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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

Any advice on new setup welcomed

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05 Jul 2011 19:24 #1 by dob (D O'Brien)
I have just set up a tank c 25inches x 15 x 13. about 90 litres volume.
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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05 Jul 2011 20:28 #2 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Hi Dob and welcome to the forum.

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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05 Jul 2011 21:09 #3 by dob (D O'Brien)
Thanks for that

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06 Jul 2011 02:17 #4 by sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
just a quick add on to the above advice, Balla sharks will quickly outgrow your tank so i'd leave them out as they can grow up to 16" long and do require a lot of swimming space as they are an active fish and your current tank is way to small to house them

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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06 Jul 2011 08:48 #5 by christyg (Chris Geraghty)
Welcome . With 10 fish in a tank that size, you dont have a lot of room to add much more or you'll be overstocked. That tank is nearer 80 litres than 90. Good luck :)

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06 Jul 2011 11:42 #6 by fishmama (Maria Kennedy)
Just my 2 cent, from another beginner.

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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06 Jul 2011 18:39 #7 by BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
welcome dob yeah sheag35 is right id stay away from the bala sharks great lookin fish but get very big very quick i have one is a vision 260 and he is about 4inchs and ill be gettin rid off him soon enough have seen them ta get Hugh is some off the sponsors shops so id dismiss them till u upgrand your tank mate best off luck with your setup and welcome :cheer:

sean

Sean Crowe

ITFS Member

Location: Navan

Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving

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06 Jul 2011 23:27 #8 by ger310 (Ger .)
Alright man,listen as the lads said,the small Bala's your thinking about will be not so small Bala's in pissing time so that's a no no(at least 200L tank as far as i know)so stay way clear!!
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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06 Jul 2011 23:42 #9 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)


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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10 Jul 2011 19:04 #10 by BlueRam (Sean Crowe)
also a school off Cardinal neon Tetras look very well in a planted setup

sean

Sean Crowe

ITFS Member

Location: Navan

Always Remember Surviving Is Not Thriving

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10 Jul 2011 19:43 #11 by JustinK (Justin Kelly)
First off all get your water tested and get fish to suit.
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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18 Jul 2011 22:01 #12 by dob (D O'Brien)
Thanks to you all for your comments- appreciated

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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18 Jul 2011 22:40 #13 by davey_c (dave clarke)
2 weeks is not long enough to cycle a fresh tank. i wouldn't be using stress zyme because that could be causing you ammonia spike... i would do daily 50% w/c to get it down quickly and keep it down untill a suficent amount of bacteria colonises to be able to cope, or you could ask someone for filter squeezings to increase your bacteria.

Below tank is for sale

my plywood tank build.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768

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