Oriental Aquarium

[strung_0ut]

Beautiful! For those who envy "US", I envy you.

Dennis

[Slaigar]

Mr. Loh, we have to start an exchange program! The North American planted aquarists switch over with the Killifish keepers of Singapore. Surely that has to be a fair exchange. Though I will advise staying away from my area, there is no Killifish community nearby or even places to buy nice plants.

Wishful thinking =)....

Great pictures of Oriental Aquariums. Were you able to get a sneak peak at new species or cultivars in the works?

[timebomb]

Mr. Loh, we have to start an exchange program!

Well, the grass is always greener on the other side :smile:. Don't be surprised if someone living here takes you up on your offer, Mark.

When we were in Oriental, they showed us their tissue culture lab. Such labs are highly sensitive to contamination so we could only look at the cultures from the outside through a glass window. We had a chance to examine a moss culture though. The good doctor brought it out from the lab for us. The moss was growing very well and Dr Unni said they started it off with just a few strands. The moss was growing in a solution in a bottle that was sealed air-tight. We don't know what's in the solution but it's probably a trade secret. Through the window, we saw shelves and shelves of such bottles.

I should have taken a picture of the moss culture but in the excitement, I forgot all about it. I wonder if Budak or Gan have a picture.

Loh K L

[Daemonfly]

Very nice tour, loved the Weeping Moss as well. Found the Java Moss Sticks rather humorous

[Green Baron]

I should have taken a picture of the moss culture but in the excitement, I forgot all about it. I wonder if Budak or Gan have a picture.
Loh K L

I think we were all too busy peering through the glass and asking questions ;-) ..and I don't think Oriental would want us to share their high tech setup on the net.

I am really impressed with the setup and the place is really vast !
I am saw many species of plants that are either rare or unavailable from LFS.

The Oriental farm in Singapore grows lots of Anubias. I mean really a lot. Everywhere I look I see Anubias. I thought Anubias is not popular as I don't usually see them in planted tanks but it seems it is very popular in US and Europe. I finally see the a real Anubias nana var petit. The leaves are really tiny, 5~7mm across !

They also have many species of Echinodorus and Cryptocoryne. Echi. and Crypt collectors would love this place!

Wouldn't it be great if we can organise a mass order of exotic plants directly from Oriental ?

Gan

[kadios]

Hey Gan!

I'm all for it if a mass order can be arranged! I believe many fellow members from AQ will hop onto the bandwagon as well! Too bad I do not know any one from Oriental, or else I will love to help out in creating the order list.

Cheers!

Kar Hwee

[timebomb]

I guess I better stop this before it gets out of hand. I hate to douse your enthusiam but I seriously doubt Oriental would be interested in getting any bulk orders from us, no matter how huge our bulk orders may be. They don't do retail and if they were to sell to us directly, they would be by-passing their retailers/agents which is something I'm quite sure Oriental is loath to do.

In any case, even if we can get Oriental to sell to us directly, it wouldn't be any cheaper than buying the plants from the fish shops. Like many other businesses, wholesalers and importers are obligated to their retailers to stick to the market prices. If they sell at prices below what they tell the retailers to sell, who would want to retail their stuff anymore? Getting products from the source does not ensure its cheaper. Quite often, it costs even more.

Loh K L

[Green Baron]

Wouldn't it be great if we can organise a mass order of exotic plants directly from Oriental ?

That was just wishful thinking ;-) If they allow us to do mass order, it will be more as a favor to the planted-tank hobbists here.

We will keep that in mind when the opportiunity arises.

Gan

[timebomb]

Daphne Freeman, a friend who lives in the US of A wanted to know what was the unusual Liverwort growing on the piece of driftwood that Oriental gave me. Actually, it's not really unusual as the Liverwort can be found in many places in Singapore, on the sides of streams and under the shade of trees. The plant has been around for the longest time but its just that we weren't aware of its existence and the fact that it can be grown in our tanks.

Here's the pic:


The plant is, I believe, the same Liverwort that Subzero showed us in another thread.

Loh K L

[Joey Wang]

Wow Loh, Oriental is probably one of the largest aquatic plants farms in the world, as you said previously.

[gweesm1]

The moss was growing in a solution in a bottle that was sealed air-tight. We don't know what's in the solution but it's probably a trade secret. Through the window, we saw shelves and shelves of such bottles. Loh K L

These are known as Tissue culture media, there are a few common tissue culture media available, one of the most common and popular type is Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) Media. Plant hormones are also added to the media. As plants are growing in an covered area, air exchange is minimal or zero. Thus photosynthesis stop after the CO2 has been used up. So sucrose has to be added for the plant to grow. (Sucrose is a by product of photosynthesis.) The media can be in gel form as well, just add agar.

The dosage of media and plant hormone is an art, only with that range of dosage, the plant will multiply. Too high, might kill the plant, too low, the plant might be stunned or slow to react before contaminant catches up. So the protocol is usually kept as a trade secrete. (There is a group of hobbyists over a news group, they share information with each other, unfortunately mostly garden plant)

I am not discipline to write down dosages of MS media and plant hormone I had tried ,(also the time for disinfect the ex plant), so my Java fern culture was just by luck. The second and third trial was a total failure. But anyway I hope I can put more time in Tissue culture after I submit my Final year Dissertations. Oh yes, one other thing, if you guys know, you will kill me, I lost about 5 stalks of Downoi in the experiment as well. There are only 2 hobbyists in Singapore I know from news group.

[Lighthammer]

Great pictures Mr Loh! By the way whats the name of the plant that you call "parrot feathers"? Is it really hemianthus callitrichoides in one of the pictures?

[timebomb]

Great pictures Mr Loh! By the way whats the name of the plant that you call "parrot feathers"? Is it really hemianthus callitrichoides in one of the pictures?

I don't know what's the common name for Parrot Feathers, Kevin but the plant is native to Singapore as I've seen plenty of them in the ponds near Island Country Club. As for the Hemianthus callitrichoides, I think what Oriental is growing is the genuine McKoy. Although Tropica was the one who launched the sales of this plant during Aquarama, it is a well-known fact that they and Oriental work closely together on many aspects of their businesses.

Loh K L

[hwchoy]

The parrot's feather, or water milfoil, Myriophyllum aquaticum is originally native to the Amazon drainage, but has since spread throughout the world. In many US states and in New Zealand it is a huge nuisance because of the speed and ease with which it propagates. Not many fishes like to eat it apparently it contains quite high levels of tannin.

[juggler]

Cool, Mr Loh. Able to venture into the forbidden city.
The place is amazing.

[timebomb]

Cool, Mr Loh. Able to venture into the forbidden city.

Welcome to the forum, Juggler. By the way, I juggle too. Serious.

I was at Teo's the other day and when I told him that Oriental invited me to tour their farm, Teo said I should buy 4-D

Anyway, Teo told me something which made me realise there was a mistake in my first post. Oriental is 30 times the size of Teo's Aquatics and not 5 or 6 times as I initially thought.

Loh K L