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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

IS LESS MORE?

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29 Oct 2006 16:14 #1 by lampeye (lampeye)
had agression problems? had frequent disease outbreaks (cloudy eye etc)?

im not sure but this may be the problem

we all like to feed our fish well twice a day (myself included). we like when they look a bit plump. Lately ive increased my water changes to 25 per cent twice a week but even if i do them every 2 days the gravel still seems manky. Ive no dangerous levels...even my nitrates are less than 5ppm, but still i think ive overstocked. ( rio 180 with a pair of discus, 30 cardinals, 6 marble hatchet fish, 4 small plecs, 1 panda cory, 2 apistos, 6 amano shrimp).

Aquascaping......looks great when its packed out wiith wood and plant setc but if you cant gravel clean parts of the tank imagine after a year what the dead spots will be like...(if you only have a couple of fish im sure thats fine)

lately ive been thinking less is more...

-less fish= less agression happier fish

- less aquascaping=more swimming space....easier to clean=happier fish (not saying bare tanks but adeqate swimming space.

-less food=less waste (not saying u should starve em)

IS LESS MORE?

what are your thoughts on this? maybe im way off.....

Beginners... check out the fish you fish u want to keep before u get em... how many can you keep in one tank?..is your tank big enough? -if not dont bother or better still plan your tank around the fish u want to keep.

lampeye

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  • gm333 (gm333)
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29 Oct 2006 17:36 #2 by gm333 (gm333)
Replied by gm333 (gm333) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
I agree less is better, but who wants less?

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29 Oct 2006 19:22 #3 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Panda,

Your tank sounds massively overstocked to me. I'm not surprised if you're having problems.

Staying in or about the guidlines should mean that you'll experience few problems and have healthy happy fish.

Regards,

Ken.

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30 Oct 2006 09:36 #4 by lampeye (lampeye)
Replied by lampeye (lampeye) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
i agree but to look at it doesnt seem it! i have a fluval304 external along with the juwel filter.

lampeye

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30 Oct 2006 12:39 #5 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Your tank looks great.
What kind of subtrate do you have in the tank.
Is it the black crushed glass?
If it is your cats wont like it. It is to corse on their little bellys and barbles.
I use this in some of my tanks with no bottom dwelling fish and find it to be a dirt magnet.

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  • Anthony (Anthony)
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30 Oct 2006 13:46 #6 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?

Your tank looks great.
What kind of subtrate do you have in the tank.
Is it the black crushed glass?
If it is your cats wont like it. It is to corse on their little bellys and barbles.
I use this in some of my tanks with no bottom dwelling fish and find it to be a dirt magnet.


I had it too. It is a dirt magnet and cats can do damage to themselves on it.

On the other hand I think your tank looks cool. You should see my Malawi tank. Thats what you call overstocked.

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  • ChrisM (ChrisM)
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30 Oct 2006 14:00 #7 by ChrisM (ChrisM)
Replied by ChrisM (ChrisM) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
I used to have the same problem.I kept 25 Malawi Cichlids in a 260L with an Eheim 2217 and an internal filter.The gravel would be manky.The water coming from the vac would be like oxtail soup,and I only feed once a day,maybe 5 days a week.
The thing I found out is you dont need to worry about it.Its what you cant see needs careful attention.Some fish just are messy.This doesnt mean to say their waste is more harmful because it is more abundant.My water parameters were spot on but you would never think it.
If you are having problems look at another filter,usually 5 times the volume an hour is enough.I would most importantly feed less.I have read many books and articles relating to this matter and you are not doing your fish any favours overfeeding them.
Uneaten food expands.adding to the waste problem.

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31 Oct 2006 02:25 #8 by Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)
That tank is not "Massively Overstocked" at all. Especially with an External filter supplementing the Juwel Filter and the twice weekly water changes.

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

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03 Nov 2006 06:40 #9 by Gavin (Gavin)
Replied by Gavin (Gavin) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
less is more.

if it's not african.

then more is more.

dont make me come over there.

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03 Nov 2006 07:15 #10 by Pablo (Pablo -)
Replied by Pablo (Pablo -) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
I think in a SA Cichlid tank less is more... more will create a lot of aggresion

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03 Nov 2006 07:24 #11 by Gavin (Gavin)
Replied by Gavin (Gavin) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
fo' sure. nice severum.Is that coral sand he's on though????soft water fish eh?

sev's you can keep in large numbers and not have any problems. I have six big un's in one of my tanks.happy as larry. :D :D

dont make me come over there.

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04 Nov 2006 09:00 #12 by boroughmal (boroughmal)
Replied by boroughmal (boroughmal) on topic overfed/stocked
I would think that the residue is to do with bad circulation in the tank. It seems that you have a big enough filter. I would tend to think on more oxygen, which in turn will make your filter more efficient plus maybe an internal filter/pump/spraybar agitating the bottom. Maybe an undergravell with the gravell thinner so it works more efficiently. If the residue can be stirred up then your filter should be more than able to process this.
I allways advocate the use of air pumps & bubble walls, you can even fit them under the undergravell, that will stitr it up.
regards

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  • Uther (Uther)
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15 Nov 2006 16:00 #13 by Uther (Uther)
Replied by Uther (Uther) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
Less is more? Where plants are concerned I found that barbs in particular loved an extremely heavily planted tank. A certain amount of swimming space was needed up front but all the barbs I had loved chasing each other through the dense java fern I had growing all over a huge piece of mopani. One word of warning though; if you have dense plant growth near the surface or near the filter, make sure it doesn't interfere with the flow on the surface of the water.

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  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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16 Nov 2006 10:32 #14 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
I don't think your tank is overstocked.
Aggression should not be an issue either.
I suggest you check your pieces of wood. Some types tend to rot fron the inside out.

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  • bradan (bradan)
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20 Nov 2006 04:52 #15 by bradan (bradan)
Replied by bradan (bradan) on topic less
well i have a jeuwel vision 180 aquarium with the following,

2 scissor tails
2 red blue columbians
2 buenos aires tetras
2 red eyes
2 silver tips
6 neon tetras

i consider this to be full ...what ya think

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  • Anthony (Anthony)
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20 Nov 2006 08:29 #16 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
Seems empty to me.

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20 Nov 2006 08:55 #17 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: IS LESS MORE?
Hi Bradan,

as the old saying goes, 1 litre per centimetre of fish. It's about right for most species unless you have terrotorial issues with cichlids or amazingly enough some plecs.

Holger

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