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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

Banana Leaves

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30 Jun 2008 19:11 - 30 Jun 2008 20:58 #1 by niko001 (Noel Cutajar)
Dried Banana leaves are used by many betta breeders as an alternative to Indian Almond Leaves. While I am not aware of any pharmacological studies into the efficacy of the leaves for aquatic use, many Thai breeders believe that they are better than Indian Almond Leaves. They are said to enhance colouration and general health of bettas. They will not tan the water unlike Indian Almond Leaves, so they will be good for those who would like to have the water conditioning properties of the leaves without having to bear with dark colour water. It is also said that such leaves have the following effect:

* Reduce PH of water
* Anti-Bacteria
* Stimulate betta colour

LINK
Last edit: 30 Jun 2008 20:58 by niko001 (Noel Cutajar).

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30 Jun 2008 19:50 #2 by BJHillson (Brett Hillson)
Where would you get these leaves from!

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30 Jun 2008 19:54 #3 by niko001 (Noel Cutajar)
Where I live they are readily available as they require tropical temperatures. They are from the common banana plants

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30 Jun 2008 20:21 #4 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
BJHillson wrote:

Where would you get these leaves from!


Amy on eBay sells them, see

cgi.ebay.co.uk/50-bunches-of-DRIED-BANAN...sidZp1742.m153.l1262

She is an excellent eBay seller, I have bought the Almond leaves many times. I never tried banana leaves so I will have to give them a go too, thanks for the tip Niko.

Daragh

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30 Jun 2008 21:01 #5 by niko001 (Noel Cutajar)
I found that if the leaves are green and left to dry they produce more tannins when compared to the dried leaves which die off from the plant. I will try to post some pictures of the green leaves.

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02 Aug 2008 10:14 #6 by Gavin (Gavin)
Replied by Gavin (Gavin) on topic Re:Banana Leaves
I have a bannana tree at home in my front roo.m always ready to give dried ones over.let me know.

dont make me come over there.

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18 Aug 2008 16:30 - 18 Aug 2008 16:33 #7 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re:Banana Leaves
Daragh_Owens wrote:

BJHillson wrote:

Where would you get these leaves from!


Amy on eBay sells them, see

cgi.ebay.co.uk/50-bunches-of-DRIED-BANAN...sidZp1742.m153.l1262

She is an excellent eBay seller, I have bought the Almond leaves many times. I never tried banana leaves so I will have to give them a go too, thanks for the tip Niko.

Daragh


As a follow-up to this I received an email this morning to say that Amy will shortly be taking a break from her ebay activities until mid-December so if you were thinking of buying any leaves from her I would suggest you order very quickly. I can agree with Daragh in saying that the quality of her goods are first class and could also heartily recommend her also.

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.
Last edit: 18 Aug 2008 16:33 by JohnH (John). Reason: left a word out, silly me.

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12 Feb 2011 11:11 #8 by ArmaghAdam (Adam)
Replied by ArmaghAdam (Adam) on topic Re: Banana Leaves
Has anyone tried them?
I use 'Indian almond leaf tea bags' i find the increased surface ratio works quicker. While it does discolour the water to a certain extent it more than makes up for it with fish vitality and colour.

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12 Feb 2011 13:29 - 12 Feb 2011 13:39 #9 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: Banana Leaves
I grow 4 different species of Banana outside in my Garden, yes ! Bananas outside ! They all belong to the Genus Musaceae which also includes Bird of paradise plant, travellers palm etc, Bananas are not trees they are Herbaceous plants, that is, the main plant flowers, fruits and then dies, then new shoots grow and replace the dead one and so on. Being Herbaceous plants, they don't change colours in Autumn, the beautiful colours that remain on a leaf in Autumn is what is left behind after all the Sugars etc are withdrawn from the Leaf, these are what will affect the water in your Tank, these don't exist in Banana Leaves. The Banana leaf has to be cut down while green and dried as they curl up like paper when the shoot is dying off.

All my Bananas are root hardy, that means the shoots can be killled by frost but re-sprout in the late Spring.
This is a Photo of Musa Sikkimensis.

If you are going to look for a species you can redily get I suggest you look for Musa basjoo, it is from Japan and is as hardy as old boots, it will, if the winter is mild, grow to around 12-15 feet depending on your soil and would provide the whole forum with enough leaves for a year.

Kev
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Last edit: 12 Feb 2011 13:39 by stretnik (stretnik).

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