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

Dereks Fish - Video

05 Jan 2009 18:43 - 05 Jan 2009 18:45 #1 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)

Dereks Fish - Video was created by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)

Took some video of Dereks fish last night, I will let Derek give the details.

Daragh

Last edit: 05 Jan 2009 18:45 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens).

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derek (Derek Doyle)
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05 Jan 2009 21:13 #2 by derek (Derek Doyle)

Replied by derek (Derek Doyle) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

this vid is best seen if you click open utube and press the hd button.
the opening shows a pair of neolamprologus cylindricus amazingly trying to guard fry in a tank full of large adult mixed malawis/tangs, including several piscivores such as calvus, ahli and synodontis (all 4 inches at least) and a six inch lithobates.

i first noticed the fry swimming on thursday and there are still a fair few today. in the vid the fry are tiny, hugging the bottom and can be seen clearly only on hd. it goes to show the urge to pass on their genes is so strong.

the rest is random footage of some other tanks incl. a young pair of angels laying eggs in a crowded holding tank.

my thanks to the ever obliging daragh for shooting this video and uploading it etc.
some of the fish in this vid are species not often seen, so if anyone has any questions re id. etc. feel free to ask.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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Sean (Fr. Jack)
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05 Jan 2009 21:47 #3 by Sean (Fr. Jack)

Replied by Sean (Fr. Jack) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Nice colour fish Derek also well stocked! To keep the tank that clean using the equivelent of a lawn mower engine type filter system surely:unsure: there most be alot of maintance to keep up water quality to a acceptable level, I would say every second week this tank (African)is geting a major water change and semi filter clean.

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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JohnH (John)
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06 Jan 2009 00:27 #4 by JohnH (John)

Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

That is a great video, not so sure about the choice of music, but each to his own!

Rift Valley Cichlids wouldn't be my favourite fish either, but similar remarks apply.
They are certainly in very good order and very well cared for. I especially like the Petricolas, I think they are the nicest by far of the more easily obtained Synodontis Catfish, I'm looking to get some more myself on my trip over to UK later this month.

I'm a bit shocked by Sean's observations - Sean, aren't you the man who advocated 'no water changes' for African Cichlid tanks?

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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06 Jan 2009 01:04 #5 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)

Replied by platty252 (Darren Dalton) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Very well shot Daragh. You must have been up all night loading that in HD. It certainly makes a difference in clarity.

Great selection of fish Derek. The Petricola look like they are on a mission.
I was trying to judge the size of the neolamprologus cylindricus. Are they related to the shell dwellers (lamprologus) or am i way of the mark?
If they are related they seem fairly big.
The Frontosa didn't seem shy coming out for his/her share of the food.
Well done both of you.

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serratus (Drew Latimer)
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06 Jan 2009 01:10 #6 by serratus (Drew Latimer)

Replied by serratus (Drew Latimer) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Daragh, great pics as always!! But i was amazed to see cylindricus with leleupi... as i would consider cylindricus hyper aggressive towards cons.. however the tank looks very big so....
Derek, as always amazing quality!!!

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derek (Derek Doyle)
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06 Jan 2009 01:31 #7 by derek (Derek Doyle)

Replied by derek (Derek Doyle) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

hi sean
the main african tank 500 L has 2 internal fluval4s and 2 air powered large filters and i perform weekly water changes and clean the filters in rotation. at the moment it holds 40+ adult and sub adult fish.
hi john
the credit for the video quality is down to daragh. i was showing him the tiny fry and as he had his camera in the car he kindly offered to film them. we were hoping to illustrate the resilience of the cylindricus in trying to raise their family against impossible odds.
i also like the petricola best.
hi darren
the cylindricus are male 4in. + and female 3+, they are related to some of the shellies and more closely related to leleupi. i agree the front is certainly not a hider.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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2poc (2poc)
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06 Jan 2009 09:15 #8 by 2poc (2poc)

Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Wow some stunning fish Derek...
I really need to make some space & pick up some fish from you..

I'm suprised that big Frontosa still has lovely long pelvic fins considering his tankmates!!
He does have quite a 'don't mess with me' look about him though

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arabesque (Mick Veale)
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06 Jan 2009 11:30 #9 by arabesque (Mick Veale)

Replied by arabesque (Mick Veale) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Amazing video daragh, ive now officially subscribed to your videos in youtube, i loved the fish and shrimp video too... in high def! epecially love the fan shrimp, the quality is amazing.

p.s. what are the two plecs(?) claning the glass at the end?

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serratus (Drew Latimer)
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06 Jan 2009 16:01 #10 by serratus (Drew Latimer)

Replied by serratus (Drew Latimer) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

The fish just before the angels are rainbow garra-garra flavatra a loach from Myanmar only discovered a few years ago, great fish!!!!!

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Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)
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06 Jan 2009 20:00 #11 by Peter OB (Peter O'Brien)

Replied by Peter OB (Peter O'Brien) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Drew just asked the same question I was about to ask Re: cylindricus v Leilupi.

I had a pair of both together before and they knocked 7 bells out of one another.

ChrisM has the Cylindricus now, I think they are stunning tangs and would love to keep them again in the future.

Great vid and super tanks Derek.

Smoke me a Kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.

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derek (Derek Doyle)
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07 Jan 2009 13:50 #12 by derek (Derek Doyle)

Replied by derek (Derek Doyle) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

peter and drew.
i agree normally leleupi and cylindricus being very close relatives are not good tankmates, but because the tank is well stocked with dominant fish they appear to largely ignore each other. in general the cylindricus is the more dominant species by a mile and ime they grow larger.
i only twigged they had bred when i noticed them bouncing with ferocity off any fish (esp. synos and tropheus) approaching their nest under a piece of slate. strangely enough they sort of ignored the calvus who swam up very close and glowered at fry. the malawis and leleupi kept well away.
anyway six days later there are still some fry visible although numbers are diminishing.
2poc
i only have that front a few months (his former home was in a huge tank with giant companions)and at first he was v. shy and dark coloured, but i moved him to a different tank with larger tankmates and since then he has improved beyond recognition. he has great personality and swims around like a tetra always visible and first to the grub. in fact he is by far the most outgoing adult front i've ever owned. he has a good shape for a burundi and his colour is improving as he settles better.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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07 Jan 2009 18:08 #13 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)

Replied by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

derek wrote:

...
2poc
i only have that front a few months (his former home was in a huge tank with giant companions)and at first he was v. shy and dark coloured, but i moved him to a different tank with larger tankmates and since then he has improved beyond recognition. he has great personality and swims around like a tetra always visible and first to the grub. in fact he is by far the most outgoing adult front i've ever owned. he has a good shape for a burundi and his colour is improving as he settles better.

When I was there with the camera the other night I was hoping to film the frontosa but based on their traditional behaviour I thought I might get a bit of snout sticking out between some rock, but not with this guy, he positively put on a display and swam up and down the tank a few times for me.

Derek

Whenever I visit you always have fry and on the next visit you have a bunch of young fish, they seem to grow on at an amazing rate. Is that down to the species / feeding / water or what. Most of my youngsters grow on at a snails pace.

Despite having so many tanks and all the years I have kept fish, the one thing I am most unsure about is what the right amount to feed them is, maybe it is from years of telling beginners not to overfeed their fish and explaining that it one of the most common reasons new keepers lose their first fish I have listened too well to my own advise. Maybe you could tell us what you feed and how often.

I am sure I am not the only one wondering about feeding or at least I am sure there are others reading this that are feeding too much or too little. The usual guide is feed as much as the fish eat in 3 to 5 minutes, if I did that with some of mine they would have eaten have a tin at every feeding!!!

Daragh

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2poc (2poc)
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07 Jan 2009 18:38 #14 by 2poc (2poc)

Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

I have found my male front far more outgoing than the females but still quite reserved in general.

Great to see a good fish like that showing off.
Would especially like to see him showing his blue colours in breeding condition..

Re: feeding fry - good point Daragh I would be interested to see what Derek's opinion is on this.

I generally feed cichlid fry once in the morning and once in the evening, youngsters on crushed flake & as soon as they're big enough I feed crushed NLS.

Although not necessarily a good thing, my cichlid fry tend to get a daily feed of bloodworm too as they share the tank with a little puffer who will only eat bloodworm & they always try to rob his food.

I see different growth rates depending on species.
My Labidochromis seem very slow to grow whereas my Labeotropheus grow really quickly..

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derek (Derek Doyle)
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07 Jan 2009 21:30 #15 by derek (Derek Doyle)

Replied by derek (Derek Doyle) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

daragh and 2poc.
ime the most important aspect when raising fish is water quality, so feeding has to be such that the bio load is never out of sync. tank size, filter type, fry numbers, correct food (size and type for species), temp.,ph, gh, kh and water changes, are all factors to a greater or lesser degree depending on species. some species are slow growers, (calvus, petricola) some are fast growers, (tropheus, frontosa, killies) most of the herbivores and carnivores grow quickly whereas the micropredators such as careleus and calvus are slow. angels for example grow quickly if numbers are culled or tank size is increased to accommodate their needs whereas if packed they will be stunted and finnage will be poor.
i often feed young fish up to 10 times a day esp live food, but if water quality dips i stop feeding till it recovers. anyway the main consideration is keep water quality high as everything hinges on this.
although i use frozen bloodworm occasionally with cats or adult angels it is a food i don't trust and generally avoid. cyclops is the best and safest by far frozen food for cichlids esp tangs, but for some reason is rarely available in our shops, so b.shrimp is next best.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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JohnH (John)
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07 Jan 2009 22:11 #16 by JohnH (John)

Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

I feel the need to agree with you Derek regarding not trusting frozen Bloodworm...at least now - for years I have used the kilo blocks of it - literally with no problems at all, but fairly recently I bought two half-kilo packs and since I started using one of these I have suffered inexplicable fish losses, particularly amongst semi-adult fry, but others too.
What makes this worse is I gave the other pack to a friend who used it and had - I have since learned - lost all six of his prized fish!!!
Now, hopefully this is perhaps just a bad batch, but my fear is that this isn't the case. It could be that the quality has deteriorated, or that - during the shipping to Ireland - they became defrosted and started decomposing before being re-frozen prior to getting delivered to the LFS who got them in for me. OK, this is only speculation because they didn't smell 'off', merely like the smell of a sewerage farm. But then again they always did - I was once told that they are
bred and raised in water 'seeded' from chicken manure.

Like you I too also used to use frozen Cyclops, Brine Shrimp and also mosquito larvae, the last being very beneficial even though it took the fish a while to 'get used' to both the Mosquito Larvae and the Cyclops.
I think the smaller 'blister' packs are Gamma Ray treated before being frozen - at least they used to be.
This is all a great worry if the bloodworms cannot now be trusted as these were always my fish rearing 'mainstays', once the young fish became large enough to manage them.
I have asked for bulk pack frozen foods, other than bloodworms, both in Dublin and out this way - sadly with no luck so far.
As I say, it's a bit of a worry.

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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ronnie351 (Ronnie Burke)
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07 Jan 2009 22:38 #17 by ronnie351 (Ronnie Burke)

Replied by ronnie351 (Ronnie Burke) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Hi
There, just returning to the hobby myself after a long break, I am very inerested in setting up a community tank with some malawis and tanganykans, I just wondered how you dealt with feeding the tropheus dubosi in your tank as i believe they have a special spirulina based diet, any help appreciated , I would like to ideally mix dubosi, moori and cryptocara moori (Forgive the spelling).

Really enjoyed the video , not sure about the music though,

Thanks again Ronnie

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08 Jan 2009 00:34 #18 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)

Replied by platty252 (Darren Dalton) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

@ Daragh. The link has gone.

@ Derek. Cheers for the info on the neolamprologus cylindricus. A very attractive fish.

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08 Jan 2009 01:04 #19 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)

Replied by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

The link is still there for me, in the first post - to Dereks fish and another to the shrimps that Mick posted a few posts later, both still operational for me, anyone else missing them?

Daragh

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08 Jan 2009 13:11 #20 by Tom (Tom Brecknell)

Replied by Tom (Tom Brecknell) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Thanks Daragh and Derek, really enjoyed the Video………….Tom.

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derek (Derek Doyle)
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08 Jan 2009 23:09 #21 by derek (Derek Doyle)

Replied by derek (Derek Doyle) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

ronnie
that tank is only a temp. holding tank and currently houses the 3 species u mention along with non herbivores. i feed them all on spirulina flake and new life spectrum pellets and its fine. in the long term i would avoid keeping trophs with real carnivores such as ahli or frontosa. but with the advent of new life spectrum the omnivores such as cyrtocara would prob be all right.
water quality is the big issue with tropheus.

john
yes i've had the odd problem with bloodworm over the years and i only use it sparingly.

tom
welcome back.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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08 Jan 2009 23:24 #22 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)

Replied by platty252 (Darren Dalton) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Yes Daragh the link is back up. It was gone last night for a while?

Good to see you back on Tom.

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2poc (2poc)
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09 Jan 2009 08:47 #23 by 2poc (2poc)

Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Re: bloodworm - I have heard bad things about feeding it alright but unfortunately I have the pickiest puffer in the world that will sulk if she is not fed bloodworm...

:laugh:

Derek - you mention cutting back on feeding etc if the water quality drops - would you mind explaining specicially what you check for to indicate the basline for good water quality?

Thanks in advance,
Patrick

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derek (Derek Doyle)
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09 Jan 2009 14:04 #24 by derek (Derek Doyle)

Replied by derek (Derek Doyle) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

hi 2poc
i do very little actual testing, but by observing the fish's behavior i can normally see if the bio load is in sync. the experience of 30 years helps me to visually guess quite accurately the water parameters ph. gh. temp. and particularly pollution based on how the fish are behaving and swimming. also a good tip is to get used to gaugeing temp by putting the back of your hand to the front glass.
having said that i do sometimes check ph. hardness and temp. using meters if i'm in doubt, but have not manually checked ammonia, nitrate or nitrate in years as i can smell or see the effects of these quite easily. any problem if seen early is easy to put right.
i would say without being aware of it you are probably doing the same and then manually testing with meters and reagents for verification.
probably the only difference is that i have more experience.

i am convinced that the single biggest issue re water quality is oxygen or the lack of.
therefore as high ph and lower temp increase oxygen levels it follows that african lake fish rarely have health problems.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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2poc (2poc)
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09 Jan 2009 14:16 #25 by 2poc (2poc)

Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

Thanks for that Derek.

I fear this thread risks being nothing to do with your video any more with the direction we are pushing you with all of these questions

I tend to overstock so am always worried about water quality.
(To the extent that I run 3 external filters and change 25% of water weekly on my 400 litre cichlid tank)

I have a powerhead disturbing the surface & one of the externals is a wet/dry to take care of oxygen requirements..

I've not had any water problems (that I know of) so don't really have the experience to diagnose water quality by eye.

One behaviour I see from time to time which worries me is the fish flicking their dorsal or pectoral fins up & down.
They tend to do this then dart away.

Googling it, the info was leading me to believe it is a fish communication thing but my gut feeling is telling me its not.

Just wondering if your experience would tie this behaviour to any particular water quality issue?

Regards,
Patrick

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derek (Derek Doyle)
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09 Jan 2009 19:01 #26 by derek (Derek Doyle)

Replied by derek (Derek Doyle) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

if the flicking increases after feeding, then its prob a minor W Q issue. otherwise it is fairly normal.
africans can sometimes have a minor parasite infection which lingers on without becoming a major problem. the hard water restricts the infection and it is never obvious, just a nuisance but might explain excessive twitching or scratching. fine sand in the gills would also cause this reaction.
the best sign of fish health and good water quality is fish clamouring for food and after feeding to still be active and alert.
the above are possibilities that u could consider, but i doubt if you've any real problem and it is prob. just communication (threats or submission etc.)

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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Sean (Fr. Jack)
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09 Jan 2009 19:02 - 09 Jan 2009 19:05 #27 by Sean (Fr. Jack)

Replied by Sean (Fr. Jack) on topic Re:Dereks Fish - Video

derek wrote:

observing the fish's behavior i can normally see if the bio load is in sync. the experience of 900 years helps me to visually guess quite accurately the water parameters ph. gh. temp. and particularly pollution based on how the fish are behaving and swimming. .

Its all about searching your feelings and feeling the force, with this you can smell the amonica in the water water from 5cm above the surface, (and fish farts lol) and respiration rates fins clamping swimming patterns. this is known by the dark side as biotic measurement to detect the aquatic environment without using test kits.

epa.gov/bioindicators/html/fish.html