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
When to cull? Ancistrus "snub nose"
I'm back asking for advice again.
Basically I was wondering about peoples views on fry culling. Do you always cull even minor defects or do do you let some live if you don't think the defect is genetical and if it does not seem to affects the fish?
The reason that I'm asking is that I have noticed one of my Bristlenose juveniles (Ancistrus cf. cirrhosus, longfin) growing into a "snub nose"
Scroll down on this page for an example, I unfortunately don't have any pictures:
www.zebrapleco.com/core/hypancistrus_zebra_health.php
Being from a already inbred species I thought this was the cause, however after doing some research it seems that this is most common in fry from wild caught Hypancistrus and that the cause is undetermined for now.
My juvenile is the only one showing these signs and the parents have had 200+ fry before this without defects. It should also be said that it is a very mild case(unlike the pictures of the zebras), I can't see the fish being in pain or having difficulties eating, It is also one of the strongest and fastest growing from that batch.
If I would decide to let this fish live (it seems a waste to cull if not needed), I would have to find a home for it where it will not be bred, in case it is genetical after all.
Please share your views on this, thanks in advance.
Melander
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Wish I would have spotted the fry sooner, before developing into a otherwise healthy looking sub-juvenile.
Never tried clove oil, either that or a smack on the head I suppose.
I would breed from unrelated parents when possible, the problem is with species like this that have already been inbreed in fish farms for physical traits and mass production and where wildcaughts don't exist.
For instance my longfin male x my albino female(from another source) produce albino fry which means that the male also carries the albino gene and most likely is related to the albino female somehow.
As this trait from what I understand seems to pop up randomly in several species of plecos, and in first generation fry I do not believe it's caused by inbreeding, I'm only guessing thou so better safe then sorry.
Going a bit off topic there but anyway.
Melander
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From what I have gathered allot of people dismiss this deformity as being genetical and one popular suggestion seems to be that it is a physical damage caused when the fry is punching thru the egg, which would explain why it is seen in allot of Loricariids and seems to appear randomly.
Melander
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As it is now I think the fish has grown too big and is looking too healthy for me to cull it for being “ugly”.
I will try to find a new home for this one, if that is not possible I will keep it myself. I can’t see me getting out of fish keeping so that should not be an issue.
Thanks for the input!
Melander
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Melander
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