My simple and humble tank

[yikai]

at first i tot the female one was a blue trost trigger. din know they are a pair...until i saw the face. no blue troat.

[Digiman]

bro where u bot yr x hatch pair from? they are cool

I got them from LCK. But they are big fishes, female 7 inches and male 8+ inches, so they need a 5 to 6 feet tank at least. Mine is a 5ft and i still feel it's not enough for the male.

[Digiman]

at first i tot the female one was a blue trost trigger. din know they are a pair...until i saw the face. no blue troat.

Yes blue throat and x hatch are v closely related, except for a price difference of at least ten times.

[Digiman]

A clearer pic of the male, can see the more yellow back:

[Skyrunner]

A clearer pic of the male, can see the more yellow back:

Wow, wow, very beautiful fish you have.

[Digiman]

It's so hard to take photos, the fishes keep moving around...

My favourite fish, BARBER:

[Digiman]

Barber and africanus:

[Digiman]

Africanus

[Digiman]

Long resident Tinker:

[Digiman]

Sunrise Wrasse...

[Digiman]

It moves v fast.

[Digiman]

Yellow Anthias,

[Digiman]

together

[Digiman]

last but not least:

[Jameshong]

It's so hard to take photos, the fishes keep moving around...

My favourite fish, BARBER:

Isit reef safe?

[Digiman]

Isit reef safe?

From Petsolution:

"Barberfish, Balistoides viridescens, is a Mexican parasite cleaning fish that is attractive and resilient. It requires very little care but appreciates ample swimming space. Its golden-yellow body is decorated with an upside-down shaped, black “V.†Its white face helps give the appearance of a timid persona. Also known as the Black Nosed Butterfly, it will likely leave Soft Corals and most Invertebrates alone, but it may likely decimate Stony Corals. Peaceful or non-aggressive tankmates are recommended to reduce stress on the Barberfish. When Barberfish are first introduced to the aquarium, they may refuse to eat. Should the fish continue this behavior for three or more days, live food should be offered (if not from the beginning). Food soaked in a garlic product will often entice the Butterfly to eat. Another useful method to encourage some Barberfish to eat is to place their food inside of a coral skeleton. Groupings of Barberfish can be introduced simultaneously in the same aquarium, making a stunning display. It is best to make sure that the fish have plenty of aquarium space each when adding a group. Live Rock and multiple places to hide also helps to reduce stress in a group introduction situation."

Mine is FOWLR so i dunno if it's reef-safe. However one thing i'm sure is it's v easy to feed. Eat right from first day.

[Digiman]

After realising how bad my photo taking skills are, i tried harder to take clearer pics.

This time i've cleaned my tank and attempted to take clearer pics to do some justice to the fish (pardon me tat the photos are still blur but these are my best results after many many shots):

[Digiman]

If u know how i can take better shots pls enlighten me, my cam is the ordinary kind, canon ixus 55.

[w3ish3ng]

well, bro

you can by asking me over to your place to drool at your fishes..

[Digiman]

well, bro

you can by asking me over to your place to drool at your fishes..

Haha ask pple over to see mux oso hav something to show ma, my tank now so empty, i see liao oso pai seh.

[orsony]

Haha ask pple over to see mux oso hav something to show ma, my tank now so empty, i see liao oso pai seh.

Bro, your tank have more than 5 fishes still empty arh. Your fishes branded one leh. Just like 1 Japanese kept only 1 dwarf angel in his big tank.

I would say that you have good taste and discipline in keeping marine fishes.

[w3ish3ng]

your tank only got 1 fish nia, also must go there and see. once in a life time view one leh, your fishes

[barnacle]

If u know how i can take better shots pls enlighten me, my cam is the ordinary kind, canon ixus 55.

try multiple shot

[Digiman]

Barberfish captured the attention of online Reef Blog "Glass-Box Design"

Here is the link: glassbox

Once again kudos to Steven LCK for bringing in these fish. To those butterfly lovers, if there are still barberfish left at LCK, pls support and get one. I love my barberfish. it has so much character in it and i call it "panda fish" because of the dark eye patch...

[Digiman]

Went to Aquarama this early afternoon (sorry no pics to share as i reli dislike taking pics, i'm the kind who prefer to walk walk see see only) and here are some booths i've spent much time at.....

1. DE Lightings. For a rare fish nut, this booth really intrigues me the most.. They have a mini joculator, a large feeding Conspic and a rare Chaetodon mesoleucos. Ok apart from the fishes, i was especially interested in their new Italy imported ELOS Nano Tank (well ELOS tank is nothing new here actually). What captivates me the most is the stylish LED lighting ($1200 per set if sold separately). Their whole set up with LR and stocks provided with a 1/15 artica chiller cost 3.5k plus delivery and on the spot set up, OMG to me, who have been contemplating on a nano set-up for so long , it sounds like a v good deal. A bit tempted... Also i almost wanted to talk to them abt the conspic, but at the end pass off because the fish is too big and there are too many competitors (international).

2. Qianhu. I was amazed at their display tank of P.Leopoldi (black spotted freshwater stingray from Amazon). Each of this ray is in the range 6~8k depending on the sex and size. Many years back when i started keeping arowanas, these rays cost only $500. After Brazil banned the exportation of P.Leopoldi and Singapore banned the selling of rays at LFS, the price increased by more than 10x and that's when i regret getting the fish 8 yrs ago. For those interested, visit arofanatics.com and there'll be local hobbyist breeders selling pups at 4-5k each.

3. LumenAqua. Steven LCK was there helping to promote the LED lighting system. I must say i never like the design of this LED lighting v much, however after seeing the new model they'll be launching in 2-3 months time in Singapore, i was quite fascinated. What is most interesting is the touch screen control system to increase and decrease the intensity (PAR values i think) with sensitivity and precision like that of playing an Ipod mp3 player. It also has a sliding bracket to position the LED longitudinally in anyway u like. The manufacturer from China and Steven were also demonstrating to me how to preset a lot of modes and though i'm no LED expert, it does looks v revolutionary to me. Plus the price, which they expect, will be around that of the old model. So for those who are interested, check with Steven LCK, he'll be carrying the new model stocks in v soon. Believe Henry ML should carry them as well soon.

4. Reefdepot. What else to expect, big gigantic Skimmers on display. High tech deltec and royal exclusive products. Eddie was here also. Iwarna Victor was promoting the Vortech Pump at their booth also, well he's the distibutor wat. They are giving a 15% off for all vortechs at Aquarama and seeing the power of the pump, must still say Vortech is still number one. At the same time i also got the chance to inform Victor on the sad loss of the second fuscipinnis anthias (due to mouth fungus and decompression maladies) i got from him in an attempt to pair the first one...

5. Competition area. Wow the marine tanks are gorgeous. Congrats to AM for winning the champion display. But personally i find all of them v nice, and a few of the tanks i like the most, none of them are in the top 3, so that shows my judgement is not prefessional enough i guess. Also shock me is the appearance of albino arowana competing. WTH!! Arowanas also got albino ones and so common now some more, guess i left the hobby for too long liao. But i still like SHVF best (sorry, those who are into aros will know wat this stands for). Those albinos ones are really weird looking and unacceptable to me!

There are a lot of other international booths, the Thai clownfish breeding farm, Korea Jeju marine Farm etc. Also got free hamster cage. Despite swine flu, the aquarama still attracted many visitors and it was little packed to get around the booths and display tanks. Well at the end i left the place empty handed, but with loads of brochures in hand.