1st unofficial SRC excursion

[Achilles Tang]

I know the weekend before a couple of you organised an unofficial trip to LCK.

Just yesterday... 5 of us dropped in CoralFarm at LCK to take a look at the facilities.

We were impressed by the facilities, especially when we noted the way the filtration systems were done, utilizing ozone, uv sterilizers, and giant protein skimmers.

The layout of the place with many low tanks with neat pipings gave a very airy and clean feeling and it was with excitement as we walked through rows of soft corals and fishes.

We were briefed on their acclimatization process, which was more thorough than what other marine livestock import/export companies were doing.

Their fishes included angels and tangs that were all eating fish pellets and were not as jumpy as newly/non acclimatized fish.

They apparently supply a few of the world's biggest distributors of marine livestock and therefore had to ensure that livestock provided were of high standard.

They even showed us charts that track the daily parameters of their tanks.

The boss wasn't comfortable with me taking photos of the facilities. He did, however, was open to the idea of the Singapore Reef Club having an official site vist organised by the CoralFarm during a day when a shipment comes in and they would show us how they proceed to unpack and acclimatize their livestock. It would surely be an eye-opening experience for many of us.

Their collection sources are from a few places, namely Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. Their sources are also screened to ensure that all livestock are hand-caught with nets as opposed to the common destructive methods of collection using cyanide poisoning and dynamite bombing which are responsible for coral reef destruction and the slow poisoning of fish livestock.

These illegal practices are fueled by greed, and commonly carried out in the Phillipines and parts of indonesia where good policing is hard to enforce due to lack of manpower resources, poverty or corruption.

Thus, their prices are a lot higher than anyone else. IMO, a small price to pay for the protection of our reefs.

I won't mind paying a bit more for healthy livestock that won't konk over in a few weeks time due to slow cyanide poisoning or just to know that the collection of my livestock didn't mean that a hectre of corals were decimated.

Sadly, people will be people and cheap prices for short-lived livestock will still attract them. Once we get educated about our marine heritage and take steps to preserve them, can then we truely enjoy our hobby without a sense of guilt.

Overall, we left with a positive feel about this company and some of us even bought a few fishes inspite of the prices. Time will tell if these fishes are not cyanide-caught.

Morgan, X-Japan, Achilles Tang, the boss of CoralFarm, ECBM and Rrrobt on our first unofficial SRC site visit.

A huge and rare Black Tang that probably was 40cm in length. Note the green coloration on the upper flanks of the body. It was in an 8 feet tank.

Another shot of the Black Tang. Its value would probably be around $400 to $500 dollars! It came packed in 15kgs of water!

[spiff]

man.........shld hv been there wif u guys, if not for my darn Os

[ECBM]

well....... I agree to wat AT had say......realy an eye opening...AT when will we have other tirp ??

[spiff]

AT,

looks like u found a gd place to order ur AT liao!

[BarraCudaTM]

Their corals are cheap but fishes and shrimps some quite expensive

actually the black tang can get for around $200, need to order

its really a nice feeling browsing thru the tanks without the crowd

[Norvin Ng]

Agree with all you guys on the impressive setup at CoralFarm. The prices are ok i think, in general. I bought a small yellow tang at $25, a small flame angel at $36, six line Warasse ar $5.60, pink finger cauliflower at $8.6. These are lower prices lower than the LFS around.

[ECBM]

Norvin Ng,

So how is those LS doing now? doing well?

[kelstorm]

yes.. when i last visited that place months ago.. i was so captivated by the black tang.. i like the luminous blue streak on its back.. but the price set me back..

Spiff, if u are reading this.. take a look at the black tang that i told u earlier.. it is not as ugly as u thought..

[spiff]

wa lau........i didnt say anything leh......it was ice who say not nice.....go read up

[kelstorm]

when is the next visit? pls let us know.. i'm sure there will be other similar visits.. and most of us will be interested.. like me...

[Achilles Tang]

yes.. when i last visited that place months ago.. i was so captivated by the black tang..  i like the luminous blue streak on its back.. but the price set me back..

Spiff, if u are reading this.. take a look at the black tang that i told u earlier.. it is not as ugly as u thought..  

Kel... even Morgan agreed that the black tang of such size would not be comfortable in a 8 feet tank!

It has such tremendous speed that I am sure it will rocket out of any tank given the right trajectory!

Even if I have the money... I won't keep it in my big tank. Such creatures are meant only for Sentosa Underwater World tanks or the deep blue sea!

[hongqixian]

Any chance someone will be organizing a weekday trip?

[loonz]

Norvin,

Are you sure a net caught flame angel is only 36 dollars?The prices you mentioned dont differ much from LFS...hmm...

[ong]

I went there with my family few mth back and did notice that the price for the corals is very reasonable but not the fishes. A bit on the high side but the quality is good.

[freddychin]

Is this the farm that Morgan mention regarding the $25.00 dollars clams ?

I was there and they said they do not bring in clams.

[kelstorm]

AT,

that is not the same black tang that i saw.. but it was a much smaller one.. something which i think is around 15cm... anyway, the last time i was there, it was ard $150 and there was 2 of them and they are not for sale coz it had been booked by a overseas buyer as well as underwater world.. which means, time to visit underwater world!! hehehe..

[B|uEc@rpEt]

Nice big clean place....but variety of corals...like quite common....

M i rite?

[Hon]

Hey Achilles..

Anymore photo of the farm and livestock??

Show us those interesting and rare shot you capture leh..

[kelstorm]

well lionel, the place dun have those hard corals that u desire so much.. that is more like a place for me.. hehehhe

[B|uEc@rpEt]

Yup Kel....agree!

Nevertheless it was an eye-opener

Anywayz...I like the whole area @ LCK....lottas of other farms....like the parrot farm...goat...frog...quail....n organic veg farms....love every ounce of it....makes me feel like jungle boi....

Wished I could have a farm on my own.....

Yikes...looks like i m side-tracking here...