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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

list of plants for malawi&african tank

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02 Sep 2010 14:56 #1 by Gavin (Gavin)
most plants in with malawis get shredded, you could try this one

www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display...c=768+810&pcatid=810

and this one

www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display...c=768+800&pcatid=800

some people have success, really depends on the individual fish to be honest.both are available from us if you need em.
you might have a look here www.tropica.com we are an agent for their plants and keep both species pretty much year round.

dont make me come over there.

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02 Sep 2010 15:13 #2 by pets and ponds (cees and catherine de snoo murphy)
hello,Cees here,yes you can put plants in your African/Malawi tank.Plants like Anubias barteri,Anubias lanceolata,hornworth,Vallisneria,Elodea densa doing very well.Anubias lanceolata have strong leather like leafs.Put some pebbles around the roots to give them the chance to set themselves in the substate.Also Bolbitis heudelotthi works very well.to get some plants from lake Malawi is very hard.Horhworht and Elodea densa grows there,so a lot of Malawi fishkeepers go for these plants.My choice is the Anubias who is very strong and atractive.good luck,Cees

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02 Sep 2010 15:30 #3 by Gavin (Gavin)
elodea and vallis wouldn't last with malawis for any length of time with adult/sub adult fish.you only have to pull it through the water and it falls apart, as for getting the bolbotis and anubis to settle in the substrate you are way off the mark there, if you bury the rhizome of these plants they rot and die.they must be attached to a wood or rock.

dont make me come over there.

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02 Sep 2010 15:42 #4 by dar (darren curry)
ooh sponsor wars

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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02 Sep 2010 15:44 #5 by Gavin (Gavin)
B) B)

dont make me come over there.

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03 Sep 2010 12:30 #6 by pets and ponds (cees and catherine de snoo murphy)
hello,Gavin.As you know the substrate in Malawi tanks is normally coarse.the roots only rot in a dense substrate.Having said that,I found Bolbitis in the Kineke river (near Kribi) in sand!!,and Anubias in mud!!.,they put these plants only on wood and rock as a decorative purpose.In many top Malawi and Tanganyika tanks in Holland,they put Vallisneria and Elodea in it as main plants. Frank van Efferen who won the national conpetition many times has a Tanganyikan species of the Vallisneria in his tank,and no fish has ever touched it.In all my travels I found plants on the most impossible places. Cryptos in complete dry Laterit soil.I saw the most beautiful Echinodorus sp near a public toilet (flowering),Java fern on a treetrunk,etc etc. So, in my 48 years as an aquarium keeper,I saw many surprises and avoid saying that something don't work out.There is always proof it will. With respect to you,Cees.

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03 Sep 2010 13:00 #7 by Gavin (Gavin)
agreed there are many surprises around, and as plants don't read books they can and do surprise us.My info given is in my experience, and the info I have to give people is what works all the time not what may work.respect to you too.

dont make me come over there.

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04 Sep 2010 14:44 #8 by derek (Derek Doyle)
interesting topic/debate. keeping plants alive in african tanks is possible in some cases and impossible in others. tropheus and the big malawian herbivores will attack and eat or destroy most plants but i have often kept java fern and onion plants. (type of giant grass?) with a degree of success. malawi haps and frontosa will often tear or dig up even plastic plants let alone real ones. but species such as careleus and aulonacaras most victorians and the substrate spawning tangs generally ignore plants. i quite often put floating plants and the odd potted plant with some of these species and it improves the habitat.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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  • stretnik (stretnik)
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04 Sep 2010 23:53 - 05 Sep 2010 00:07 #9 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:list of plants for malawi&african tank
Crinum (Onion Plants) are flowering Marsh plants with huge beautiful flowers, if you want to see plant self preservation in action, and sorry for hijacking, this is becoming a habit of mine;o) Look no further than the Magnificent Victoria amazonica water lily. I worked with this Plant, from seed to seed in one season and it's growth rate amazed me. Six feet in diameter . We had to Hand pollinate the Flower and then protect the fertilized Flower by putting plastic bags over them.

It protects it's leaves by using large , sharp thorns on it's undersides that prevents it been eaten or damaged. It's leaves have air filled voids that keep the Leaves afloat while each leaf has a ridge about three inches high it never becomes waterlogged as it has hundreds of holes that lets the rain drain away. One leaf held a three year old Child on it in Kew Gardens a few years ago.



Just thought you folks might find this interesting.


Kev.
Last edit: 05 Sep 2010 00:07 by stretnik (stretnik).

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05 Sep 2010 13:25 #10 by Gavin (Gavin)
I'm open to correction on this but I'm pretty sure they are the reason lake victoria is in such a state, I remember reading that this species or one very like it was brought by the british from the amazon because of their pretty flowers to decorate their fountains and ornamental ponds,when it overgrew them they were chucked into the lake.bam. disatser we now face there.

mankind = meh.

dont make me come over there.

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06 Sep 2010 14:42 - 06 Sep 2010 14:52 #11 by pets and ponds (cees and catherine de snoo murphy)
you are right gavin,they did the same with the eichhornia,this plant blocked now complete waterways.elodea densa is another example,in holland they call it waterpest
Last edit: 06 Sep 2010 14:52 by pets and ponds (cees and catherine de snoo murphy).

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06 Sep 2010 14:44 #12 by Ma (mm mm)
Gavin wrote:

mankind = meh.



You said it buddy. We wreck everything.


Mark

Location D.11

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