Friday, April 29, 2011
Happy Hari Buruh
Here's looking forward to a very long weekend and a busy month ahead . If you're working, have a happy Buruh Day to you. It is also a good idea to catch up on the current buruh law as well. One can never be sure when you'll need it.t
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Gymnarchus niloticus...
The package arrived yesterday and I am officially a proud owner of the Aba Aba Knifefish!
Been busy reading up on as much info possible on this species (I think I've read most of the limited info available on the web BEFORE comitting myself in buying this species and now I'm reading on scientific papers, potently boring stuff I might add- Boring I can tolerate, potently boring, so and so lah... ).
I am NOT saying that reading is boring! Reading is cool and being interested in knowledge is cool.
A few cool facts on the fish
* Known as Abu Rhad (father of thunder) locally in Arab speaking countries in its range.
* Because of its high price, it is often used for wedding gifts (as a special occasion food fish).
* Mildly electric.
* Bite from small specimen bigger than 12" can remove fingers, adults can remove hands.
* The tail is often used as a "feeler" to feel around when swimming in reverse.
Anyway, I present to you my latest addition... Gymnarchus niloticus- The Aba Aba Knifefish.
The Package.
The Package- Opened and relieved to find the fish swimming and alive... No guarantee of live arrivals here... It's supposed to be "food-material"!
The fish, half an hour after intro to the 4' aquarium...
A short video of the fish.
Been busy reading up on as much info possible on this species (I think I've read most of the limited info available on the web BEFORE comitting myself in buying this species and now I'm reading on scientific papers, potently boring stuff I might add- Boring I can tolerate, potently boring, so and so lah... ).
I am NOT saying that reading is boring! Reading is cool and being interested in knowledge is cool.
A few cool facts on the fish
* Known as Abu Rhad (father of thunder) locally in Arab speaking countries in its range.
* Because of its high price, it is often used for wedding gifts (as a special occasion food fish).
* Mildly electric.
* Bite from small specimen bigger than 12" can remove fingers, adults can remove hands.
* The tail is often used as a "feeler" to feel around when swimming in reverse.
Anyway, I present to you my latest addition... Gymnarchus niloticus- The Aba Aba Knifefish.
The Package.
The Package- Opened and relieved to find the fish swimming and alive... No guarantee of live arrivals here... It's supposed to be "food-material"!
The fish, half an hour after intro to the 4' aquarium...A short video of the fish.
I am so happy with the fish that now I am contemplating on moving my sofa to the front of the Aba Aba tank so I can sit there and stare at the dorsal fins!
Btw, here's a of pix of the (now dead freshwater dolphin fish- Mormyrus sp.) Long story short... They came from Africa and they died in Langkawi.
Rest in peace little fishies...
Also, a photo of Amanda, snapping photos of the beautiful sunset at Tanjung Sanctuary on her new handphone taken with my handphone + color-enhanced on my pc :).
Btw, here's a of pix of the (now dead freshwater dolphin fish- Mormyrus sp.) Long story short... They came from Africa and they died in Langkawi.
Rest in peace little fishies...Also, a photo of Amanda, snapping photos of the beautiful sunset at Tanjung Sanctuary on her new handphone taken with my handphone + color-enhanced on my pc :).
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Gymnarchus niloticus...
I am so drooling over (maybe mata also turning white, mouth, frothing d) for the African Upside-Down Knifefish aka the notorious Aba Aba Knifefish, or is it the other way around? The Aba Aba aka the African Upside-Down Knifefish...
I've kept a group of our very own Clown Knifefish (Chitala ornata) and they grew big until I added those bendang-caught Ikan Selat (Notopterus sp) to the tank, all of them died.
1 tip for buying Ikan Belida at your LFS (live fish shop/local fish shop/le fishie shoppe) is wait for the DAA (death after arrival) to pass and to watch and watch closely at the belly of the baby knifefish (at 3-4 inches, they're babies!).
The belly should be full (full-belly=well-fed fish, hollow-belly=not feeding, meaning, if the LFS cannot feed them fish, what makes you think you can?).
Also, avoid knives (or any other naked, scaless fish) if your LFS adds blue or green meds to their tank water. Naked/scaleles fish+ blue/green meds= dead naked/scaless fish.
The trick is to get the baby knives to start feeding and get big fast. It can be hard to get feeders (bendang shrimp, ikan lompat/seluang, red bloodworm) here in Langkawi.
One can only find feeder carp, cengkerik and ulat kayu only so feeding your baby knifefish can be a wee bit hard.
Ok. Enough about my experience on keeping them Clown Knifefish.
Just in case you don't know watsa Clown Knfefish.
They can grow BIG.
They have SHARP teeth and love to bite off fingers.
They're from Africa and RARE in Malaysia.
I've kept a group of our very own Clown Knifefish (Chitala ornata) and they grew big until I added those bendang-caught Ikan Selat (Notopterus sp) to the tank, all of them died.
1 tip for buying Ikan Belida at your LFS (live fish shop/local fish shop/le fishie shoppe) is wait for the DAA (death after arrival) to pass and to watch and watch closely at the belly of the baby knifefish (at 3-4 inches, they're babies!).
The belly should be full (full-belly=well-fed fish, hollow-belly=not feeding, meaning, if the LFS cannot feed them fish, what makes you think you can?).
Also, avoid knives (or any other naked, scaless fish) if your LFS adds blue or green meds to their tank water. Naked/scaleles fish+ blue/green meds= dead naked/scaless fish.
The trick is to get the baby knives to start feeding and get big fast. It can be hard to get feeders (bendang shrimp, ikan lompat/seluang, red bloodworm) here in Langkawi.
One can only find feeder carp, cengkerik and ulat kayu only so feeding your baby knifefish can be a wee bit hard.
Ok. Enough about my experience on keeping them Clown Knifefish.
Just in case you don't know watsa Clown Knfefish.
Anyway, I'm in the process of setting up 2 not so new tanks (moving, cleaning, filling up, running and cycling- the boring and lengthy process of setting up or resetting up a new tank).
1 is for a community tank (tetras, barbs, yeap, those small colorful girly-ish little fishies) and the other one.... Jeng jeng jeng... I'm placing a deposit on one of those Aba Aba. It'll be my most expensive fish ever even I got it at an extremely cheap price!
Now I present to you my motivation to work more and earn more... It is a common belief that the things you want most (be it a fish, a new phone, a new bf/gf) always pops up when you have not enough RM, I tell you now, that is sooooooooo true! Anyway, let us enjoy the mesmerizing fluid motion of the dorsal fins of the Aba Aba.
1 is for a community tank (tetras, barbs, yeap, those small colorful girly-ish little fishies) and the other one.... Jeng jeng jeng... I'm placing a deposit on one of those Aba Aba. It'll be my most expensive fish ever even I got it at an extremely cheap price!
Now I present to you my motivation to work more and earn more... It is a common belief that the things you want most (be it a fish, a new phone, a new bf/gf) always pops up when you have not enough RM, I tell you now, that is sooooooooo true! Anyway, let us enjoy the mesmerizing fluid motion of the dorsal fins of the Aba Aba.
They can grow BIG.
They have SHARP teeth and love to bite off fingers.
They're from Africa and RARE in Malaysia.
There! So I'm placing my deposit now.
I hate the internet because.... It makes it all too easy to find sources for the rare stuff I've been wanting so bad for so long!
I hate the internet because.... It makes it all too easy to find sources for the rare stuff I've been wanting so bad for so long!
UPDATE: 12/04/2011 @ 9.45AM : I PAID FOR THE ABA ABA IN FULL.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
New River Tank
Introducing my new river/riffle tank with the filter/pump system put together by a friend and the original idea was by Mr. Martin Theone (www.loaches.com).
It is not actually a new set up, I just moved the tank as the floor at the original location is not level enough and the glass bar keeps popping out.
Remember, water+glass= risk, fast-flowing water+glass= high risk!
This is the only time when I can successfully keep wild-caught loach species (Acanthocobitis zonalternans) from Lubuk Semilang (small loach about 1+ cm) for more than 1 week and the Sewellia seems happy and thriving (although in the process of moving the tank and putting it together again, 2 of them got sucked into my coverless back up pump!!!).
Moral of the story, securely cover your pump intake... Don't trust those cheap suction discs to keep the pump upright and love your fish!
Currently housing-
1. Botia kubotai
2. Botia almorhae
3. Yasuhikotakia morleti
4. Sewelia lineolata
5. Chromobotia macracanthus
6. Corydoras sterbae
7. Corydoras panda
8. Schistura robertsi
9. Acanthocobitis zonalternans
Future plan is to get more rocks and pebbles and black lou han aquarium background and maybe more of those flat-bodied torrential loach and maybe some more Corydoras, Otocinclus, a shoal of White Cloud Mountain Minnow, Shiners and exotic suckermouth catfish (not your ordinary ikan bandaraya ok?) species...
Penang!!!! I'm coming, next week!
update: somebody asked me about the riffle tank. Here's the spec.
(size-48"x12"x12", 29.92 USGal, 24.92 UKGal, 1250lph pump x 2, the water is cycled at about 26 times per hour)
It is not actually a new set up, I just moved the tank as the floor at the original location is not level enough and the glass bar keeps popping out.
Remember, water+glass= risk, fast-flowing water+glass= high risk!
This is the only time when I can successfully keep wild-caught loach species (Acanthocobitis zonalternans) from Lubuk Semilang (small loach about 1+ cm) for more than 1 week and the Sewellia seems happy and thriving (although in the process of moving the tank and putting it together again, 2 of them got sucked into my coverless back up pump!!!).
Moral of the story, securely cover your pump intake... Don't trust those cheap suction discs to keep the pump upright and love your fish!
Currently housing-
1. Botia kubotai
2. Botia almorhae
3. Yasuhikotakia morleti
4. Sewelia lineolata
5. Chromobotia macracanthus
6. Corydoras sterbae
7. Corydoras panda
8. Schistura robertsi
9. Acanthocobitis zonalternans
Future plan is to get more rocks and pebbles and black lou han aquarium background and maybe more of those flat-bodied torrential loach and maybe some more Corydoras, Otocinclus, a shoal of White Cloud Mountain Minnow, Shiners and exotic suckermouth catfish (not your ordinary ikan bandaraya ok?) species...
Penang!!!! I'm coming, next week!
update: somebody asked me about the riffle tank. Here's the spec.
(size-48"x12"x12", 29.92 USGal, 24.92 UKGal, 1250lph pump x 2, the water is cycled at about 26 times per hour)
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
My Fish Wish List 2011
Some of the fishies I dream of keeping... One day...
(*starts singing that "some where over the rainbow, way up high~")
(*starts singing that "some where over the rainbow, way up high~")
Australian Lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri(why? becos it's super-rare, super-endangered, super-expensive!)
The Electric Eel Electrophorus electricus(why? it's electric la, that's why!)
The Electric Catfish Malapterus electricus(why? you've all heard of the Electric Eel, but Electric Catfish? Come on, don't lie!)
African Reticulated Knifefish Papyrocranus afer(why? becos it's CUTE!)
Aba Aba Knifefish Gymnarchus niloticus(gigi tajam like surgical knife, grows huge to up to 5', can swim forward and backward and kona cepat2, aggrasive and mildly electric and rare and expensive...)
Freshwater Dolphin Fish Mormyrus sp(cerita sedih... once upon a time... went to Penang pakai Air Asia, RM9, very small, then went back, habis... then in Langkawi... RM150 each... Angry Birds clay figurines... 1 happy buyer... LFS closed for 2 days... Smart shop owner mixed with sick loaches... x jadi beli... Arghhhh!!!!)
Monday, April 4, 2011
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