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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

Dyed Fish (Again....)

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16 Apr 2007 06:59 #1 by Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)
Just on Capel Street on my lunchbreak, remembered i needed some flake.

I went into the Dublin Pet Store, thought i'd take a look at the fish for curiousity before i bought anything. What did i see..............you guessed it.

A tank full of dyed Parrotfish and another tank with these small barbs in it. They had the shape of tinfoil barbs but they were the size of a small tetra, they were dyed some poxy looking pink colour. They were see-through like glassfish so you could see their dyed pink organs. It was disgusting.

The bloke wasn't there, just that old woman so i didn't bother saying anything to her.

Needless to say i didn't buy any flake

Smoke me a Kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.

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16 Apr 2007 10:41 #2 by Gavin (Gavin)
no surprise really.

dont make me come over there.

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16 Apr 2007 10:53 #3 by steven (steven)
Another shop for my little black book.

Treat every day like your last, some day it will be??

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16 Apr 2007 11:46 #4 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Never been in it. Definitley won't be now.

Regards,

Ken.

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17 Apr 2007 10:20 #5 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)

Just on Capel Street on my lunchbreak, remembered i needed some flake.

I went into the Dublin Pet Store, thought i'd take a look at the fish for curiousity before i bought anything. What did i see..............you guessed it.

A tank full of dyed Parrotfish and another tank with these small barbs in it. They had the shape of tinfoil barbs but they were the size of a small tetra, they were dyed some poxy looking pink colour. They were see-through like glassfish so you could see their dyed pink organs. It was disgusting.

The bloke wasn't there, just that old woman so i didn't bother saying anything to her.

Needless to say i didn't buy any flake


Well done mate.

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17 Apr 2007 12:24 #6 by Sean (Fr. Jack)
Gee I am surprise to hear they are still in business, I visited that shop in the mid 80´s a few time they had under gravel filter then but not with normal size gravel the gravel was ball bearing size, they had power heads instead of air pumps so the turn over was 5 time faster than a normal tank would be, more like a washing machine, I can beleive they are still in business, they must of inherited the shop there's no way a business like that could of payed rent a survived all those years without some other form of help.

Qes. How come the forum can slag a LFS now, back in November it was a no no, is there some legal hurdle the forum has got over?

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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17 Apr 2007 16:13 #7 by Sarah (Sarah)
Replied by Sarah (Sarah) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
So dieing fish is harmful or painful to them I take it? I guess there is something majorly wrong if you are all so opposed, any links about it I could have a look at? :)

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18 Apr 2007 03:05 #8 by Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)

Qes. How come the forum can slag a LFS now, back in November it was a no no, is there some legal hurdle the forum has got over?


We are technically not slagging them, we are stating facts so it can't be considered libel/slander.

I think wild and unsubstantiated comments are a no no. Could be wrong though!!! Any help from admin here???

Smoke me a Kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.

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18 Apr 2007 03:11 #9 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
@ Sarah,
try this link

www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages...le.php?article_id=72
@everybody else,

as long as you keep it factual I don't think there will be any libel issues.
Best to take picture to substantuate your claims I should think

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18 Apr 2007 07:43 #10 by Sean (Fr. Jack)
The forum has virtually slagged off all the shop now except the one in blesington, which seems to be getting good reviews, (Hope Russel is not getting a brown envelope for his praises :wink: I would hate to be on the forum and own a LFS in Ireland! just to much paranoia for me, still Liverpool gave he more entertainment than EastEnders :) When I use to live there then only really good one was Grovenor tropicals in Belfast, are there any shops up to that standard in the south? assuming Grovenor is still around?

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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18 Apr 2007 08:15 #11 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
Sean,
if you own an LFS you should run it properly and nobody will say a bad word about it. If you are not up to standard it's up to yourself to get yourself sorted.

And there is one other shop in Midleton that is very good by Irish standards. Moving to a bigger premises very soon from as well from what I hear.
Holger

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18 Apr 2007 08:36 #12 by Gavin (Gavin)
people tend to vote with their feet. If a shop is as bad or as good as people say then you see repeat custom. They either spend or they don't. what happens next is quite obvious over the long term..said shop will flourish or close.

dont make me come over there.

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18 Apr 2007 08:42 #13 by sparky (sparky)
I agree, and its probaby the reason that most people tend to go back to the same shop again and again, if you know the quality of the fish/plants is going to be high, then you'll wabt to go to that shop again and again, the LFS i go to is not the closest to where i live, but its well worth the trip, simply because the stock is almost always really good,a nd the staff are great, and know what their talking about! well, thats my opinion anyway!! :roll:

Location: Dublin 24

"Make it idiot-proof, and someone will make a better idiot"

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18 Apr 2007 09:21 #14 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
Unless you have no other choice. Unfortunately the case in many rural areas.

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18 Apr 2007 09:27 #15 by sparky (sparky)
Thats true too, although im not too sure about if its possible, but could you not but fish directly from the importers, if that was the case? if LFS that are really bad dont have any customers, they'd be forced to either do something about the quality and health of the fish, or close!

Location: Dublin 24

"Make it idiot-proof, and someone will make a better idiot"

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18 Apr 2007 09:33 #16 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
Wholesalers generally do not sell directly to the public. There's only one wholesaler in the north and as far as I am aware none in the Republic. A lot of the smaller shops buy from said wholesaler in the North. IMO the less said about these fish the better.

A good few shops import their own fish. My two local LFS do anyway and I am sure the bigger outlets like Aquatic Village, Whackers etc. do as well

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19 Apr 2007 08:38 #17 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
There is now a wholesalers in Roscommon.
I was in a petshop today and Glencraps rep came in with this new food.
The guy in the shop asked me to give it the once over. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Needless to say the fish were less than impressed.
End of story. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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19 Apr 2007 08:42 #18 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
Anthony,
does that Roscommon outfit have a website with a stocklist? Not planning to open an LFS just curious what they have on offer.

Holger

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19 Apr 2007 08:44 #19 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
Not sure mate.
Will get the name for you. I don`t thnk you will be impressed. I sent them downa fish list of fish to get in and they never heard of any of them.
They never got back to me or even said thanks.

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20 Apr 2007 05:09 #20 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
Oh, yeah, another example of great customer care. And they probably wonder why they will go bust

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20 Apr 2007 06:43 #21 by goldy (goldy .)
i dont think it helps anybody to constantly do someone shop or person down. I hope that is not what we are reduced to...name calling. I am of the opinion that if you have nothing good to say say nothing.

Nobody shop or otherwise is perfect as we all know. we all make mistakes some of which are upsetting and costly. I presume that business is the same. If they keep their stock badly as Gav says the customers feet do the walking. Any sensible business person will realise this and make the necessary changes to stay profitable and stay in business.

As with most things in life if you encourage and support the thing flourishes but if you slag it off or tell it constantly its bad then it wont aspire to much. Please keep this in mind when talking about lfs. Your comment may be funny or witty but if the shops close where will we be then....

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20 Apr 2007 07:12 #22 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
And what do the poor sods do that are just starting out and don't know any better?

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23 Apr 2007 04:46 #23 by goldy (goldy .)
they do the same as the rest of us did. buy a book or go online and learn how to look after our fish through trial and error

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23 Apr 2007 04:54 #24 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
That's where you lose people. If your fish are constantly practising the backstroke you will eventually give up on them. It mightn't even be your fault. It might be due to the fact that you arte only getting bad stock from your LFS. Inbreeding is a big problem with many commercially bred fish.
In many South East Asian fish farms liverbearer populations are kept stable by the use of antibiotics. These fish will die in short order once they are kept under normal aquarium conditions. Just look at all the people giving out about guppys dying off without any obvious reason. A good importer will not buy these fish and sell them on.

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23 Apr 2007 05:12 #25 by Gavin (Gavin)
Most of the guppies sold in this country come from the same wholesaler. Full of antibiotics and horribly,horribly inbred.The inbreeding makes the strain mega weak too.That's what you get when generations of parents are breeding with their offspring. Sorta "the hills have eyes" in your fish tank.

dont make me come over there.

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23 Apr 2007 06:09 #26 by goldy (goldy .)
well when I started which is not really that long ago I got most of my information from fish shop staff. you learn quickly who is full of it and who knows their stuff. there also was not a thriving forum then. with the advertising etc many more people now know about the forum so they are getting the correct information from here. If they want to ask questions they can and mostly will get an informed response. so things are definitely much better then they used to be.

like anything there will always be those that are really fascinated and truly interested in keeping fish and the fairweather keepers who will get fed up anyway or only want sharks or pirhanas etc and when they realise they really have to feed them they give up

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23 Apr 2007 06:17 #27 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
I agree to an extent, but can we leave the hairy chest with plenty of gold chains brigade with their pirahanas out of it?
You are fortunate that you have a selection of shops in Dublin and I have some choice here in Cork as well. But imagine living in Donegal, Sligo or leitrim where you might have 1 LFS in each county. If that LFS is not worth its salt or use a bad supplier they will not be able to offer you decent stock or advise. So tough luck if you live outside the pale or Cork?
Not everybody has access to the internet either. these people will not have the opportunity to ask question of the forum or surf the net for info.

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23 Apr 2007 10:15 #28 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)

i dont think it helps anybody to constantly do someone shop or person down. I hope that is not what we are reduced to...name calling. I am of the opinion that if you have nothing good to say say nothing.


Well without sounding too abrupt that sentiment sounds lovely and would
be great in a Disney Fairytale story.

This place asked me to do a fish list for them. I did it to help their business. I spent hours doing a list of fish that I knew would sell.
Never heard fewk all.Not even a thank you.

I did not slag the place. Holger asked me for the name and I told him is would not be up his street, so to speak. He is an experienced fishkeeper and keeps specialist fish. It was an honest answer to an honest question.
Anyway it is not a shop and only sells wholesale and there fish are run of the mill every day stuff. There fish are fine but not my cup of tea.

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12 May 2007 05:48 #29 by koinonia1 (koinonia1)
Replied by koinonia1 (koinonia1) on topic Re: Dyed Fish (Again....)
Has anyone ever spoken to Gerald about this problem..could it be that he just got them substituted by his supplier.

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