xnsdvd

Interesting interesting... I shall take photos of my next sculpt. Ha! Learning fine arts came in handy after all!

@comycus: We're hanging artificially made rocks off our structure, the only things we "take" from the sea are whatever starts growing on/in our rocks. @Zorden: If it makes you feel better, we ate an 8inch mantis shrimp last week Was tasty @harlequin mania: Yup, exactly what I was thinking. This thing partly started as an attempt to increase the number of fish that lived in/around the farm. Then we put one in a tank and realized it looked alot like conventional LR. But personally I'm attracted to the nuisance critters @FuEl: Alas there is hardly any clear water in Singapore. And we've got high nutrients and low calcium levels. SG dropped to 1.015 the other day, sample was taken from the bottom of a 2m deep cage. So yes, we'll probably have to set up a large curing facility on the farm. But that means running the numbers again and getting another round of investors. Which i'm not sure is something we can afford, time wise. I'll explain more once we start sponsoring the forum. But in the meantime, could I get a show of hands as to how many of you would want a "sample" rock? They're small, about the size of a golfball, you'd have to pick them up yourselves from Changi Sailing Club. Also, could you guys post what you think is a reasonable price for locally grown, uncured live rocks?

Oh! forgot to add photos! A Seafan. Amphipods I believe... Barnacles covered by some sponge A brittle star hiding amongst some seafans What I think are tubeworms and a small green mussel.

Hi guys, I'm posting this to gauge how the general population will feel about artificial Live Rocks that've been seeded/cured near(approx. 3km) Chek Jawa and other small seagrass beds and intertidal reefs on Ubin's coast. Specifically; 1) Is a privately owned artificial reef, in an otherwise dead area harmful to the marine life in Chek Jawa? Or are we simply providing a new habitat for the fry/larvae that spawn there and would otherwise die when they get washed past ubin and into the malaysian shipyards/Johor Baru? Or is it opportunistic poaching? 2) Is $10/kilo a reasonable price for live rocks cultivated in our own "backyard"? My opinion here is that it's a little piece of my natural heritage that, unfortunately is being destroyed by the constant dredging and pollution, so I might as well take some home and preserve it before it's all gone. But I'm also curious about what everyone else thinks. 3) Personally I like the hitchhikers that find their way into my rocks, blennies, gobies, pipefish, seahorses, crabs, amphipods, copepods, moray eels, mussels, oysters and the occasional mantis shrimp. But what do you think? 4) Will a 5000m2 "hanging reef" that's harvested every 4 months have a positive or negative effect on the forage/trash fish in the area? I'm already noticing huge schools of mullet and tamban, going after what look like mysis shrimp, around my farm since we started dangling just 40kg of live rocks over the side. Opinions? Especially from fishermen with experience with fish aggregation devices?

Congratulations on the new tank, though according to your dimensions you tank is 243 liters or 64 US Galons. That gives you about enough space for just 1 fully grown panther grouper. Or 2 small ones. As for food, try to feed them anything with a high protein content. On my farm, I notice that those fed live Ikan bilis are twice the size of raised on fish pellets. So you could tailor your feeding to suit your desired growth rate. Though I would advise the live food since, IMO, the health of your animal is always the most important aspect of being a pet owner. Unfortunately, there are very few things you can actually keep them with. I've successfully kept them with large blue ring angels and spiny lobsters, but anything small enough to fit into the grouper's mouth or not fast enough to duck back into a hole isn't going to survive long in the tank. You might also consider things like starfish, crabs and very fast gobies/blennies. So basically, when if it's companion is too big to eat or too small to notice, it's safe.

Many thanks for the advice guys, So would sponges on Live Rocks be a bonus or detrimental to their price? Personally I've only dealt with FOWLR tanks so sponges were a nice splash of colour for me. Not sure about reefers though Also, if you look carefully, the colourful things coming out of those black tubes are worms of some sort. Can anyone ID it? There's a few in the 2nd last shot, just above/around the sea fan.

Would really appreciate it if someone could take a look at these photos and tell me: 1) What they are 2) If they're the kind of growth you want on live rocks. Can you spot the brittlestar? And finally, what the hell is this thing?! Thoughts/Comments/Ideas please?

@ RedDevils: You're the moderator, you tell me Do I need to get a merchant ID or something? Also, if you want to buy directly from us, there's a group of reefers coming down this saturday. Drop me an sms and we'll make arrangements for you. @ Garyjg: Nothing. The food is included in the rental for food fish. Even if you're farming ornamental species, we've got a net with 20 copperband butterflies that are happily consuming the critters living in the soft corals and macro algae that grow on the bottom of the tank. Don't think they've ever been fed.

Actually, if you take a simple species like Epinephelus coioides(Orange Spotted Grouper/Estuary Cod) and run the numbers, assuming really REALLY bad results, insane prices and ridiculously high mortality; (Normal rates/levels in brackets) Expensive Fry: $1.30 x 1000 = $1300 (less than $1) Ridiculously low rates from sale of stock = $15/kg ($16.5 to $25) Ridiculously high mortality = 50% (10% - 30%) Incredibly slow growth rates = 18 months to reach 1kg You still get $7500 - (1300 + 4500) = $1700. So even in a really bad scenario, it's still profitable. The rates we get from buyers are about 40% less than what you pay for in retail for a live specimen. So I'm sure you can tell do the math on the rest of the species. Though smaller ones like Milk fish and Mullet will have higher stocking densities, Mussels don't even need cages, Live rocks can't die and larger cages for fish like Cobia. Also we've shifted to Stamford Raffles Marine Culture on the North end of Ubin as Changi Fishery has expressed interest in selling their entire farm. Apologies for the confusion if this causes any.

Incompetent staff, insane prices and overstocked tanks. When I'd told one of the staff(middle aged woman) several months ago that their fish had ICH, she said "Yah! Neb-ber-mine! Later we clean!". When I told her it'd infect her other stock she said "Yah lah! Later clean lor!". Which I think justifies the 'incompetent' comment. And if you think the $80 brown cup was bad, try the gasping/dying $60 T. crocea. Which was dead and still on sale the next day. And that to me is in$ane. As for the belief that high trafic mean expensive prices, that's a gross misunderstanding of economics, High Volume = Low Price to the BUYER. High Volume = Hight Demand = High Rental to a TENANT. Besides, there are several high volume businesses that operate successfully at low prices I.e. C328, Giant Hypermart, McDonalds. Either way, I don't see that shop surviving for more than a year. So lets just all wait for the big closing sale

Changi Fisheries is located on the southern end of Pulau Ubin, we're renting out several 4x4x4m cages to interested parties for just $250 a month. The cages in question are currently stocked with Tiger Grouper(Which in hindsight was a REALLY BAD IDEA) and will be available once we've cleared stock. We will provide 24hr security, cage maintenance and feeding as part of the rental package. Sale of the stock once it's mature will be arranged by us OR you can find your own buyer(Especially for ornamental species). This is ideal for those of you who've always wanted to get a kelong, but had no idea what you were getting involved in. So if you're interested in small scale farming of: Live rocks Lobsters Grouper(Try regional natives) Seabass Macro Algae Snapper Mullet Milk fish Prawns Bamboo Clams Mussels Cobia The following are still being experimented on: Hard and Soft Corals Tiger Prawns Slipper Lobster Blue Spotted Rays Cuttlefish Mermaids Please call 98627310 for more details, Ask for Shannon. You can also take a look at the location over at: http://changifishery.com/gallery.htm

$10 a piece. They're still in the 1 to 4 inch range. Please call 98627310 and ask for Shannon.

Still available. Apologies if bumping threads isn't allowed.

Got a few of these little guys for sale. $60 a piece if anyone's interested. Size range from 2-4 inches. Call 98627310 ask for Shannon. Many thanks =)

Ack!! But could it be the TDS is reading the bacteria? Or does it only read inorganics?

?!? just make the thing yourself if that's the case... Go buy the acrylic and cement at Bras Basar, won't cost you more than $100

Could the crabs and the cup have some sort of symbiotic relationship? Also, pictures please! wanna see what they look like

Hey hermitcrab, I'm really curious. Would you mind explaining what you mean by a plant going asexual? And how does that affect the water parameters?

My thoughts exactly on the condensation, it's practically distilled water with little bacteria bits in it. Could someone perhaps... collect some aircon water and then test it for copper? I'm very new to the marine hobby so i don't have any copper test kits at home. And does copper poison marine life?

Lets consider that the real reason why we don't use tap water is because of the inorganic compounds in it like chloramine, chlorine and fluoride. Now, consider the compounds present in aircon run-off: Bacteria. It would stand to reason then, that we could use aircon water to top up our tanks instead of buying distilled water no? Since the bacteria wouldn't survive in saltwater anyway. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks for all the help guys, but no, it didn't make any noise when it was caught. And it's definitely not a wrasse. And... argh! all marine fish look so similar to me right now i'm a freshie! I suppose there's no real way to tell is there? since this little guy is probably a juvenile and looks nothing like the adult version.

Anyone know what this is? Been wanting to start a marine tank, thought they'd make nice schooling fish.