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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

The story of Lazarus the miracle puffer

  • 2poc (2poc)
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12 Nov 2007 14:34 #1 by 2poc (2poc)
The story of Lazarus the miracle puffer was created by 2poc (2poc)
Picked up a lovely little figure 8 puffer at the weekend.
I'd been looking for a really small one to grow on for a while & spotted this little fella about an inch long up in Brittas.

Got him home & stuck him into my open top cube tank where he was happily buzzing around biting holes in the plants......

I woke in the middle of the night wondering whether I should have put a cover on the tank in case he decided to jump & decided to put one on first thing in the morning.

So I got up at 7 & went in to check the tank. No sign of the little puffer...
Found him dried up & coated in fluff on the floor. I was pretty upset as this little guy was really endearing but not a kick out of him so into the bin he went.

Then at about 10.30 I decided to take him out of the bin & have a look at his teeth (macabre I know). So I took him out & opened his mouth.
Next think he moves his gill.
So I raced him to the tank & dropped him in where he sank to the bottom.
An hour later fins were moving.
Two hours later he was buzzing around the tank without a bother on him - even feeding on krill!!

So either I have healing hands or this is one very special fish.
So 'Lazarus' is once again happily biting square holes in my plants & has a cover on his tank.

He must have been out of the water for at least 5 hours.

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  • S180de (S180de)
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12 Nov 2007 15:48 #2 by S180de (S180de)
Replied by S180de (S180de) on topic Re:The story of Lazarus the miracle puffer
wow. miracles can happen. forget about lourdes. we'll go on a pilgrimage to your place from now on!

what surprises me most is that Lazarus survived drying up. sometimes, when fish are lucky, they lie on land without all their gills collapsing thus being able to survive for quite a long time. but drying up??? jaysus!

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12 Nov 2007 15:55 #3 by serratus (Drew Latimer)
Wow!!! Quite a story!!! Glad hes ok, have had a few \"Lazarus\" fish when newly imported, cold, thin, pale, often upsidedown in the bag!!!! but with a bit of heat n food etc as long as they are fit in the first place fish can be remarkably resilient!!!! but thats probably one of the most amazing, just as well someone didnt throw the rubbish out!!!!

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12 Nov 2007 18:42 #4 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:The story of Lazarus the miracle puffer
Cheers lads - yes I shall be offering a laying of hands service for people's fish for a nominal fee ;)

Don't know what made me take him out of the bin to have a look, I don't normally go rummaging around in bins.. much..

Delighted he seems Ok, I'll be keeping a close eye on him over the next while.

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12 Nov 2007 18:51 #5 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
So what do the teeth of a one inch puffer look like, or did you ever get to find out :-)

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12 Nov 2007 20:16 #6 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:The story of Lazarus the miracle puffer
Daragh_Owens wrote:

So what do the teeth of a one inch puffer look like, or did you ever get to find out :-)


Kind of like the guy in the middle below




;)

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13 Nov 2007 12:25 #7 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I have a couple of figure eights also. The guy in the middle is spot on.:laugh:

Regards,

Ken.

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  • Anthony (Anthony)
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13 Nov 2007 14:53 #8 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re:The story of Lazarus the miracle puffer
Just looking at the pic and the song Staying alive springs to mind.:laugh: :laugh:

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13 Nov 2007 20:00 #9 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:The story of Lazarus the miracle puffer
Anthony wrote:

Just looking at the pic and the song Staying alive springs to mind.:laugh: :laugh:



:laugh:

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20 Nov 2007 10:15 - 20 Nov 2007 10:16 #10 by Processor (Niall O'Leary)
Wow 2poc that's a scary one.

Reminds me of a Place I caught off Dalkey island years ago.
He was caught at about 5.30 pm and we finished fishing at about 7 or 7.30 and headed northside towards home. Stopped for a few pints near home and eventually got the catch to the kitchen sink at 10.30 (Sunday hours back then).
I had 3 fish to clean and gut and when I put the mouth of the Place under the tap to clean out his mouth and gills he started flapping around the sink !
Scared the bejaysus out of me.Couldn't believe he could still be alive.Made sure all keepers were dead once caught after that.....Guilt trip.

Have to say though that's brilliant that Lazzarus survived it's one thing losing a fish due to natural causes but losing him that way would have neen a killer (no pun intended).
Bet your are more attached to him now eh ?

Processor.
Last edit: 20 Nov 2007 10:16 by Processor (Niall O'Leary).

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20 Nov 2007 15:00 #11 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:The story of Lazarus the miracle puffer
Processor wrote:

Wow 2poc that's a scary one.

Reminds me of a Place I caught off Dalkey island years ago.
He was caught at about 5.30 pm and we finished fishing at about 7 or 7.30 and headed northside towards home. Stopped for a few pints near home and eventually got the catch to the kitchen sink at 10.30 (Sunday hours back then).
I had 3 fish to clean and gut and when I put the mouth of the Place under the tap to clean out his mouth and gills he started flapping around the sink !
Scared the bejaysus out of me.Couldn't believe he could still be alive.Made sure all keepers were dead once caught after that.....Guilt trip.

Have to say though that's brilliant that Lazzarus survived it's one thing losing a fish due to natural causes but losing him that way would have neen a killer (no pun intended).
Bet your are more attached to him now eh ?

Processor.


Cheers Processor - I actually had a similar thing happen with a dogfish years ago. Why on earth I wanted to eat a dogfish I don't know.

It started flapping around the sink & one of the people in the house started screaming & told me to turn on the tap & drown it :blink:

An update on Lazarus - unfortunately he took a trip to fishy heaven two days ago.. Some damage must have been done by his ordeal, he was looking fine & then he just seemed weak & was hiding out of the current for a couple of days then I found him dead. Poor little bugger.
He didn't come back this time when I laid my healing hands on him. :(

Lesson learned though & I had a perspex lid built for the tank.

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