FISHIOLOGY

Today I'll share an improved design of DIY Brian Shrimp Hatchery I've designed. 20 years ago I was hatching BBS for a whole year when I was breeding discus and based on the old design this is the improved version. The improved version I use a 3 way adapter and a base bottom with 2 holes. This way it is more sturdy and less chance of leaking. Even if it leaks you have a bottom bottle to contain the salt water and wont spilled all over. Drill a hole at the cover Silicone Glue a 3 way adapter, 1 is for aerator and another for harvesting bbs One for aerator another for harvesting Drill 2 holes to make base stand Cover the bottle and bbs will be concentrated at the bottom.  Bbs at the bottom where there are light Straighten the bottle before harvesting and unhatched eggs will get stuck on top of the bottle Tilt the bottle like this and less eggs will be stuck on the bottle above water Tiger enjoying bbs

The ban with coral is getting tougher and we aquarist feels the pressure nowadays. Coral Chip has long been the buffer source for most of us because it WAS inexpensive and plentiful. But that is then and this is now, it ain't cheap anymore. I kept hearing this every time I go mamak with hobbyist and I told them my last purchase of coral chip was I think somewhere 4 or 5 years ago. Most will look at me puzzled and asked me what do I use for buffering nowadays? I told them the same batch of coral chip!!! A little information about coral chip, What you need to understand about coral or coral chip is they are made entirely of calcium carbonate. They releases calcium ions when exposed to CO2 and also acid during nitrification process. But bacteria will soon take resident in the coral chip and produces a slime that covers the entire coral chip. This is the part when hobbyist feels their coral chip no longer functions and throw them away. The slime protect the coral chip from relea...

Its been awhile since I find time to groom my maru, I was busy at work and neglected them, I've sold 2 of the 4 maru I've kept so other hobbyist can properly take care of them. But recently there is a new product in the market that kick start my curiosity again. I found a product that uses Red Kelakai for light Tannins and as we know from earlier research that red kelakai (Red Fern - Stenochlaena palustris) is packed with anthocyanin the active ingredients that color up fishes and just like astaxanthin the red pigment enhancer they somehow at the sametime increases flower development. Second product that I found is the Dissolve Organic Carbon, organic carbon if you've been following my progress is the soul of the peat swamp. The dark water, the low PH are the echoes of the carbon. And from that vibration comes flowers. I reset a tank and added in Light Tannins with anthocyanin and also Dissolved Organic Carbon, I restart the CO2 injections and light it up with my HO T5 ...

If you are to substitute bigfoot to a fish species then the Giant Borneo Gourami is probably the perfect candidate of Bigfoot in the fish world. It is spotted and caught by fisherman all over the Borneo continent but yet, you cannot find a single living fish out there for sale. I've spread words to Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah and Kalimantan for the passed 3 years and I could not get a single living specimen. Osphronemus septemfasciatus - Giant Borneo Gourami, is a recent discovered species of the Osphronemus family by Tyson R. Roberts 1992. His data shows the extend of the species as below RANGE DESCRIPTION The species is known from Sarawak (central and north), Brunei Darussalam, Kalimantan Barat (Kapuas drainage), Kalimantan Timur (Mahakam drainage), and Kalimantan Utara (Kayan drainage) Borneo (Roberts 1992, Kottelat and Lim 1996, Parenti and Lim 2005). There are probably 2 var that I've noticed of the Osphronemus septemfasciatus species. Those from the Sarawak ...

Just to share with you guys something, a handy tool when you purchase your aquarium lighting. Download any lux meter from playstore or appstore to your phone. What you need to do is position your phone 12" or 24" facing your current lighting, measure the light intensity. Screenshot the result and you can go ahead to compare the light intensity with the new lighting at your LFS. Make sure to use the same distance and take note of the surrounding ambient lighting so as to not give you a false result. Plenty to choose from With this tool you can now estimate if the new light will be more powerful or less powerful according to the lux meter. I've tried a few apps and they are all similarly accurate in measuring the light intensity. It is a simple tool that make life much easier instead of judging your light from the wattage shown or with your eyes which is 99% inaccurate unless you are an old timer photographer. During my photographing days we do not have digital, we w...

A recent paper research by Tino Moritz and Ralf Britz - Revision of the extant Polypteridae . In the paper it was concluded by this 2 dude that the P. Lapradei and P.Bichir Bichir is no longer a valid subspecies or a species of its own. They're merged all into just P. Bichir. "Based on analysis of our data we synonymise P. lapradei and P. bichir katangae with P. bichir and only recognize a single species, however, with geographical variation in meristic counts. The cause of the sometimes striking differences in coloration remains unclear." This is a big blow for the fish hobbyist especially for those trophies collectors. And I guess it will be chaotic for new comers as anybody can sell PBL with 7 marking as PBBs. Apart from this it is actually a sad news, what have they done? Science is always about moving forward, but this 2 buggers just took everything backwards and lets breakdown the publish paper and see how they had derived to this mad conclusion. "Mater...

I've got another fish from my wish list and this time its the Anjumara, Hoplias Aimara. Rumored as the most ferocious fish in the world. And who doesn't want a piece of this action? I got the fish early July the size was around 10.5". It was of the Suriname variant, some patterned on the body. The fish readily took market prawn the next day and also frozen fish. The fish was most time parking in the corner 95% parking and 5% swimming. After a week it was quite boring and I spoke to kitty Lai who had his Aimara for a couple of months. He taught me the old trick and that is to comm it. Well comm Aimara? a risky move, but seem he had success with comming his with Giant Gourami. He had failed comm in his first few attempt, The trick is to comm with broad body fish. Initially I was looking for Black Oscar as tank mate to make it all South American but I couldnt find any around. And I chance upon a hybrid Giant Gourami the body also in my wish list, flat back long body alw...