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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

siamese fighter

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30 Jun 2007 17:59 #1 by lampeye (lampeye)
a friend of mine wants to keep one of these bad boys. i have never kept them but she has been advised that they can be successfully kept in a (large) bowl without a filter as they breath air. she plans on changing 50% of the water daily.
Q.1 is this correct?
Q.2 wheres the best place to get fighters?
(the only place i ever saw with a selection was brittas so i told her to head up there)

lampeye

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30 Jun 2007 18:13 #2 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re: siamese fighter
The problem I always found in keeping Bettas in unfiltered water, even with large water changes, is that (assuming she has any) the substrate goes 'sour' very soon.

You can buy small air-driven undergravel filters for bowls, amazingly enough - round in shape...a small airpump, some fairly fine gravel and one of those filters would see a much more contented fish...the water changes would still be a neccessity but nowhere near as essential, especially 50% daily.

Breeders have a filtration 'system' for Bettas, a bit like a scaled down water 'system'.

That would be my recommendation anyway. Brittas and Wackers both have nice Bettas but it might be worth her phoning to make certain they have some in stock before doing the trip.

John

Location:
N. Tipp

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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30 Jun 2007 19:06 #3 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I think keeping any fish in a bowl without a filter is generally scorned upon these days. Filters are so cheap, it doesn't make sense to risk a fish suffering in unfiltered water. I would urge her to buy a decent sized tank with a filter. These days you can get a 25l tank with a filter for around €60. If she's serious about keeping fish, this shouldn't be too much to shell out.

End of rant :D

Regards,

Ken.

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01 Jul 2007 02:46 #4 by koinonia (koinonia)
whakers have some nice femle betas in stock at the moment.. got one yesterday and she is doing swimmingly..pun intended :lol:

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01 Jul 2007 05:29 #5 by richardbunn (Richard Bunn)
Don't keep them in any less than a gallon of water, 1.5 gal is better. Don't have strong filtration. That's a big no-no. You could get one of those small acrylic tanks very cheaply in a shop & one of the american style hang-on-back filters online as they're going for peanuts.

"Everything's going perfectly in my aquarium. What do I do???"

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01 Jul 2007 05:40 #6 by Acara (Dave Walters)
I had one of those hang on filters back in the 80's.Aproblem I found with it,was that if the power went off,you had to actualy fill it with water before it would flow properly,it didnt seem that the pump could get the water up without the filter 1st being filled.It would just sit there chugging away,and I was concerned it might burn out the pump.Maybe things have changed,but I would be reluctant to get one.
I would think a good sponge filter,or as mentioned,a small undergravel would suffice.
I have also seen small filters that run on an air pump up at Brittas,about a tenner I think.

always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!

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02 Jul 2007 01:13 #7 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: siamese fighter
You don't need a filter for a betta, they are bred in the Far East in 5 l jars.
The real problem keeping a betta in a bowl is that they are prone to get an infection in their labyrinth. The air above the bowl is too cold for them and they will catch a 'cold' for the lack of a better term.

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05 Jul 2007 10:17 #8 by arabesque (Mick Veale)
i kept one in a 1.5 litre vase for almost 14 months in my old job.

I had a heater in the vase but no filter.
no substrate and a small lid.

I changed half the water every day except sat and sunday.
I fed only freezedried bloodworms .. you can train them to leap for the food.

To keep the air temperature the same as the water i had a lid with some small holes in it to allow air to get in / out and i had a small desk lamp to make it look nice.

Every day i did my waterchange just using a 2 litre water bottle, boiled a kettle and got up to temp..

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19 Aug 2007 01:06 #9 by Trillian (Mary Russell)
I had a male Betta in my 90L community tank but, unfortunately, he succumbed to some cyst-like growth but not before he'd killed my juvenile angelfish. My next Betta will have his own bachelor pad - a 15L filtered Baby Biorb - with just two amano shrimp for company. I do a weekly 30% water change which is a doddle but gravel cleaning is another matter as it's difficult to get the gravel vac into the nooks and crannies; hence why I got the amano shrimp to help keep it clean.

Btw, I spotted some dyed Bettas in an LFS the other day - bright orange and bright purple - just horrible. :S

Post edited by: Trillian, at: 2007/08/19 02:10<br><br>Post edited by: Trillian, at: 2007/08/19 02:11

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16 Sep 2007 22:16 #10 by nala (n h)
Replied by nala (n h) on topic Re: siamese fighter
whats an LFS??? I have a pure red male Betta, got him in the Orchard in Celbridge, he is fabulous and getting on great in my community tank.

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16 Sep 2007 22:43 #11 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
LFS is short for Local Fish Shop.

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16 Sep 2007 23:29 #12 by Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
LFS = Local Fish Shop

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19 Sep 2007 23:51 #13 by Trillian (Mary Russell)
LFS - Local Fish Shop :)

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13 Oct 2007 18:05 #14 by nala (n h)
Replied by nala (n h) on topic Re:siamese fighter
my betta died yesterday. Gutted. :(

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13 Oct 2007 22:48 #15 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re:siamese fighter
I wouldn't worry about it mate, bettas are terrible fish.
Agressive and made of tissue paper.
Sure they are pretty, but do you want to have to buy a new one every month?

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14 Oct 2007 01:21 #16 by Carl (Carl M)
Replied by Carl (Carl M) on topic Re:siamese fighter
nala

my betta died yesterday. Gutted:(

Sorry to hear it nala. They can need a bit of 'special' care for them to thrive but are well worth the effort if you get satisfaction from them.

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