bawater

yes they do eat BBS barra, but only if they're near(or swimming right below the mandarin) but they do pick at them................take some time & watch.

rate them from very bad (1) to very reliable (5) ?=haven't tried Pacific Marine - 3 Sealife - 4 Marine Life - 4 Ocean Planet - ? Reborn - 2 Coralfarm - ? Seletar T95 - ? Kwang - 4 Reef World - 3 halequin- ? keong seong(havelock)- 4

oops, misread. yeh they will be there- still have to chk the rock though. aiyoh..never say. next time i dun kill them if i catch them(saw 4 babies at the surface one nite last week at abt 1am) Only Squashed 2 & missed the other 2....

derf, they will still be there. LFS won't clean rock for u, well! maybe if u paid $30/kg might be different story. If u don't want them worms(in small numbers they do help scavenge uneaten food & keep the tank clean) Bring it home & look into all holes & crevices with pincer or satay stick- sure to find something....pistols,bristles,crabs. Then put into ur tank.

Perfectly fine. As a guideline- before i did a dedicated setup- a pair of H.comes was in my 4ft for 8mths- mixed with 2 pairs of clowns(2nos common,2nos skunk),a yellow tang,a boxfish,a damsel,a scooter blenny,a coral banded shrimp,a cleaner & 2 orange firefishes. Assortment of soft corals,anemones,tube/featherduster worms. Only problem is getting food to them- actually that's the major problem. Nobody disturbs them & they dun disturb anyone else. currently i have mixed the SH with 2 yellow gobies,a small hermit- & just put in a 6 line wrasse. Just to clean up uneaten foods. i dun think anybody has had problems that the SH start(destroying stuff)......so your worms should be just fine.The clowns & mandarin too.

Knew it was coming Started oredi- actually , the mainstay of the US seahorses are farm bred(US$5 each) as wild ones don't fair well(with exception of the harder species like the Brazilian dwarfs). Sad to say...by the looks..none of ours are.

red sea hard to dissolve! meeee toooooo thought it was me only getting the cloudy water- i only used it twice when i ran out of salt & an emergency purchase from my walking distance LFS (K&K@Tampines)- its crap & expensive salt. err...i have always used coralife leh(went KL & got nothin to buy so bought 4kg hmmm......or was it 8kg??) otherwise i buy from pac marine if they got it. dissolves ok if u leave overnite with an airpump or powerhead in it.It is a little lacking in elements so I dose with some basic elements 1 hour before water change(same time i chill water with ice to abt 23/24c) its economical for a monthly water change.

i think it looks like a cherry with eyes! AT, had one vanish(or maybe eaten) on me before...no effects or maybe it was too small. My big one so far no problems- The most frequent poisoning is from the hawaiian kind(the blue/black spotted)- these sometimes avail in sealife abt $40. The other type- white or yellow(yellow being the most common$8-$12) don't usually pose problems- if they are not harrased of course! That's why i had to thin out my fishes & only keep the peaceful ones. But the toxin threat is still there- they are labelled the "Neutron bombs of the Aquarium" Bluecarpet- Yeh, they from Aust. & shipped to U.S, so we never get to see them- cause ours from indo. & phillipines. I think we just at the perile of the importers/exporters- sadly that's the way the major ornamental fish trade has been done for the last 30yrs & will be done for the next ....yrs

Have u seen one of these?- There are 3 strains that come from the Aussie regions. Care for these species is similar to tropical cowfish; however, these species are from temperate waters and require tank temperatures between 50 to 65 degrees F. This is much cooler than the temperature requirement for tropical species. Hence, a chiller may need to be installed onto an Australian cowfish tank to keep temperatures within an acceptable range. These fish feed on shrimp, crustaceans, and other invertebrates in their natural habitat. Shortly after breeding season, fishermen are menaced with juvenile specimens who steal bait from their fishing hooks. Tankmates should be docile and of similar disposition. However, these species may be housed with seahorses, unlike tropical species. The Australian cowfish do not have the tendency to nip and pick on the slower moving seahorses, as the Longhorn species, for example, will. The Barred cowfish Anoplocapros lenticularis is more globular shaped than tropical cowfish. More spectacular specimens are bright orange or red with clearly visible white striping. They reach approximately 15 inches in length, so they would require an aquarium near 125 gallons.

tanzy r those tomato clowns? i never saw those teeth before! just like pirahnas phang, what u trying is forced pairing(either it accepts or it kills)- chk out www.saltaquarium.about.com on clown breeding- there are 3 methods of pairing & force pairing yields worst results(i tried with commons & got 1 pair out of 6 trys at forced pairs) . just tried a pair of skunks & so far still bitching-each at opposite ends of the tnk. maybe u would want to wait till your main tank running then at least they have space to run from each other if they dun fall in love. Its common for the males to turn female but haven't seen it go the other way yet(just like humans ) Maybe tanzy will find u a pic.........i ain't gonna!

don't temp me! i ban myself from buying anymore fishes..........................for a while at least. unless i see tanzy's african variety!

oh no AT, all in diff tnks- got 2nos 3tier stands in the storeroom holding 6nos 2ft tnks- this is where i reuse old tank water-before throwing away or re-reused for hatching/keeping brineshrimp. still in the midst of linking all up together into one volume. a single 2ft i find water becomes unstable very fast. The lion is in one, the tuskfish is in another & the s.horses are on their own(cause my hand has to go in often to clean up so i dun want to become target practice for the spiky).

i think HDB's reply is abt 600kg per m²(or sq foot- can't remember). max height recommended as standard 2 tier. My guess is 750kg per m². but if every HDB flat had tanks....on every floor... one day somethin gonna give. At a rate of over 200 tanks sold per month(2ft,3ft,4ft)since LH started where are they all going? I think HDB looking into it, but minor issue- cause they do know & wondering. i went to someone's hse in yishun- room same size as your's phang, filled with 2nos 4 x2x1.5 on a 2 tier, a single 4x2x1.5, a single 4x1.5x2 & 2 nos 2x2x2 cube tnks & 3 tier standard 2ft(3 nos)- with space avail for another 5x2x2. All situated on along the four walls. Serious Home Discus breeders usually have abt 15-20 diff tanks on average. so phang, your's won't come tumbling down-(it would be the first in HDB's history). maybe floor will crack!!!!! hee hee

kel, its ok cause i linked 2x 2ft together just holding the lion & a clown. Hopefully only till i upgrade & then it can have a 4ft to itself. but as phang says , the radiata is a beau- chk it out in the issue. drool drool!. Mind u those dwarf ones are kinda nice in a weird way. i stick to feeder shrimps- maybe only 1 or 2 a day so a $2 pack last abt 2 weeks. i feed shrimps tetra bits & bits of nori. My SH eats feeders so its a shared food source. anymore with lions to share?

well chanbi, to me my fish welfare comes first & algae comes second(well the battle of it anyways) + none of the food goes to waste or rots cause its gone in seconds...like AT's its a 4ftx1.5x1.5 i found algae problems getting out of hand when i started using dry foods- i've lowered dry foods to once a week while i deal with this current bloom. i usually let green algae go9i dun get green blooms)& only battle the reds cause a few snails can wipe out hair algae in a matter of days(thus nutrition for the snails) leave 2 in & its all trimmed daily. i think the problem was phosphates in the dry stuff- next week i stop dry altogether. Nitrates is something u can deal with by many methods. On the other hand what abt phosphates?? i'm in the midst of using seachem phosguard. + the fact that i change 15% water every mth without fail since 1998. dilute-dilute-dilute! how i wish i stayed next to the ocean. my feeding now is very much lower than it used to be(u won't belive how much fishes grew in size previously in a FOWLR) cause now i got much more soft corals- which are doing well and i want to keep them that way.

try to rotate foods- also try frozen brineshrimp & maybe dry foods as well. To improve diet of your fish- u will see results in health & colours. Feeding solely on a single type of food does stop them from getting proper nutrients. mysis will be taken but not really fought over. try 1 cube hikari bloodworm & 1 cube brineshrimp & watch for lefovers. If u thinking BW are freshwater? Btw so are mysis. It actually takes up less energy to digest freshwater foods as they do not have to expel the salt content. But again feeding solely on a single food won't provide them with enough to grow & be happy. Its a natural instinct of the fish to keep looking for food- dun worry. but i think 1 cube for all of yours a bit too little if its per day. e.g (my 1 4" tang alone eats 1 cube BW). In the morning i feed 1 cube brineshrimp with a sprinkle of dry food, in the evening 1 feed 1 cube bloodworm & 1 cube mysis+ 1 cube brineshrimp + any live brineshrimp(seldom) left over from SH tnk.- weekend afternoons i leave either nori or lettuce in tnk for munchies. Total load abt 9 fishes & 2 shrimps. if u ever seen a 5yr old 5" domino damsel then u know its right nutrition. If u worried abt uneaten foods then think abt some janitors/clean up crews, like shrimps & small hermits

searched NTUC...just my luck out of stock, went home with cotton tap filter bags(those small ones) filled up 4 bags of phosguard & went into the compartment of an internal filter i re-comissioned for this. now running- maybe my imagination but the stuff(either dino or cyano wif bubbles) breaking up into patches after 3days!. but it really could be my imagination. see how 2 weeks of this goes. will remove every 7days so bag won't break down. i pkt got lots of bags.

50 cents entry........ so they just expect u to browse around like underwaterworld or are they trying to do business or a one booth aquarama? i wonder? hmmmmmm . u know how much NTUC/courts/best/harvey norman would earn from a revolutionary marketing strategy like this??

dun try those pea sized ones! won't last cause its too small unless u keep it alone till bigger. * As i advised my wifey when she saw a yellow spotted...but noooo it had to go in the main tnk. It was 4mm & lasted 3 weeks. try at least 1"-2" sizes. won't release any toxins unless bullied by something(damsel/clown etc). otherwise its very docile- its got a beak just like a parrotfish & may not be reef safe although mine too lazy,apart from swimming and eating- doesn't disturb any rock work. If its hungry,it spits water out the tank at me! no wonder my floor always sticky!hmmmm. This my white spotted boxfish:- At your own risk, u could put it in a pail of old tank water & rub its back(it will release its toxins into that water) then transfer it back to the tank. Note:*Not only is this just a temp. measure(as it will generate back the toxic compounds) it also will cause serious undue stress to the fish.

This is mine! with many thks from phang- its an antenna lion. sucks up live brineshrimp, live feeder shrimps & mollies. (sorry slow loading pic cause of the querystrings stuff)

i found some wild halimeda at labrador park- just by the side of the jetty. It gets washed ashore along with sea lettuce & lots of other kinds(some look like sagasso/kelp). managed to salvage 2 plastic bags full of assorted flavours...mmmmm. sea lettuce(a fist worth)didn't last a day- tang was quite well mannered enough to leave others abt 2mm worth to munch. halimeda did last a while- abt 3mths then kaput(i think it went sexual cause it disintegrated)- some other kind of red algae turned brown & started creeping(runners)along the back pane but also died back after 5mths- or maybe eaten! i'll never know. if u collect local stuff- wash in old tnk water & Q the stuff(u never know what kinda parasites are in there). After washing i quarrantine in a 2ft wif a FL light for 1 week-a little too short but i was impatient to try-.

i've tried with mushrooms(take a parent & slice directly in half with a sharp blade) - takes forever to get round again, but soft frags heal faster than hard coral.(but it all depends on your tank).

just went to petmart to get a bottle of seachem phosGuard, hopefully it helps.......the instructions says change every 4 days???- might as well sprinkle gold dust into my tank as well!. phew!- i'll follow resident tanzy & use a week between changes. phang- cotton bag? can use coconut squeeze bag from ntuc?- got some media bags at home but holes too big.

sounds to me more & more like polyps.....but if u do intend to kill anyway- i give u a simple solution, get a very-very sharp penknife or razor blade & slice at the rock base(if u can pluck them off without killing them beter). Bag all pieces & i shall collect & dispose them for u- if polyps then i try to revive them, if really is aiptasia....then they shall burn or inject wif orange juice or coke or somethin else fun(kalk too ex to waste) a close up pic shall be clearer to id. (if really polyps then would be better if u leave them there)

sigh! my next tnk is for the wife- a FOWLR 4x2x2 @ the in-laws within abt a yr time frame..... loonz, bank account emptying u say!!!!! only too true!.