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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

darn it.....

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11 May 2014 22:02 #1 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Made a bit of a rookie mistake this evening and then made things worse I think!!!!

Went to do a water change on the community tank, took out about 20 litres of water and stopped the syphon! Lifted up one of the ornaments (a bridge) and got a bit of a shock when a load of brissle nose fry fell out of it! Had noticed over the last week or so I hadnt seen my male too often but knew he had been using the bridge as a cave! (Should have put 2 and 2 together really 'but didnt cause im thick')
Now to try protect them I put them into a 2ft tank with the male (they are definitely too young to be out of the cave yet) but he hasnt done anything with them and now im kinda wondering should I have left him in the community tank?

Having never dealt with this species of fry before, im kinda lost

Any advice?

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12 May 2014 06:32 #2 by paulv (paul vickers)
Replied by paulv (paul vickers) on topic darn it.....
The man that never made a mistake never made anything. The main job the male does is to protect thefry, as yours are in their own tank now most should be ok. Keep lots of water movement over them. Best of luck with them.

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12 May 2014 07:18 #3 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Safe enough to remove the father tonight then?

Ill have to rig up some fry safe filter system that will turn over more water! At the moment im just using a small internal, but I think I need more turnover!
Ill look around see what is available to me tonight

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12 May 2014 07:42 #4 by paulv (paul vickers)
Replied by paulv (paul vickers) on topic darn it.....
Id say its pointless to keep the male there as he is ignoring the fry. If you have a small air pump connected to an open line, no stone, that will move lots of water. Hopefully more experienced keepers will offer you advise.

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12 May 2014 07:58 #5 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Thanks for the help Paul

Ive a few ideas of things that might help a little after what you have said

Thanks again

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12 May 2014 08:49 #6 by paulv (paul vickers)
Replied by paulv (paul vickers) on topic darn it.....
Your very welcome. How big are the fry? Is the egg sac already gone? You need to feed them. Lettuce strips, cucumber slices, mashed peas are all good. Use bare bottom tank and vacume every day, changing 10 to 15% water daily.

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12 May 2014 09:41 #7 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
They are about 1 cm long (some smaller) some have darkened up and some havent! So im kinda wondering if there are eggs from both females!
Egg sacks are mostly gone however some did remain when I was moving them (inside the cave/bridge).

Have plenty of cucumber and peas (need shelling) bought more algea waffers today aswell!
What do you think of brocolli and other greens? Good idea? Do they need boiled before putting them in?

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12 May 2014 22:05 #8 by paulv (paul vickers)
Replied by paulv (paul vickers) on topic darn it.....
Sori for the late reply. Id say the peas, lettuce, crushed veggi flakes will be enough. The fry may not be old enough to eat the wafers just yet. Dont boil anything, all the nutritional value ends up in the water you throw out.

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12 May 2014 22:50 #9 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
IME once the egg sac is gone feed peeled cucumber during the day and algae wafers at night. They are little eating machines.
The wafers soften and they can eat them.

Change water every day. Keep the base of the tank clean.
IMO bacteria is the biggest killer of pleco's of all ages.

Small internal filters or small sponge filters clog to quickly.
As an example I have had the largest fluval internal and about 80 young and the sponges clogged within 1-2 week with all the food and waste.

They need plenty of oxygen and good water quality.
If you see them climbing the side of the tanks up near the top there is not enough oxygen.
I prefer to use large airstones over flow to create oxygen. Flow just makes for a lot of wasted food kept in suspension and clogged filters.

Temp. about 26-27c. PH and hardness seems less important.

Best of luck with them.

Darren.

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16 May 2014 19:30 #10 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
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they have me scratching my head slightly
Some of them are black like the parents, some look white/albino.... but as I said, parents arent albino or white

Do the fry darken up later? Are some of the fry younger than others? They are roughly all the same size!

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16 May 2014 20:33 #11 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
I'm wondering the same thing as I've a few yellowish white and some that are blackish brown and like yours the parents are dark. I assume we will find out as they grow.

Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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16 May 2014 22:37 #12 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
One of your plec's could carry an albino gene (that doesn't sound right but you know what I mean) resulting in some albino fry.
This seems to be common enough with bristlsenose pleco's.

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18 May 2014 12:15 #13 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
Replied by jeff (Jeff Scully) on topic darn it.....
Congrats mate the size of them ha their deadly best of luck with them

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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20 May 2014 14:55 #14 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
It seems I missed a few in the 190 when I was switching them over!!! Think there are 3 or 4 in there at the min!
So far we have only had 1 casualty in all! Over 40 in the small tank and only loosing 1 so far seems fairly good imo!

They are growing fairly well and seem happy enough! They stay in the bottom half of the tank and eat in shifts!!!! There are always a squad of them on whatever food is in for them! Then they seem to swim off and more move in for a feed!

Have to say, the bare bottom tank makes it very easy to clean!!!!

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09 Jun 2014 18:29 #15 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Just found a second batch of fry in the tank tonight
And it looks like one of the females is trying to get into the cave for another spawning(shes a fair bit fatter than the other female) but hes not for letting her in at the moment

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02 Aug 2014 14:49 #16 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Its about time too....
Finally moved them from 60l into 200l with loads of wood and a bit of substrate!
Water is a bit merky at the min but they seem more than happy! Going to throw in a second filter for a few days just with floss in it to polish the water and clear it up a bit!

I need to make some kind of light unit or make up something to light the bigger tank
But ill do that during the week sometime

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02 Aug 2014 18:45 #17 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)

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02 Aug 2014 19:06 #18 by swai (Simon)
Replied by swai (Simon) on topic darn it.....
Looking good hammie! I need a breeding project.

Marino, Dublin 9

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02 Aug 2014 19:12 #19 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Everything else has stopped breeding for me recently, think I might move my blue acaras into this tank for a few weeks (not yet tho) to see if I can get them to try again! They made moves at it twice and unfortunately were unsuccessful! But they didnt bother again

I have a few (fake) plants (in bits) that I need to put back together and put in here! Just give them some more hiding places

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02 Aug 2014 23:02 #20 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
I like the wood work are the terracotta pots for the pleco or for some other fish? Have they spawned in them. Considering getting a few more caves as my young male has grown up and was trying to take over my breeding males cave while he was watching the eggs :laugh: . 11 eggs were lost in the struggle though.

Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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03 Aug 2014 00:05 #21 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
There is nothi g in that tank even half way close to breeding size or age! Breeding for the bns isnt priority at the min
There are a few more hidden pots at the back and ill be putting in some caves in the future

Im actually not that happy with wood layout tbh and can see it changing tomorrow!

I didnt think I was going to like the backround tiles either but they look alot better than I expected tbh

At the min there are close to 100 bn's in that tank and another 15 - 20 in my community tank
Once they get up close to breeding size/age they will be moved on id say!

At the min they are keeping me entertained tho

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03 Aug 2014 10:42 #22 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Really :ohmy: . Yea the back has a nice texture keep me in mind when you move them on as I'd be interested in couple albino females. Just to avoid inbreeding :) .

I like that the wood has height mine is flat I'm considering getting vine wood and attaching moss from one end of the tank to the other just an idea at the min. I'll need to grow a ton of moss first. :laugh:

Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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03 Aug 2014 11:06 #23 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
I will of course!
I had to cut a couple of the bog wood pieces to make them fit! Then I done a bit of stacking to give it the height!
Inbreeding is something that if it happens, they wont survive!!!

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