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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

Best way/accessories to add colour to tank?

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06 Oct 2014 09:36 #1 by db76 (Dwane Brennan)
Just starting out, got second hand aquarium online 100l. I didn't like the gravel that came with it, so decided to change, but not sure whether to go with sand or gravel. Also looking to have a brightly colored aquarium and would appreciate any recommendations on how to enhance the colour within the aquarium. I know this may have been covered elsewhere and if so can you redirect me to the post.

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07 Oct 2014 11:20 #2 by ger310 (Ger .)

Just starting out, got second hand aquarium online 100l. I didn't like the gravel that came with it, so decided to change, but not sure whether to go with sand or gravel. Also looking to have a brightly colored aquarium and would appreciate any recommendations on how to enhance the colour within the aquarium. I know this may have been covered elsewhere and if so can you redirect me to the post.


Silica sand does a great job in my opinion and a decent cheaper option is play sand................paint the back of the glass (and side if it's against the wall) a nice marine blue for a bright colour......Acrylic paint is cheap and is easy to apply and also easy to remove if you wanted to change in the future.

Were are you based? as i might be able to help you out with a couple of things if your close to D.9

Ger

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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07 Oct 2014 11:58 #3 by db76 (Dwane Brennan)
Thanks for the advice - I'm based in D.17 - will look into silica sand

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07 Oct 2014 12:02 #4 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
+1 on painting. Acrylic paint is cheaper than a bottle of sea life background glue, apply with a sponge roller. Look up uarujoey he has DIY videos on line including painting.

I wouldn't put anything too colourful in the tank decor wise it can distract from the colour of the livestock, a shoal of cardinal tetras against a dark background looks pretty good IMHO

Welcome and enjoy
Q

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07 Oct 2014 13:42 #5 by gunnered72 (Eddy Gunnered)
Sand is definitely better than gravel as a substrate...Its easier to keep clean, its better for planting and it looks so much more natural...Its better suited to a lot of fish species as well (Cichlids, Corries, Loaches etc etc etc)

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07 Oct 2014 15:17 - 07 Oct 2014 15:26 #6 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Red, pink and different shades of green plants look nice. Also a dark background makes the plants stand out aswell as slightly colourful fish if your not stocked yet try male guppies.


Location: Clogherboy Navan.
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Last edit: 07 Oct 2014 15:26 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella).

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07 Oct 2014 17:05 #7 by db76 (Dwane Brennan)
No not stocked yet, still researching everything - so many decisions to make :crazy:

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08 Oct 2014 10:15 #8 by db76 (Dwane Brennan)
As far as fish are concerned, I was thinking of a community tank. Suggestions - the more colorful the better. I like tangs but would they be good in a community tank? Also thinking of some of the following - tetras,discus, betas, plecos,platys. dwarf gourami, killfish, rainbows - what about mandarin?

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08 Oct 2014 11:14 #9 by JohnH (John)
DB, I fear you're getting your fish species mixed up a little .
Tangs are marine fish as are Mandarins (although there might be freshwater counterparts with the same name).

Obviously you would have to decide whether to keep marines or freshwater.

It is often recommended that a newcomer starts with freshwater to 'learn the ropes' so to speak, then progresses to marine at a later date, although with the wealth of help and advice now available this isn't as strictly true as it had been in previous decades.

Doubtless there will be others following with their advice - that's the beauty of fora like this.

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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08 Oct 2014 11:47 #10 by db76 (Dwane Brennan)
Cheers John, I think I will start with freshwater. The reason I mentioned those 2 is I had seen them mentioned elsewhere on the net and wasn't sure if they could go in a freshwater tank.

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08 Oct 2014 12:42 #11 by anthonyd (Anthony Debesne)
I have a tank roughly the same size as yours, mine is 90 L.
I have silica sand from an aggregate supplier, 7 e the 20 kg bag, used a third of it.
I have a pair of blue ram, 6 pygmy corys, 15 néons tetras and 5 silver tip tetras.
I would rather had lots of small fish than a few big ones who look out of place.

Anthony

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08 Oct 2014 13:27 #12 by KatieH (Katie Holland)
I started small then went medium then went with big fish. I learned what I like and what I don't like and have settled on small and medium. Large fish are nice and all but they can be messy and aggressive and if the tank is too small your going to have lots of banging on the glass.

Do your research on the fish you want and avoid if they need a really large tank. Start small at least this way if mistakes are made your not at an expensive loss.

Your tank is small so you should stick to fish that suit that tank. Be careful of overstocking. Your tank might look like it's under stocked but it will fill out when they grow. Some species breed like rabbits (guppies mollies, platys) so watch out for them cause four fish can turn into 40 in a few months.

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08 Oct 2014 14:45 #13 by Homer (Kevin)
Did you mean tangs as in tanganyikans?

Kev.

The Glass is always greener on the other side.


It's NOT "Chee lick", NOT "Chee Chee Licks"!!! Cichlids is pronounced as "Sick Lids"!!!!!

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08 Oct 2014 14:47 #14 by swai (Simon)
I've always though black made colors pop. I've both white and black substrate in my tanks and I prefer black as its easier to keep clean. U can also get black sand 1-2 mm grain size would suit.

A nice pair of dwarf cichlids and a shoal of small fish to add a bit of color and maybe some corys to keep the substrate turned over. That's what I'd do if I was setting up a community. I think Anthonys tank above sounds really nice with the fish he has picked.

Have a look at some species of apistogramma.

Marino, Dublin 9

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