybe some pools that are nearly dried up resulting in a high mineral content.

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27 Jul 2009 22:50 #9 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
Apparently so and in my expierence it has never caused problems mine was originally in a discus setup i had years ago and has gone from ph in the mid 6's to a tang setup but then again some of those systems are so vast they probably have huge variences over the land they travel, i do agree if it is a species from softer more acidic water parts that it could be a problem and would stress out the fish as you stated earlier but as i said my common pleco is thriving in a ph slightly higher at ph8.5, you may have a point re hardness but they do come from areas which have medium hardness so it shouldnt be a big issue for them, and if mick takes his time re drip feeding the water into a bucket slowly adjusting its ph upwards the stress to the fish would be minimal..
just my expierences with the common pleco, now i'd never try this if it was my royal panaques, it'd kill them stone dead as ph 7.5 is their upper limit

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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27 Jul 2009 23:09 #10 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
I stand corrected. After doing a google to double check you are right they are captive bred in moderately hard water.
You learn something new every day. Fair play to you Seamus.

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27 Jul 2009 23:36 #11 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
glad to help, just my experiences with them and believe me i tend to be nerd like in my study of what i buy just ask duzzy1...

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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29 Jul 2009 00:52 #12 by Mick0075 (Michael OSullivan)
Well, after reading all your comments and reading as much as I could on the subject I decided I could safely move the common pleco ( def common plec) I put 20 l of his water into a bin along with an air pump and a small heater I spent the day slowly adding water from the tang tank at about 200 mils at a time I did this over 16 hours or so before eventually moving him. He immediately went about eating algea off the glass. Hope he continues to do well.

Thanks everyone for the imput

Mick

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29 Jul 2009 07:18 #13 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
Glad to hear all went well, seems like he's taken to his new home, best of luck with it

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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