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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

Chocolate Gourami.

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31 Mar 2011 21:10 - 31 Mar 2011 21:11 #1 by stretnik (stretnik)
Chocolate Gourami. was created by stretnik (stretnik)
I have picked three of these cuties from Petmania, well done Gerry by the way, Tanks clean and lookin good !

Just wondering, I have observed the three very healthy specimens settle in within minutes and this afternoon, picking tiny specks of food from leaves near the surface so feeding , which really had me worried as they are noted as picky and difficult to feed, Anabantoids, are there any treats that they will enjoy as a once or twice a week offering to keep amino acids etc up to speed within their little bodies?

Kev.
Last edit: 31 Mar 2011 21:11 by stretnik (stretnik).

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31 Mar 2011 21:14 #2 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Great choice of fish. :)

I feed mine the frozen brine shrimp with spirulina as a treat.
Their usual diet is either JBL NovaTab (crumbled) or JBL GranoColor. But they take anything if it is small enough, but will even have a go at bigger pieces.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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31 Mar 2011 21:16 #3 by Ieva star (Ieva Fogta)
Any snaps of them Kev

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31 Mar 2011 21:51 #4 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: Chocolate Gourami.
Ah thanks Ian, there were so many doom and gloom refs to them that I was a bit concerned.

Kev.

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31 Mar 2011 22:22 #5 by dyco619 (steve carmody)
lovely fish, picked up 2 a few weeks ago myself,
to add to my gourami collection, settled in really quick
go mad for blood worm,

just a quick question of my own about them,
what is the best number of them to keep?
as i did notice a slight bit of bullying between them..
wondering are they better kept in bigger groups?

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31 Mar 2011 23:17 #6 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re: Chocolate Gourami.
Many years ago these were indeed very finicky feeders and particularly difficult to keep.
Back then it was live food or nothing - but the ones I have now even eat flake!

Today I gave them freeze-dried Blackworms which they ate with apparent relish too. They also eat mashed prawn, leaving little behind.
They certainly fare better at lower pH (mine are at pH 5.5) and a word of warning - they, like so many other Anabantids, are excellent at finding gaps which you wouldn't think they could escape from!
One of mine found its way onto the floor through an almost non-existent gap!
So, tight-fitting cover is the way here!

Unfortunately they have shown no discernible signs of breeding - but I remain ever hopeful.

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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31 Mar 2011 23:31 #7 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
JohnH quoted the exact problems of these fish years ago. Maybe dried food has got better since then.
They used to be real pains to keep....a true challenge for any fishkeeper.
If you kept perfect water conditions, ultra clean, and never had to revert to any medication then there was a better than 50% chance of keeping them.....but if anything was lacking, the chances dropped very quickly.

As a fish they show all the signs of a giant gourami only in miniature. Including being hand-tame.

Gav..yes there is a bit of bullying that will go on. It can be very subtle at times, and often the females may bully the males. In the banded chocolate gouramis, particularly when the male is carrying the babies, the females will sometimes harass the males to death.

Like so many classic 'olde fashioned' fish it is great to see these beauties around.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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