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
N. guentheri eggs
- Bill (Bill Hunter)
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First, I by the wife some flowers, after a week or so I'm really helpful to her and I change the water in the vase for her but take the old water through to the fish room.
If you are rearing a lot of fry you can get a large container and fill with water, drop in a lettuce leaf, then leave it bright light. It will eventually go cloudy (bacteria) and then the cloudiness starts clearing (infusoria eating bacteria) once it's clear then you can feed that. After two or three days on infusoria I then mix infusoria with micro worm - that way stragglers are still fed.
You can buy starter cultures which are pure paramecium and a lot of breeders claim it's the best.
If you have a garden pond then that will be teeming with infusoria.
It's even easier to culture than microworms plus the wife thinks I'm awfully romantic

Bill
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- fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
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I agree with Bill.
Infursoria is a great first food for the tiny fry of some of he killifish species.
Have you got a planted tank Craig?
If you do you will probably have a culture going already unknowns to yourself.
I have some plants in one of the Betta trios and also a lot of floating plants in the 120 litre community tank
at the end of the day it becomes nite
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- Eric (Eric Corcoran)
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Eric
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- fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
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I get kudos as well as infusoria
First, I by the wife some flowers, after a week or so I'm really helpful to her and I change the water in the vase for her but take the old water through to the fish room.
If you are rearing a lot of fry you can get a large container and fill with water, drop in a lettuce leaf, then leave it bright light. It will eventually go cloudy (bacteria) and then the cloudiness starts clearing (infusoria eating bacteria) once it's clear then you can feed that. After two or three days on infusoria I then mix infusoria with micro worm - that way stragglers are still fed.
You can buy starter cultures which are pure paramecium and a lot of breeders claim it's the best.
If you have a garden pond then that will be teeming with infusoria.
It's even easier to culture than microworms plus the wife thinks I'm awfully romantic
Bill
Hahahahah romantics are a dying breed Bill hahahah
Very helpful comments thanks so much.
One day when I'm aloud a fish room I'll buy the wife flowers everyday hahah
Regards
Craig
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- fishmad1234 (Craig Coyle)
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I had been using paramecium until it crashed in the warm spell of weather we got. Fantastic 1st food for new killifish fry. I really must get some more soon.
Eric
I'm going to make sure I have at least 3 healthy cultures of food when I try to hatch again.
Regards Craig
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- Bill (Bill Hunter)
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You can find infusoria in most water bodies, even roadside puddles. If you don't buy your wife flowers then the lettuce leaf trick works great. There are hundreds of ways to do it, I'd be surprised if there isn't a YouTube video or two.
I agree with Bill.
Infursoria is a great first food for the tiny fry of some of he killifish species.
Have you got a planted tank Craig?
If you do you will probably have a culture going already unknowns to yourself.
I have some plants in one of the Betta trios and also a lot of floating plants in the 120 litre community tank
Bill
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- Bill (Bill Hunter)
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Bill
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- wildlifebiology93 (Sean O'Sullivan)
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Yet again Bill is on the ball with the buying of flowers but one bunch may not be sufficient enough to keep our other halves sweet.Craig, the best way to get permission for anything to do with fish is buy infusoria woops! I mean flowers
Bill
"infursoria" can produce a delicate aroma from it so if done indoors chocolate may be advisable along with the floẃers

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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Now, some newly hatched killies are large enough to take newly hatched brine shrimp............but I don't really recommend that for any of the annual killifish (eg Nothobranchius,on the first day or 2)
I would generally use an initial innoculation from a very mature Betta breeding tank (or similar eg rivering African Cichlid breeding tanks) where I would have chunks of peat as the substrate.......the chunks of peat and some water are then added to the killi eggs.
That has a great supply of initial food.
I wouldn't use aged killifish water for hatching annual killifish though.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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- Bill (Bill Hunter)
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I wouldn't use aged killifish water for hatching annual killifish though.
ian
I was told that way back, but I don't think I ever found out why. It was one those things the old boys told you and you did it because they knew best

What is the reason, Ian?
Bill.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Now, eggs that hatch in situ where desposited are not included in the exclusion of killifish water for hatching.
But, I have found some species are stubborn to hatch in waters where adults live.
Disease (especially things like Camallanus worm and velvet) might be more likely transmitted from killi to killi as killies may often have those problems. I have never had velvet or Camallanus in Bettas nor in African Cichlids (the types of fish I would use for getting my water for hatching).
That is just an extra precaution I tend to take considering that some eggs can be tricky enough in the first place.
ian
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- Bill (Bill Hunter)
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Bill
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