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
chandlers as fish food ?
- angel (caroline)
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I got some chandlers in the fishing shop
€3 for for a nice amount
i asked him if they are safe to feed to tropical fish in a home aquarium
he took a load out from the fridge
there are no (dyed) red ones
said these are ok
anyone here feed them to their fish ?
good idea, bad idea ?
i'll hold off untill i get some feedback
thanks in advance
Angel

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- dyco619 (steve carmody)
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- angel (caroline)
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- angel (caroline)
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- dyco619 (steve carmody)
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anyway i feed them to my oscars sometimes they love them!
tho i would feed them slowly, if you put in to many they will bury themselves into the gravel and rot there..
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- angel (caroline)
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i should've said maggots
thanks for the info
i'll throw some in to the tank
just once there is no risk of introducing any kind of infection or anything
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- convict84 (sean farrell)
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- Jaffacakehead (John McPartland)
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My corys just grazed around them and didn't touch them. I was going to take them out but I'm gonna give my shrimp a chance to try them tonight.
Fishing was very good this morning and I got sunburnt to bits.
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- derek (Derek Doyle)
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thanks
i should've said maggots
thanks for the info
i'll throw some in to the tank
just once there is no risk of introducing any kind of infection or anything
chandlers/maggots/bluebottle larvae all the same buggers. feed them sparingly as the lads advise and ensure the fish eat them. if you keep the chandlers too long they turn into bluebottles and infest the house. some large carniverous fish love them, pure protein.
although even one of these would compact and even cause death with tropheus and the like.
30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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- Jaffacakehead (John McPartland)
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She went on the Gerry Ryan show to tell the story.
I still think its hilarious.
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- JohnH (John)
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I wouldn't use them as I seem to remember reading about them as having a high fat content, although, having said that I do sometimes feed chrysalis to my Kois in the pond, but they're only carp after all and pretty well invincible!
I did buy some recently to let turn into flies for feeding to the larger Bettas, but thus far they have still only pupated with still no flies in evidence!
John
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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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- angel (caroline)
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some usefull info there
most of my fish are big enough to swallow them down (bichirs, indian perch, shark cats, wolf fish etc.)
the main reason i got them to try is i got a oxydoras niger two weeks ago and he still hasn't fed for me
i said i'd try these out
i am getting a little concerned
he doesn't seem interested at all
all the rest of the fish spring to life when being fed
he just hides away
tryed feeding catfish pellets at night
tryed him on prawns, bloodworms, pellets ?
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- convict84 (sean farrell)
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- angel (caroline)
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garlic works wonders for funny feeders,mash a few cloves of garlic,put whatever food you want in a jar ect...with the garlic,leave it for a few hours,hey presto....if the food is not taken within 5 mins make sure to take it out,dont feed anything for two days and start again
great
i'll try that
he seems to be extremely shy even for a catfish, reminds me of a jaguar catfish in that respect
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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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I borrowed my now ex-wife's car and went fishing one day had a mass maggot escape in the boot. They crawled under the back seat and right through the car to the driver's footwell. Much scrbbling about and a good hoovering and still had bluebottles in the car for about two weeks.
She went on the Gerry Ryan show to tell the story.
I still think its hilarious.
Classic

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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- mr.cichlid (mr.cichlid)
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common sense has to prevail here , the parent flies of the chandlers spend there days eating and picking at what ever they can get there mouth to whether it be a dead badger on side of road with tb or a dead dog with parvo shallowly buried , all these germs would be harbouring in the chandlers and you have some people feeding to there pride and joy .....
just wouldnt be me ...
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- coaks (clyde coakley)
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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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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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- JohnH (John)
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True, but the speed with which maggots go from live to manky is rapid. Maggots are rendered to a jelly mass in next to no time.
Kev.
Since this thread first appeared last year I have given some more thought to the issue.
Maggots are, for the most part, mobile tubes of digestive juice - they have to be, because they need really powerful enzymes to transform meat into whatever is necessary for rapid growth and to allow the next stage of development into pupa, before finally metamorphosing into the final stage - the fly.
Much of what is fed to our fish (in whatever form) passes right through them and then is able to go along its merry way polluting the water, and my suspicion is that maggots (chandlers) fit right into this category.
In rivers and lakes this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but in the confined environment of our aquaria this can prove disastrous.
So, for reasons already mentioned - and for the above - I would decline the use of them as food for my fish.
Although, having said that, I still use flies as food - but only to fish which would eat flies in the wild (mostly Bettas and larger Killies in my case).
Any other views?
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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- wastegate (Joseph Farrell)
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You know you're addicted to fishkeeping when...you spend €200 to accomodate a €5 fish.
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