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
Customer arppeciation month...October!
- Ma (mm mm)
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*Its not good for sponsors to get envolved in each others sections as it is akin to going to each others stores and doing same, a sponsor pays to advertise here, do you see an eircom ad on TV with imagine poping up within eircomss ad to tell us they are wrong or they are cheaper.
Each user on the forum can go from one sponsor section to another and make up their own mind.
*It's up to us the customer to decide which we prefer, cost or quality, both or neither.
Mark
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- ipcompto (Ian Compton)
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Thats a fair comment...well done i think u have hit the nail on the head even though i thought this was the way things worked....i dont think i have ever crossed that line...it never occured to me....anyway ur right it looks bad and unprofessional not good for any of us..
Cheers
Ian
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- fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
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at the end of the day it becomes nite
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Unfortunately (just like on the Oscars), I'm too busy this month to bring my OH (you know who I mean, Ian) out to AV for a nice cuppa and a comfey chair to sit on.

I would love to be appreciated, but not just for my money.
ian
(=another Ian, that is. But I do wonder how the other Ian here has the same Avatar as I do for my laptop log-on picture !!!...I'm sure it's the same picture)
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- ipcompto (Ian Compton)
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Im sure a lot of people could say i abused them...but most of the time im just messing but people get offended....sorry come up and ill make it up to u....anyway i have no problem with organic aqua i think my point would have been u still gotta test your water on a weekly basis to make sure your parameters stay in check no matter what products u use thats all.....ha ha ha go on u good thing!
Ian
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- ipcompto (Ian Compton)
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Ah that was funny u made my day,
Talk to u soon Ian
ps ur loaded anyways:)
Good to hear from ya!
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- Ma (mm mm)
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Mark
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- steven (steven)
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Then there is Ian, who was not my cuppa tea when i first discovered this little gem of a shop, but turned out to be the most down to earth chap alive, quirky sense of humour and always says hello and goodbye to everyone who enters his shop, i've often caught him in good humour and bagged a freebie or 2 along the way. Think i may have even met you in the ring during your kick boxing days but i won't go into that and embarras you Ian. Anyway keep up the good work guys, its very much appreciated.
Aquatic Village is not just a fish shop, its a way of life.
Treat every day like your last, some day it will be??
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- Nozebleed (Anders Van Cranlers)
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- ipcompto (Ian Compton)
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A kind word means the world to us especially during the hard times.Thank u so much for ur support and long may it continue...ive always tried to make what i do fun and interesting and we have helped countless fishkeepers in the past and will do hopefully in the future...i cant believe this thread has been viewed by nearly 1500 people this has to be a reckord its only a few days old....lets hope more of u drop by to show ur support and long live the freebies....its nice to be nice!!!
Welcome home sir!
Cheers
IAn
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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I'd give all my custom to the SVP if they sold fish (but I did see a nice pair of shoes the other day, it's just that the insole was a bit decayed.....but nothing a bit of salt, methylene blue and activated carbon can't solve).

However, I don't know the name of the people in the SVPs (nor the oxfams), I'm not sure if they have specific knowledge of fish...and so even if they had some on a shelf near the Ronco Record Cleaner I give it a miss.
OR, to put it another way, there are some fish shops that I am happy to visit to chat (and even part with some my loadsamoney money) on the basis of their staff and quality and variety of stock. I won't name names, but if I've every bought any freshwater fish more exotic than a zebra danio on more than one occasion OR if I bother to be polite and have a chat then they know that they are on my 'top-shop' list.
@ian, I haven't been down to yous since the last time I was there (that seems like a strange coincidence really)
...but maybe we'll venture one sunday to do a complete just-off the M50/M1 circuit (if I've got enough time) tour (that's 4 shops on that route)....but after my OH has done too much chatting, we only ever get to half our planned destinations.
ian
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Ian, was your inSole ref a pun?
Kev.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Ian, was your inSole ref a pun?
Kev.
Who knows the secret chantings and poetry of us Salopians? Dark cynical sense of humour we inherit from the peat marshes of the north and the wilds Clee Hills in the south and having a county town built on a sand-pit.
I like to play on words a bit Kev. But maybe I need to clarify a thing....I would use the carbon internally, and not externally (just in case someone thinks I'm giving bad advice on where I'd use the carbon on the insoles).
ian
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- JohnH (John)
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I like to play on words a bit Kev. But maybe I need to clarify a thing....I would use the carbon internally, and not externally (just in case someone thinks I'm giving bad advice on where I'd use the carbon on the insoles).
ian
Oh dear...and there was me thinking you were making secret references to the song by that once-excellent band from the late sixties...
John
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We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
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It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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- JohnH (John)
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John
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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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- murph (Tony Murphy)
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(Or mabye they already have?)
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- andrewo (andrew)
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thats saying something as it will be like a four hour drive for me...
anyways have heard lots of positive things bout AV; so a trip has to be made!!(hmmm ahhh thinking/fantasising about the freebies)

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- ipcompto (Ian Compton)
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Fish shops are not about the Mac Donalds squeaky clean look fish shops are about sole!!In ur face boys thats how u uses cheese!Anyway to be serious its about goin somewhere u know ur welcome and someone aint goin to be hassling u all the time.....i wonder how long this thread will go its a corker allready.....ok one serious point left to make besides our fish been half price for October ....what bikkies will i get....ideas anyone?Ill count up the votes and if its close we will get em all!
Cheers guys
IAn
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- dar (darren curry)
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"hey ian how is business?"
"i had to give it up"
"ah jayzus, y wat happened?"
"i offered tea, coffee and biscuits, the s.o.b's turned up in their 100s everyday and drank me dry bankrupting me in the process"
"did they not buy any fish?"
"no, they told me, i was outlandish" (


was gonna try get up today but might have to put it off till the weekend
Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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- Ma (mm mm)
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- ipcompto (Ian Compton)
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Cheers
Ian
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- ipcompto (Ian Compton)
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- steven (steven)
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You will have to send some of the biscuits down to AV2.
Unfortunately i dont make it out to Brittas much. But i get to drop in to AV2 a fair bit.
Platty i go up once a week if you ever want a lift up, its no trouble and anytime suits.
Treat every day like your last, some day it will be??
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- dar (darren curry)
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Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
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- ipcompto (Ian Compton)
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Ian
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