IcecruncherZ

I started at 15 too I wanted to start since Pri School, but was never allowed to. First tank was a total disaster. At that time, there was no internet, no forum, no one to ask, only depended on LFS owners and books from the library. Unfortunately the first LFS owner i spoke to gave me very wrong info, and my tank could never really recover. After moving house, I started a new tank after intensive reading and the tank was so much more successful. Me and my mom are guilty for causing the death of countless Regal Tangs. So my advice is to read and read and read. The WWW resource on Marine Aquaria is inexhaustible.

Be prepared for unexpected costs. I always tell my friends that are going to start up a marine tank that the initial cost is but a tiny fraction of what you are going to have to spend eventually on lifestock and maintenance.

Hi, I've got no exp with Boxfish. There have been reports of Boxfish being continually harassed by Cleaner Wrasses to the point of... Yahz~ Dont mean to frighten you, but I've read of it... just cannot remember where...

Feed Mysis. Brine shrimp has been known to be hollow, poor nutrition food.

Yahz... I was SO plagued by white spot in my old tank that i almost bought one. But the UV sterilizer will kill all planktonic life or whatever in the water that flows through the tube Pros and Cons lahz~ But really, Good Water Quality is the way to go...

I read that ich has a dormant period, ie the protozoa will drop off, regroup, and lead to an even greater outbreak. During the dormant period, the aquarist is fooled into believing that the ich is gone, and hence stop treatment, only to experience a worse outbreak. Hence it is advisable to continue with whatever treatment for at least a month. Wonder where i read that from...

SCREAMS... the shop at B***t T***h is the crappiest shop in S'pore. They have no idea what they are saying or doing. On multiple accounts, i saw Newbies purchasing a Mini tank, salt mix, FISHES and CORALS at a go, ie no cycling, no nothing and that was before Nemo. My favourite was this qns I asked. "auntie ah, (pointing to Blue Lined Butterfly, obligate coral eater) easy to keep or not har?" Response "Hen Rong Yi! Butterfly very very easy! Everything also eat one!" I walked out in disgust.

100 Bucks for Lime Green Ric is ridiculous. You can get 2 Lime Green Neon FLORIDA Ricordea for that amount. Ricordea, even Yuma, will not reach the size of a palm. Unless what you saw is a 1 in a million giant... which i have never encountered nor seen, not even in web pics... Guys do you think what he saw was a rare Green form of an Elephant Ear?

If I'm not wrong, Cat Eye is merely the type of bubble coral with significantly larger bubbles, like 1cm in size. The other type of bubble coral is the pearl bubble. It has much smaller bubbles. Do a search on both to see the difference. Cheers~

Guys, can check out this Webby. Wonder if the colours are retouched, cos some of the Zos are simply too pretty. http://reef.esmartweb.com/polyps.htm

I think i saw a specimen at ML just now. Quite large. Not sure if its a Lamarck, cos it looks so similar to Watanabei and Zebra... Call him to check...

Its been known that some pple simply have problems keeping Shrooms. All other corals do fantastically but their Shrooms just melt away. I read somewhere that having a high nutrient level ie tanks with no skimmer, no carbon are good for Shrooms.

Yeah! High 5 Deep Blue

Different pple have different interests i guess. Right now the rics may seem small, but they will be very spectacular when they reproduce and form a small colony. Of course that will take time. Also, Rics are hardy creatures that are tolerant of lower light intensities and hence suitable for poorer reefers like me that cant afford MH with Chiller. Since they are hardy, I dont expect it to die on me without warning. Marine Lifestock is not just priced based on Scarcity, but also demand. Florida Rics are an example of lifestock that commands a high price due to demand. And there is a reason for the demand I guess. Cheers~

Please do not rely on Cleaner Shrimps to cure your fish of Ich. Instead diagnose the problem with your water and correct it.

Check the gill cover for the presence of the spine. If there's a spine, its an Angel, and as Deepblue said, really looks like the Juvenile of the Blue Lipped Angel. If there isnt a spine, its a butterfly but looking at the shape, its more likely to be an Angel. Good for you if its a Juvenile Blue Lip Angel. They're not generally known to feed actively. You must have a healthy specimen.

Yeah, read that shrimps are very sensitive to sudden changes in Salinity... but I dont bother to acclimatise anyway... Haha~ Lazy... New Reefers must not learn from me! As for nitrate, dont think they're so intolerant towards it. Cos my nitrate is sky high.

Just got back from ML. The Sri Lanka shipment has tons of stars, nice small sized powder blues, moorish idols, juvenile emperors, cleaner and blood shrimps (very jumbo sized ones) and other misc stuff...

Sounds like my nightmare... royal gramma... 4 line wrasse... long slender fishes sure disappear mysteriously at night. But my nightmare stopped after i got my Fridmani (orchid) dottyback. I think he killed my mantis. Hehz.

The six line pyjama wrasse is very hardy and disease resistant. If it cant survive, something is quite wrong with your water chemistry. I suggest your provide your water parameters so that pple here can be more diagnostic. Temp, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH etc...

Both are super hardy... my blood shrimp and my cleaner avoid each other... they take the opposite ends of my tank. The Cleaner Very Garang, can take food from my hand and let me play with its feelers Blood shrimp on the other hand only comes out like 20 secs after i start feeding... slow and stupid, so end up with nothing.

White Spot is caused by Cryptocaryon Irritans. Fishes will have discrete white spots on the body and will be seen flashing. Velvet is caused by Amyloodinium ... cant remember =P and the fish will be covered in tiny non discrete white spots that makes the fish look powdered. More swift acting and deadly, but easier to eradicate. Both are protozoa and not parasites. Parasites are more of things like flukes and lice and parasitic copepods and whatever. I'm not sure but i believe cleaners will only work on parasites. As to which is Ich, i'm not sure... i think its a general term for both White Spot and Velvet, but more so to White Spot, since it's more common anyway... Hope the above info is right... Haha~

Hrmz... i tried the Kent Pepper one before lehz... not very effective... but maybe its cos my tang quite hopeless liao... I think it doesnt raise the temp of the fish lahz (so chinese medicine 'heat' and 'cold' haha~) I think it makes the fishes produce and sloathe away slime more quickly and literally slimes away the white spots... Wonder if my hypothesis is correct... or just crap... Haha~

Wow which lucky kid? Should own up! For me its the opposite manz... Mom> How much money you waste again on those small round things you bought? Me> lousy one lahz, small small 3 for 50 only. Mom> 50 dollars for 3 of that tiny things you also buy!?!?!?! Wait till she knows the real price...

Cleaner Shrimps dont do much for White Spot. They're more for parasites. And really, you shouldnt be putting Boxfishes and Butterflies into new tanks. Both are sensitive fish and are ich magnets too.