Marine Tank -- Fish ( Pink Skunk Clown-- Amphipirion Perideraion)

No marine tank is complete without a clownfish or two ? Or at least I feel so...My preference for clownfish seems to differ from the typical bright orange/ black patterned " Nemo"-- the pink skunk clownfish with its subtle colours attracts me more and IMO seems to contrast much better with the brighter corals I seek to own...

It is also not without its challenges-- it reportedly is less hardy/durable than other clownfish species and I lost the initial 3, ending up with these 2 stable specimens in my tank. They took to the bubble-tip anemone very readily, sadly which I failed to keep long-term... They didn't seem to mind taking the hammer coral as a substitute lately though....



Pink Skunk Clownfish
(Amphiprion perideraion)
QUICK STATS
Minimum Tank Size: 30 gallons
Care Level: Moderate
Temperament: Semi-aggressive
Reef Compatible: Yes
Max. Size: 4"
Color Form: Orange, Red, White
Diet: Omnivore

Marine Tank-- The beginning

As previously mentioned...was tempted by the many colours and varieties of marine life that I set up a marine tank despite the many challenges ahead... Had to learn from many mistakes and sadly, from the plenty of losses of corals and fish. Never really had a major tank crash (or major die-off) from my lack of experience but experienced some losses due to lack of research or impulse purchases.

Some pictures of my initial setup (first 3 mths) and corals/ fishes when I first started in 2007.

Cycling the marine tank with fresh saltwater and first piece of 5kg live rock..

*notice the rock of green yuma and a pick cauliflower coral ( I just couldn't wait !! )

A full tank shot of the 1st week, small air-driven skimmer, T-5 lighting and hang-on back filter...

A month later...

...2 pink skunk clown fish added

skunk cleaner shrimp added.... 1-mth green-tan yuma

..pink bubble-tip anemone

....green bubble-tip anemone

...pink-striped feather duster worm added

Apart from the pink skunk clownfish and cleaner shrimp that survived, the feather duster worm, green-tan yuma and cauliflower coral didn't make it past 3 mths...

The cheap protein skimmer ($18) didn't perform and the light tubes were too "blue" (too high spectrum--20kelvin rating) for the yuma that was supposed to be easy to keep. There wasn't enough micro-fauna/ microscopic food to sustain the cauliflower and feather duster which needed to be fed rather than make their own food... An initial sense of guilt of not knowing the corals well enough and causing their demise led to implementing a rule of not purchasing any more livestock for the time being...maybe I should go fish-only ???

FISHING... @ Punggol Beach

...a continuation of my past fishing expeditions... this time @ Punggol Beach/ punggol end as some call it..

A very nice and calming view/ setting as at 2006/ 2007 when the area is still not so commonly visited...guess things have changed alot since the publishing in the papers about the place. Plenty of beaches/ natural fishing spots have been spoiled and ecosystem damaged once the number of visitors and anglers increase, bringing with it the extra rubbish picnickers leave behind on shore and the nets and fishing equipment accidentally or intentionally dumped into the waters...








A few catches from the area...









Haven't been there since this year (2009) , and hope not much will change in the years to come as it will definitely be a place I'd regularly hang out after our flat @Punggol Breeze is ready around 2013...

FISHING...@Sungei Serangoon

Been quite awhile since i fished on a regular basis... Went alot during NS times on days off with a army/fishing buddy Jason. Most of my knowledge on fishing equipment and tactics were learnt from the numerous trips out for almost 3 yrs...each trip would last a minimum of 3hours stretching up to 8 hours and more if overnight. Though all done inshore (fishing from land) and no monsters were encountered, I had a fair share of fun using light tackle (rod, line and reel for fishes less than 15 pounds), enjoying the peace of the night, the scenery or just the randomness of the catch at the end of the line !

I have a personal preference for random "wild-fishing" rather than go to a commercial pond. The variety of fish and expectation is so much different. When you pay to fish, you have a certain expectation do "make it worth the money", whereas when out at a beach or river, catching a variety of fish at random sizes is just more enjoyable, coupled with the nice relaxing view.

First up, fishing at Sungei Serangoon-- a natural river just minutes walk from my previous home at Sengkang. Not many such rivers exist nowadays and was i more than glad to go even twice a day since it was so near... Only once did I fish it after dark and left not soon after due to the mosquitoes aplenty and the risk of not being able to spot the wild cobra or sea snake (yes they are found loitering around and even some non-venomous ones are hanging from the trees above ! ) A brackish (where saltwater meets freshwater) river no more than 50metres wide has quite a variety to offer !

....a view from the nearest overhead bridge

..the very common whiting

..another common brackish water fish -- spotted scat

..puffers !

...black eel

...big catfishes >40cm



....stay tuned for more pictures from my other fishing trips.

Guppy : Purple Grass Guppy

New import from famous breeder in Penang...purple grass

Very unique coloration....enjoy...

Guppy ??!! Moss ??!!

Now... if you're wondering about the choice of theme "GUPPY...MOSS..", let me explain. The Guppy is the 1st fish I ever kept, and is until today, still the fish i'm most fascinated with and always have in my tanks. Why ?

From the 1st rather plain fish netted from the canals/ reservoirs, they are a tough and simple fish to keep and breed. Their mode of reproduction is similar to, and much more amazing than most other fish species. It takes one mating to fertilise its eggs, with the mother nourishing the embryos developing inside her for an average of 28days, after which tiny fish are born out free-swimming and not eggs. This is also known as "live-bearing" in fishes. What's more, the female is able to store the sperm from a single mating into a few "packets" inside of her, utilising one packet each month without fail to fertilise her monthly-produced eggs. So to say, she is able to produce on average 3-6 batches of babies without having a mate/ partner for months. Thus, they're also known as the "millions fish" used to stock our reservoirs and canals for mosquito control. How the sperm packets are kept viable for months in the female is still not completely understood.

Their colour forms/ patterning, even tail forms are the most diverse among any species of fish currently known due to their complex genetic make-up. If you think bettas(a.k.a. fighting fishes) have very interesting tail forms/colours, you'll be blown off by what guppy forms/colours exist ! There is virtually no limit to the genetics of guppies.

Apart from being a peaceful community fish, they are relatively undemanding and easy to breed. The kick i get is actually the chance to try and maintain a certain challenging tail-form, or even hope to create a whole new colour pattern with them. Such is the attraction that websites and forums purely about guppies are set up and still buzzing with postings and updates about what new patterns/ colours are being experimented with and created. Doing a google will give you many results but the most "lively" forum that I check back at least twice a day would be the one in Singapore's AROFANATICS Guppy Forum. The whole (originally arowana-dedicated) website is buzzing with information and pictures, even sales/ auctions of fishes. The format is not much different in other sites but the encouragement/ generosity of the forum members extend so much that they share valuable strains of guppies, information and even meet up for hours just to chat and discuss about what else ? GUPPIES !

Moss would be the aquatic plant that is so versatile, low maintenance and guppy-friendly that i cant do without. My breeding tanks, guppy tanks, planted tank and even my electric catfish tank all contain it. No particular favourism but spiky moss seems to be more suited to my needs.

All talk and no show ? Of course NOT !

Albino Superwhite breeding group (genetically colour-recessive guppies) with spiky moss

My favourite swallow-tail form

and the NEW crowntail guppy !

(healthy) Aquariums -- an ecosystem for fish

Now, keeping an aquarium is more than just putting a fish into a body/container of water. It is about understanding the needs of the fish to be kept and meeting them -- just as a human needs to keep warm, have shelter for security, food for life-sustainance and health etc. It isn't that complicated really. Just like understanding that a cat needs water, appropriate cat food, a scratch pole and a cosy corner ( or even a bed ) for it to rest.

A typical house for us is just a shelter, just as the hamster cage is for the hamster. The environment inclusive of plants, air, light etc is what makes it complete ! Straight to the point, an aquarium is ideally a small habitat created for the fish as close it is as possible to the environment they come from. How would you feel then, if placed in a glass box with no bed, no furniture, water and food being occasionally dropped for you, leaving you to eat/ sleep in the same place as u "do your business" ??!

"Appropriate" is the key word to keeping any pet happy, healthy and long-lived rather than just keeping it alive: -

Specifically for fishes :

Water == It means much MORE to the fish than fresh air and a clean environment is to us. It is essentially what they live in, eat in, sleep in (not forgetting excreting in! ). Heavily chlorinated water or even dirty water equals to us being enclosed in a smoke chamber and forcing us to drink sewage water. We have a chance of escape, and a choice of spitting out whatever tastes bad, but fishes are trapped in whatever water conditions we put them in, unable to escape. They cant talk or complain, much less cry for help ! So basic conditions would be clean water of a bearable temperature and some water movement to aid gas exchange to replace the oxygen that they use up in that fixed volume of water.

More about water quality in another post.

Space == Fish in general swim more than we walk/ run around, so wouldn't it be fair to provide them a significant amount of water space to swim around and explore. Don't we enjoy that stroll in the garden, the park or by the beach ? It isn't that different... We all are living things and don't enjoy being confined. Remember how detention class felt ? hee...

Food == Feeding worms to dogs, fish to hamsters and carrots to cats seems common sense enough : - they MIGHt eat the above-mentioned to stay alive if thats the only thing they ever get. But we all know it would not do them much good or even create health problems, much less them enjoying it. A more crude way would be humans being given dog/cat/ fish feed...not hard to imagine now ?

All these are just the very basic rules i follow to have a healthy aquarium, not one that just provides the fish some water to turn round and round in and barely staying alive.... Enough of the boring stuff...let's start peeking into some of the fish tanks i started out with ?


first up-- MINI PREDATORS (my little slice of nature...how close can you get seeing a predator fish ambush a smaller fish ? )

Trying to cramp up as many as i can in a limited space...

My 1st snakehead...baby haruan caught behind Science Centre!

Tilapia species caught behind Sengkang home @Sungei Serangoon

Hooked onto snakeheads-- chinese/oriental snakehead

....rainbow snakehead ( channa gachua )

more to come ...

Why fish ?

Why the interest in fish ? Personally, it stems out from the interests in keeping pets. Frogs/ little chicks/ hamsters/ kittens/ birds/ spiders etc were kept at one point in time or another during childhood years...although ranging from a few hours to a few weeks before mum discovered and released some , sent a few off to my primary school science garden, or beared with them due to dad voting for me. Eventually the "longer lasting" hamsters' offended mum with the slightest stench, which led to them being placed outside the house and ended up getting stolen !! -- the lure of the adorable ones had the thieves cutting the chain that linked up the hamster cage to the water pipe just outside my bedroom window just to have the hamsters for themselves!!

THE CUTe FAMILY OF 8 !

A few initial attempts when 1st trying to keep fish almost had me give up on them...what's the idea with having a few fishes swimming around in an enclosed fish tank, not being able to be taken out and petted, doesn't give out an endearing "meow" of a little kitten nor able to take a piece of carrot out of my hand, holding it in its two front paws and looking as cute as a hamster can get ? The lack of interest led to my 1st few fishes either being ignored, or overfed yet i didn't bother to change the dirty water that they were swimming in, excreting in and drinking ! Dad was definitely struggling to help me keep the fishes alive but the toll of 2 jobs usually left him too tired to keep up with my messing up of the over-populated fish tank. Needless to say, I still was attracted to the then seemingly "exotic" creatures like fighting spiders and even baby house lizards !


Then came primary 3, and science was my favourite subject. Growing bean sprouts out of green beans, learning more about animals and the food chain and how important their natural habitats keep them alive made me appreciate, respect and regret the lives lost during my "exotic pet collection" days.... Think i forgot to mention the tens to a hundred lives that i ended when i brought them home and away from the natural habitats that sustained them... I then started to view aquariums as a duplicate of a whole enclosed natural ecosystem for the fishes within rather than a container just to keep them alive in....