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
Shellies on a tiny scale.
- stretnik (stretnik)
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Best viewed in HD
Kev.
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- platty252 (Darren Dalton)
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Thats the most original use for one of those tanks ive seen yet.
The similis seem to be doing the rounds at the moment.
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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I think they are perfect for non planted setups, Sand etc.
Glad what you pm'd me about worked out.
Kev
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- Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
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Jay
Location: Finglas, North Dublin.
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- mickdeja (Mick Whelan)
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Mick.......

Follow me up to Carlow
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- Xaribdis (Lorcan O' Brien)
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Thanks, L.
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Occies are little bull dogs and need monitoring, just a side note, I found them to be really dependant on high levels of oxygen, I know because an ailine with an airstone flipped out of a small two footer and in a couple of hours they were all dead on the floor of the Tank as there was no extra water movement other than that, there were 12 in total.
The water perams were perfect, I was disgusted I hadn't clipped it into place.
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- Xaribdis (Lorcan O' Brien)
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Interesting about the oxygen levels though- when I first set up the tank I noticed all the fish were a bit listless. With the water params perfect, I decided to put in a spray bar to agitate the water in case it was poorly oxygenated. Within a day they had turned from passive pets to little Terriers! Maybe if they get too troublesome I'll push the bar under the water again- try get a Pavlovian response from them to behave!

Finally, do you mind if I ask how long it took them to breed? Do they pair off handy enough or was it sheer numbers that got you a pair? What age roughly do they become mature?
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Derek off this forum would probably be the best man to ask.
Kev.
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- Xaribdis (Lorcan O' Brien)
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Want to get a few more now that I have increased the size of their floor space by a good 50%. Maybe two more females to give him a harem of 4. He'll have his work cut out for him trying to keep that many ladies happy at once! Are those just Escargot shells you use?
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- derek (Derek Doyle)
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@ xarabis. there are numerous shelldwellers but the only ones suitable for colonies are the similis and less rare multifasciatus. as mentioned by kev, both of these species are tolerant of conspecifics in close proximity. all the rest such as brevis and occellatus etc. need space and are best kept in pairs if in smaller tanks.
with multis/ similis you can start with a pair or a group and a few shells on a sandy base and they do the rest.they spawn at quite a young age and do not generally harm the young. best food is cyclops, brineshrimp or smaller nls or good flake. as with all lake tanganyikan fish they demand good water.
30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- Xaribdis (Lorcan O' Brien)
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Thanks again
Lorcan
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