×
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 tips for a beginner

More
26 Mar 2010 01:31 #1 by Turner85 (David Turner)
First off,Hello to everyone on the forum. I've just recently got into fish keeping and would like to know if im doing anything wrong and what else i can do to make sure my fish are healthy and happy. Ive got a 240 litre tank run off a sump,its going about 2 months now.I do weekly water changes putting prime in the fresh water to remove chlorine.Tank isnt to heavily decorated at the minute but ive made sure there is plenty of hiding places.Just added 2 coconuts tonight.So far ive only had 1 casualty,had to be the dearest fish in the tank,it was an electric blue jack dempsey.So know im gonna name the species i have, i dont know scientific names but just what i was told they are. 1 red spotted severum, 1 green severum, 2 armored catfish, 1 jaguar catfish, 3 black ghost knifes, 1 brown knife, 1 glass knife, 1 geophagus, 2 firemouth cichlids, 1 tyre track eel, 1 fire eel and finally an indian perch.All fish are still small, biggest being the brown knife at around 5 inches.Ive being feeding them on dry food,blood worm and catfish pellets. All fish eat great besides the jaguar catfish who doesnt come out of hiding.All my fish are fairly peaceful aswell besides the 2 firemouths,they fight with each other. So basically im just looking to the other fish keepers to see what they think of my mixture of fish,food types,water treatment and so on.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 01:40 - 26 Mar 2010 01:41 #2 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
well first off welcome young david this is the right place to be asking advice youll find most of the members are extremely helpfull ya should put up a few pictures of your tank i will say one thing thats a good few knife fish dont know if the black ghosts will fight with the other knife fish i had 4 bgk s and i found the morw hideing spaces they have the better they grt along i have a video of me hand feeding them and they swim in and out of my fingers great social fish when they become comfortable in there suroundings i actually hace a dvd about black ghoasts in the wild call down and ill give it to ya and again welcome to the forumB)

at the end of the day it becomes nite
Last edit: 26 Mar 2010 01:41 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle).

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 01:46 #3 by Turner85 (David Turner)
Cheers craig,ill defo grab a lend of that dvd. The ghostknifes don't fight really at all just a bit at feeding time with each other and occasionally the bigger of the 3 fights with glassknife but thats over a plant that the glassknife has claimed as his.Also havent tried hand feeding them. What do u hand feed them

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 01:50 #4 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
frozen cubes of blood worm they love it

at the end of the day it becomes nite

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 01:53 #5 by Turner85 (David Turner)
Have been feeding them bloodworm, but defrosting in a cup of tank water first. Are u actually feeding them it still frozen

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 01:57 #6 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
its been a year or so since ive kept them keeping africans now but i used to let it thaw out first but the blood wormis very stringy and klumps toghter so after it was defrosted i would just pick it up inbetween my fingers put it in the tank and they would all come have a nibble

at the end of the day it becomes nite

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 01:59 #7 by JohnH (John)
Yes,
Welcome from me also.
I think that you might be close to, if not already reached, the limit for your tank.
Particularly with Cichlids.
These are 'territory' fish and some need quite a lot of space for their terrirories too.
Sadly, the Jaguar Catfish, like many of their brethren tend to be quite reclusive fish and are rarely seen until they're really feeling secure in their environment, but even then they tend to be a nocturnal creature.
The Knife Fish can be very adept at finding the smallest gaps to escape their tank so you might want to consider this too.
Sorry, I'm sounding very disparaging, but it's best to be aware of the potential pitfalls as your fish grow.

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.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 02:02 #8 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
john very true i used to have my bgks in a jewul tank took the nozzle off for filter box and the knife fish had swam through the hole and was under the filter media

at the end of the day it becomes nite

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 02:07 #9 by Gerry The Chip (Gerard)
Welcome to the forum:-) Ask any questions you may have, iv got alot of help of all the lads they really know there stuff. Gerry

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 02:07 #10 by Turner85 (David Turner)
Thanks for the advice so far, i know my tank is farely stocked already. Probably wont purchase anything else at the time being.Unless im really tempted.And i would part with one or two fish i already have to make room for the new if necessary. Also hope to get a bigger tank in the future.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • Alex (Alex)
  • Alex (Alex)'s Avatar
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
26 Mar 2010 02:20 #11 by Alex (Alex)
Replied by Alex (Alex) on topic Re:Any tips for a beginner
Hey welcome to forum. Nice mix of fish there...! Hopefully u get bigger tank in future :) The Fire Eel alone will prob need bigger tank.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 08:02 #12 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Hello, and welcome aboard. Nice selection of fish you have there. If you are looking to try to reduce aggression in your Firemouths you can try rearranging the decor and introducing a couple more of similar size at the same time. You will however, have to part with something as your heavily stocked as is but in my opinion SA Cichlids are worth it ;) .

Jay

Location: Finglas, North Dublin.

Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • 2poc (2poc)
  • 2poc (2poc)'s Avatar
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
26 Mar 2010 09:26 #13 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:Any tips for a beginner
Some interesting fish, nice to see a 'first' tank with something other than livebearers.
Sounds like you're enjoying it & keeping on top of tank maintenance.

Remember the volume in your sump can be added to the volume in your tank for total volume so by the sounds of it you have more than 240 litres.

Re: Losing the jack dempsey, these fish are a very weak strain & its pretty unusual for them to make it to any decent size. Many of the specimens in the shops are really poor quality too, they are a bit of a 'fad' fish resulting in high prices and breeders scrambling to produce as many as possible to the detriment of the quality of fish available.

With the fish you're keeping, most of them being wild caught South American fish its important to match the water chemistry in your tank to their natural habitat as much as possible.

Do you know what your PH is?

Cheers,
Patrick

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 10:51 #14 by lestat (Stuie)
welcome to the forum,:)
you will get the best info and help from the site,
any queries at all big and small,someone always knows how t help,
enjoy
stuie

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 10:57 #15 by lestat (Stuie)
oh and as for shops i suggest using the ones from the sponsors list as when i started i used ones that werent and had bad experiences,check out the sponsors list and map an see which ones are near you and try set up a relationship with them,i know myself alot of them even offer loyalty cards usually giving a 10% discount,it helps haha
good luck stuie;)

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 11:16 #16 by Turner85 (David Turner)
Thanks again lads. Im yet to purchase a water testing kit,but i have been getting it tested in the local fish shop. And have taking the volume of the sump into account since i have had to treat a bit of whitespot at the start which was from me putting in a bucket of cold water on the first water change. It cleared up anyway with no deaths.Im gonna try get a couple of pictures up as im looking to know a proper name for 2 of my fish so i can find out a bit more about them. Also any tips on making sure my jaguar catfish gets fed. My brother is helping out with the fish also and he has kept them in the past so im not stuck for basic knowledge

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
26 Mar 2010 11:21 #17 by fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
fancie a trip to some fish shops today

at the end of the day it becomes nite

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.062 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum