3rd Dec 2005 AQ Round Island Excursion Details (Pix intensive)

[benny]

This is part of the fish section outside the showroom. Most folks coming here just buy their fishes and accessories here and wander off.

Just outside the main area is where most of the smaller rock and wood are located.

There is actually a fish holding area behind which is also open to the public and all items there are for sale too.

Cheers,

[benny]

An overview of the quarantine area.

The same area also houses all the substrate, gravel and sand. Every color and size you can imagine!

Some juvenile arowanas that I saw.

Cheers,

[|squee|]

Waaaa! Rocks and driftwood!

[benny]

Waaaa! Rocks and driftwood!

Yes Terence, Nice rocks there, but wood at Tropical Fish International Fish Farm was much better for aquascaping in my opinion..

Next stop...Tropical Fish International Fish Farm!

See... these are naturally weathered wood with no sawn off bits.

Cheers,

[benny]

And the fish selection there is of interest too!

No prize for guessing who these fish fanatics are!

Cheers,

[benny]

Irwana Aquarium was the next stop. To some, it's better known as Ah Pek Plant Farm.

[benny]

Next stop...Ong Tropical Farm

And that was the end of our eastern romp. We break for lunch nearby before journeying northwards.

Lunch was a leisurely affair as we cut Lot 35 out from our original itinerary. We had time for a few personal errands, deserts, visit the ATM for more cash, etc, etc. Show here is one of the two lunch groups. Wonder who is so busy taking down notes?

Cheers,

[benny]

Next stop...Jalan Kayu. We visit Sea View Aquarium!

Looking like an unassuming warehouse, this building houses the famous 100 for S$10 deals for barbs, rasboras and tetras. Restricted to certain species only of course.

Selection of staple aquarium plants in pots and on driftwood.

We saw these and just had to highlight that Aquatic Quotients feel strongly against dyed fishes. It's cruel and inhumane. Please do not buy such fishes for your aquariums. It's in bad taste and reflects badly on the owner too.

Cheers,

[benny]

The tour now heads west and Qian Hu Fish Farm is the next stop.

Since we have photos of the place from the previous excursion, I didn't take too many pictures. Just a snapshot of the quarantine area and some fishes that we saw.

Cheers,

[benny]

More fishes...

And the plecos are a beauty!

Cheers,

[benny]

Again, not much pictures at Gan's...because I was busy catching fishes..

After Gan's, we visited Teo's Aquatic Plant Farm, our last stop before dinner.

Here, we discovered the latest anti snail installation in the tank that Green Chapter set up in June.

Cheers,

[stormhawk]

Yes Benny, plenty of treasures at the QH QT area but too bad we can't buy any right? If not I would have brought home some of the Poecilocharax weitzmani.

Over at Gan's, it was a great buy for the Dicrossus. Unfortunately I think all of those that I brought home were males. They're in a QT tank right now and I should be moving them to my 3ft planted tank soon.

Now how does that "anti-snail" installation work? I thought it was a "fence" of some sort.

[benny]

I remembered Downoi being about S$50 each last year, but on this trip, they were going for a very very special price. Imagine 10 for the price of 1!!

Anyway, choy was trying to show me this strange looking moss but I have no idea what it is. Perhaps Choy can sort it out. So it's Hwchoy Moss in the meantime.

Finally, all things wonderful must come to an end and the excursion officially ended with dinner at C328 (obviously and a stop there).

The event coincided with the book collection so at that point in time, we had about 30+ members there. Basically, only the guy on the right reading the newspapers and the tables at the far end near the last lamp post are non AQ members. What a crowd!! Too bad I didn't get a chance to say hi to everybody as we were busy chomping down dinner for those of us still game for one last stop in the central area - Ben's new shop!!

The unofficial tour of Wu Hu Aquarium is covered separately here.

Ok guys, that's the end of my field report. Pardon the pictures causing a drag on the downloading, but like they say... a picture is worth a thousand words.

Enjoy fishkeeping!

Cheers,

[ranmasatome]

Yes Benny, plenty of treasures at the QH QT area but too bad we can't buy any right? If not I would have brought home some of the Poecilocharax weitzmani.

i still have a few pcs of Poecilocharax weitzmani from CS before it went away.. if you want just come collect lah..

[solonavi]

Lovely pixs there, benny. Great job and thanks for the efforts and dinner.

Cheers
JC

[Justikanz]

Justin, how come the hillstream loach looks like it just flipped over and died?

If you thought that killie was pretty, wait till you see the more colourful ones. Can rival marine fish man.

Terence... Me Thomas lah... Justin is Ranmasatonme...

It decided to move sideways when taking the pic... It returned to the normal position when I take its front... Cute fella, I'd say...

As for the Killifish, it is this type that attracted me... I know there are more colourful ones but I was put off by their bad reputation of requiring peat, short lifespan and non-suitability to community tanks. Stormhawk 'educated' me quite a bit on the misconceptions of killifish... Might be trying the common ones soon...

Thomas, the killie in the pic is not Nothobranchius guentheri, but rather Nothobranchius foerschi. Another commonly sold species at the LFS that get their supplies from Malaysia.

That cat is definitely not Microglanis poecilus. I have a pic of my Akysis prashadi somewhere but I definitely do not think that its Microglanis.

The hastatus lookalike is Aphyocharax paraguayensis, the Dawn Tetra. Very voracious feeders and extremely pugnacious little fellas. Will not hesitate to harass and kill smaller fishes.

The two corys are Corydoras axelrodi and Corydoras rabauti respectively. The pipefish is definitely a syngnathid but I'm not sure which species, maybe Doryichthys boaja?

JY: Time to throw away my Dr Axelrod's mini atlas liao! Thanks for the info on the rest of the fish...

[Justikanz]

Anyway, choy was trying to show me this strange looking moss but I have no idea what it is. Perhaps Choy can sort it out. So it's Hwchoy Moss in the meantime.

Nice pics!! Wonder when I can achieve that kind of standard! Haha...

About Hwchoy Moss, I tried it submersed the last time I obtained it from Ah Pek Farm... they just died off within a month... Growing them emersed now in vivarium setups after obtaining them during the trip... Hopefully they will grow and spread...

[Justikanz]

Finally we arrived at Qian Hu...

We head for the quarantine area...


Whose butt?


Looking into the many many quarantine tanks for potential buys...




The fish at quarantine can be very friendly too...


This looks rather scary...


Cherries! Red red cherries!

[Justikanz]

The fish are packed and ready...


The main sales area...


Helicopters!

[hwchoy]

Whose butt?

wow! the owner must be really proud of them