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
Any advice on new setup welcomed
- dob (D O'Brien)
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I put in 5 buenos aires tetras and 5 zebra darios last week end for starters
I want to add a few small balla sharks. I would like to add one or two more varities with possible some bright colours as well as bottom feeders.
The guy in the shop gave me a list of possibilites compatable species, such as,
cory doras,kribeusis,plecos,mollies,swordtails, rainbowfish, congo tetra. I think the only bright coloured fish there are mollies
I would welcome any views or advice
DOB
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- Jim (Jim Lawlor)
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Both the tetras and the danios really prefer softer water (although they'll survive in a range of conditions), so I wouldnt add mollies, swordtails or rainbow fish to your existing mix.
There's dozens of types of colourful fish you could add - any tetras, danios, barbs would do fine.
The congo tetra already mentioned are fantastically coloured in their prime - but also have a look at cardinal tetras or neons or Odessa or golden barbs. If the shop you're dealing with doesnt have them, contact some of the sponsors on here - these are all common "bread and butter" fish for most shops.
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- dob (D O'Brien)
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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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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- christyg (Chris Geraghty)
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- fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
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I have a tank with danios, buenos aires tetra, and indian rosy barbs (from a suggestion of my guru peter from aquapaw here in galway); it seems that the barbs are not disturbed by the constant moving and chasing of the danios, they keep doing they own thinks and try to get any and all the smallest particles of food (and maybe also eggs) that they can find in between the stones at the bottom of the tank, and the danios do not disturb them (most part of the time). and they add a very pleaseant color and shape (mine are the veiltail) to the whole thing.
The only problem I had in the beginning is that the danios were much quicker in feeding, so I ended up with fat danios and not too much food for the others. I solved this by gently tap the tank just before feeding them, in no time all of them learn to come at the surface in the righ corner of the tank were I always feed them, so everyone had the same chance of getting at food.
Hope this help a bit!
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- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
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sean
Sean Crowe
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Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving
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- ger310 (Ger .)
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Christy is right 'again'(i got the talk)...your tank is almost full even though they wont grow to be jaws,its just too small for much more fish!!
If you want to keep the fish you have may i suggest as what to add.....1 or 2 pleco's(tank maintenance),1 or 2 Rainbow Dwarf Gourami's(colour and elegance) and maybe 2/3 green cory's(will scavenge the tank bottom)...
May i ask how long you have the tank in operation?
Happy keeping dude
Ger
What do you call a three legged Donkey?
A Wonkey....duh ha

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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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The congo tetra already mentioned are fantastically coloured in their prime -
Absolutely agree. I was lucky enough to get a hold of some of these a while back for my planted tank and they quickly became the most eye catching fish in the tank. Was sad to see them go when I stripped it and I havnt seen such big colourful congos in any shop since.
Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.
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- BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
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sean
Sean Crowe
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- JustinK (Justin Kelly)
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Research your preffered fish first before you buy them.
You'd be looking at a 10 foot long tank for an adult Bala Shark (recommended 10 times adult length)
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- dob (D O'Brien)
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I put in 5 sailfin mollies 2 cory doras and two swordtails last week-end about a week after I had put in the 5 buenos Aires tetras and 5 zebra Danios. I dropped the idea of the Balla sharks
I had the tank filtering for two weeks before I put the first fish in. Used Aqua safe and Stress Zyme as directed.
I lost the male swordtail after 24 hours and replaced it. I lost both the male and female swordtails this week end. All the others seem healthy
I had a water test done on saturday - ammonia was bit high so I did one third water change - plan to repeat it again mid week to get the ammonia level down. - Fish shop suggested this.
I'm told by my fish shop that this is not unusual as the bacteria in the filter is not yet at the working level and I need chane the water more frequently.
Any comments, suggestions or advice ?
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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