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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

ok need advice quickly

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01 Nov 2008 17:11 #1 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
hi guys .... i did a 40 % water change today in my community tank and it seems to have triggered my 2 adult keyhole cichlids into breeding ..... they have since started to clean and defend a flat piece of slate that i have in the tank .

i've had an aquarium for a number of years now , but this is the first sign i have ever had of breeding ..... so my question is ......

WOT THE HELL DO I DO NOW ??

novice here when it comes to this side of things

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01 Nov 2008 18:34 #2 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Hi,

I have Keyholes which I've had in a community tank for the past two years. They are a very shy fish and not that easy to breed. I've seen mine do similar, but have never spawned.

I would doubt that they will spawn in a community aquarium, but who knows. If they do, you just leave them to it.

Regards,

Ken.

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01 Nov 2008 18:56 #3 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
well i have eggs ... about 250 so far ..... all seems to be well so far so keep your fingers crossed for me

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01 Nov 2008 19:25 - 01 Nov 2008 19:26 #4 by tm2204 (Thomas Maguire)
Fantastic :)

What other fish have you got in there? You will probably have to take them all out if you want to try raise the fry.

Never bred this fish but i'm sure someone has and you will get excellent advice from people here.

Good luck.... :)
Last edit: 01 Nov 2008 19:26 by tm2204 (Thomas Maguire).

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01 Nov 2008 19:29 #5 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
its a community tank so theres a mixture of mollies , tetra's , rainbow fish , festivum and a few other species .... but the parents are keeping every other fish well at bay ....

and advice at this stage would be cool ..... i'm tryin to upload a vid to youtube at the moment

martin

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01 Nov 2008 19:30 #6 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
oh and by the way ... in almost 8 years of keepin fish ( both coldwater and tropical ) .... this is my first ever spawning

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01 Nov 2008 19:38 #7 by tm2204 (Thomas Maguire)
Exciting isn't it..... :)

Even more exciting if you bring on the babies to juveniles and then adults.

Takes some time but it's very very rewarding.... :)

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01 Nov 2008 20:03 #8 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
just got a video uploaded to youtube guys ... check it out if yee like ...... i'm excited as hell and don't wanna go to work incase somethin happens when i'm gone

but have no choice

l8r

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01 Nov 2008 20:14 #9 by steven (steven)
well done man they are a pair of beauties, just hope you haven't got a pleco in there or he is going to have a feast tonight when the lights go out. Best of luck with them and hope all works out, its a good excuse to get another tank now and have them in their on there own and see what happens.

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

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01 Nov 2008 20:51 #10 by Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
fantastic, i hope everything goes well with the egs
Andrew

ITFS Club Secretary
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
see the ITFS tab above for more information www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/itfs

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01 Nov 2008 21:00 #11 by tm2204 (Thomas Maguire)
Wow, a stunning pair of fish.

Hopefully you can raise the fry. :)

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01 Nov 2008 21:12 #12 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Excellent! I hope you get some fry. As I said, I've had mine two years and they've never spawned. Looked like they would a few times, but that was it.

Regards,

Ken.

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01 Nov 2008 22:41 #13 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Excellent news Martin. The parents look great.
I have never kept these fish so i can only make suggestion on what to do.
If you can leave a small lamp on in the room just so the tank doesn't go into complete darkness will help the parents keep the other fish away.
The intake of the filter is very close to the eggs and when they hatch they could get sucked in. If it is possible to move it without disturbing the parents i would.
This is probably the first time they have bred so they are only learning, relying on there instincts. They may not get it right the first time but once they have bred they should go again giving you a chance to either divide the tank or set up a tank for them.

I hope all goes well with them and great vid by the way.
Darren.

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01 Nov 2008 22:47 #14 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Im impressed,they look like happy parents! I bet their owner is even happier if not abit more concerned about them now also!
Gavin

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02 Nov 2008 00:15 #15 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
well i just got in the door from work .... the tank light went off just over 2 hours ago ... i have left the room light on now for the night ... and i have also moved the filter inlet .... the eggs are still being guarded very closely by both parents .... one or two of the eggs seem to have turned white .. but the rest are the same as in the video i posted ...i suppose the male missed one or 2 .... fingers crossed now for a few days i guess ... will keep the forum updated

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02 Nov 2008 20:45 #16 by tm2204 (Thomas Maguire)
Well, how are things going?

Was looking at some Keyhole Cichlids today in my LFS; they are a lovely fish... :)

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02 Nov 2008 22:31 #17 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
Hey Great Vid Martin,
have a small tank ready and on standby for you if you need it with biological media matured, just let me know mate you have my number
Seamus

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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02 Nov 2008 23:49 #18 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
How is it going?

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03 Nov 2008 17:49 #19 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
ok here is the bad news ...... was workin today from 10 till 6 ... when i woke this morning at 7 i noticed almost 80 % of the eggs had turned white in colour .... the female appeared to be guarding still and was even defending the eggs from the male .... i watched as long as i could to ensure everything was ok until the time came and i had to go to work .... its now 10 to 7 pm and i'm just in the door .... all the eggs are now gone and both parents are gone back to swimming around the tank as if nothing ever happened .

Beginning to think this fishkeeping thing aint for me to be honest , but thats probably just the disappointment .

Would anyone have any idea if the same pair will spawn again ... and if so .. wot can i do differently

thanx in advance

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03 Nov 2008 18:57 #20 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Well it looks like you have them spawning now so hopefully the will go on to do so.
I dont know what you could do different perhaps if you could separate the other fish next time around?

Gavin

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03 Nov 2008 19:29 #21 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
most likely they will spawn again, when they do start to clean the slate again let me know we'll try to move them to a small tank, let them spawn and seperate them from the eggs, do an artificial rearing using an airstone to keep them fresh... could happen in the next few weeks again as when cichlids start they do seem to stop.
I know it can be disheartening but they will learn to do it right, may take a few goes though, and sure we'll try to help WHEN they do it again
Seamus

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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03 Nov 2008 19:37 #22 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
i guess you could say i'm startin with a clean slate !!!

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03 Nov 2008 21:44 #23 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
duzzy1 wrote:

i guess you could say i'm startin with a clean slate !!!


:laugh: :laugh: clean slate :laugh:

at least next time you know exactly what your doing ;)

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03 Nov 2008 21:52 #24 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
thats the funny part .... i actually wot i'd do differently next time ( if there is one ) ... but i reckon seamus is a man in the know ... so fingers crossed the 24 hours of porno movies ... and the 4 viagra i put into the tank will get them goin again

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04 Nov 2008 01:27 #25 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
so fingers crossed the 24 hours of porno movies ... and the 4 viagra i put into the tank will get them goin again[/quote]

the films might work (x-rated cut of finding nemo)?????:woohoo: ;)
but as for the viagra if your fish are on top of the water stiff as boards tomorrow :laugh: :laugh: at least we'll know what happened :blush: :blush: :woohoo:

Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild

currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick

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