hey i like aro and gals k...not guys ...so no dear dear'ing plz...

for your case i not sure which sponge you are referring to...i'm definetly not talking about the foamy sponge ppl use to wash thier dish/car with....its those black plastic like sponge which are sold at lfs..

cuz my case i've been using the same sponge for almost a year, there has never been any part of it that got loose or broke off and get stuck in the propeller etc....no such case for me...

neways...just my 2cents

hope it helps

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Added on May 30, 2010, 1:03 pmi wonder how Daniel is doing :S

This post has been edited by leong2084: May 30 2010, 01:03 PM

@bensow - haha just kidding la >.< neway i hope your water clears up soon


@devilsin - wah long time no see your post oledy....

@moonpig - welcome welcome ^^ haha firstly have you got the aquarium oledy? if got then what type of fish you currently keeping?

waaah.....Daniel's back

so how are you and your aro doin? ok oledy?

wah...hey thats good news man haha grats on the pellet training

mine will accept tetra pellets but the hiakri and azoo wont eat :S

but even so while it eats the pellets, it seems to be shredding em rather than really eating em (like swallow it whole)

i just got myself 2 stingray pleco and one bala shark haha

aro went to bully em >.< now they hiding at the corners...

@Daniel, lol yah my 1st time i see the stingray pleco...so cute lol...i just afraid it get eaten by my aro only :S

@Moonpig, there has been many debates over tank best tank sizes but imo i believe 5x2x2 is the minimum.
What i can advise tho is probly have 5f L x 2.5-3f W x 2.5-3F H

The width shud be 2.5f so that it can turn nicely when it gets bigger

The height doesnt really matter...just depends on how high and how much water u wana have in lol but have to be careful cuz the tank makers charge more for higher heights due the pressure of water the tank will have to hold cuz the more water it holds, the thicker the glass will be required.

My tank is 5x2.5x2 hehe

hope it helps

haha yeah its ok to get 2nd hand aquarium, but you need to check for damages and cracks and scratches etc.

gotta really look thoroughly at the sides front, back, top and bottom even....cuz if there are any u will have to live with it till the day you can re-sell it etc etc...

and gotta test by also filling up the tank with water at its max and leave it for an hour to see if there is any water leaking out.

one thing tho, do try to get those with covers...

for me i didnt wana bother to go thru all that so i just buy a newly made one but of course have to pay extra la



i wud have to also suggest that once you have your aquarium, go take time to really look around both on internet and on site visit and see really which type of arowana you really like......
once you have determined the arowana type you really want, then you can start to give a little extra for 'oyama colored sticky paper' coloring job for your background and bottom for the color suited to your arowana's color development

then after that all that is left to do is to keep some...really cheap feeder / chaplang fish in the tank to cycle your tank while you save money and scout around for the arowana you reaaaaalllly wana get


this is the fun part actually scouting around for the arowana you really want is like scouting around for the life partner (husband/wife) you want to be in your life forever

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Added on May 31, 2010, 2:11 pmi cant take good pix of my china pleco, cuz they really hiding at the corners too afraid to come out cuz of my hungry aro (pellets dont make aro feel full lol)

so here is a vid i found in youtube for china pleco,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx9vA79RGNU

really cute lol

This post has been edited by leong2084: May 31 2010, 02:11 PM

man thats big what have you been feeding it

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Added on May 31, 2010, 9:55 pmhaha i bought each one for rm4
cute little buggers lol....like mini sting ray...xcept they feed on all that brown algae

This post has been edited by leong2084: May 31 2010, 09:55 PM

This post has been edited by leong2084: May 31 2010, 11:49 PM

my china pleco kena eaten =.= zzzz

aih....okok...fei feng time...

anyone know a place i can get about 4 inch long ff?

haha yaloh...sigh..stupid oug lfs say aro's wont bother with pleco's cuz they stick to the walls and not move much...

i had 4 china pleco...they always get attacked by my aro when they come out in the open....otherwise they will hide behind the sponge / filter tube where the aro cant reach em >.<

now i think better have a ff instead who will do the job completely and provide competition for food to stim the aro's appetite for the pellets more

count me in too

soz i not familiar of how to go to jalan pasar....when i go do google map search...its not showing...its showing like somewhere overseas =.="

lol nolah, my aro is not that aggressive ...is becuz the pleco is small so it thinks its feeder fish food >.<"

i have:

1 red kelah
3 bichirs
1 lampang
1 silver disc fish
1 bala shark
3 china pleco



so far only the china pleco getting attacked cuz they look like food to the aro

i doubt the fei feng will get attacked, cuz i'm looking for only those 4-5inch size which are similar to the lampang and kelah
anything below 1 inch i guess the aro will try to take it as food...like my china pleco


xlsa ya i remember got...but like super duper far la lol...and of course they charge a bit permium...thx neways
i'll try looking at jln pasar first...(once i find out where that is using my gps that is )

This post has been edited by leong2084: Jun 2 2010, 09:46 AM

haha thx for the price updates

pudu o.u.g is soso le...about 20minz journey (without jam) with jam probly 40minz but its definitely shorter distance than xlsa lol

dont bother going to oug lfs ler lol, ntg much there and price isnt the cheapest either....i only used to go there for the insects cuz conveniently near my house...sadly they dunno what is fei feng even

20-30% water change can oledy...

you just need to measure the LxWxH of the actual water you put in....Here is H is the main factor for wc

best to use inches to calculate....for example after calculating mine:

total actual water volume utilized from aquarium = 60 inch x 30 inch x 21 inch (Height)

so for me i do 30% water change...

and 30% of my 'total actual water volume utilized' is = 60 inch x 30 inch x 6.3 inch..

so basically i just measure 6.3 inch down and siphon the water out..

then i add back 6.3 inch of water


since i got quite a few fishes in my tank so i do 30% wc.

If your's is only just arowana and some other fish x 1 ....then 20% is recommended

hope you get my drift

lol yeah agreed i put a bit of that small sticker there to mark it

hmnn, if you have to get em small then its based on trust with the lfs owner oledy....gotta make sure the lfs you get from is a trustable person

sometimes biz is like that wan....no choice but to rely on trust


i know nothing about kelah also lol...but i went ahead to buy the red kelah cuz i trust that lfs which i buy from for long time already

my kelah is like 3 inch only ler bro lol

having both planted and bare tank before....in my opinion for arowana while its still small (ie. below 6 inch) is ok to have deco and gravel etc
but when its at 8-9 inch onwards its better to have less deco cuz they might injure themselves when they get scared or jump >.<

With regards to gravel, it depends on you...if you wana be hardworking and vacuum the gravel every week then yeah it shud be ok, if not then bare-tank is easier
If you choose to have gravel and plants there are a few pro's and cons....i'll list out those i've experienced:

Cons:
1) uneated food/dead fish/dirt/poo all can get trapped in the gravel - if left in there too long, it begins to rot and bad bacteria / parasites start to develop causing problems
2) have to vacuum the gravel often ....while you doing so you are also siphoning the water out thus you are performing wc as well...to my experience 20-30% wc is not enuf to vacuum the gravel enuf....last time i did it with 50% wc only was soso for gravel cleanliness (50% wc is not recommended for arowana)
3)you can not have aquarium soil under the gravel for your plants....one swing of the big fish like your arowana/bichir/chillid/any big fish...will cause all your aquarium soil to fly around and make the water muddy cloudy and filter can clog with all that soil...thus only small fish tiny fish (ie. tetras) are usually for planted tanks
4) plants require huge co2 to grow well, you'll be having to invest in co2 system which the equipment is quite pricey and the co2 tank will have to be replaced from time to time depending on the size and flow rate
5) plants also tend to require lower temp (ie 23-25 degrees celcius) which is not good for arowana which pref 28-30 deg. cel..
6) having the aquarium soil (which also acts as fertilizer a bit) and the co2 pumped in will lower PH to acidic levels (ie. 6.0-6.4) which causes issues with water chem buffering which is quite a meticulous balancing act...and costly too...oh ya the wood you put in also helps to drop the ph lower as well
7) when you want to change gravel types or remove them completely due to some reason then it will be a very difficult and tiring task as doing so will likely require you to put your fishes in another quarantine tank while you do so as it will make a real mess of your water.....i know this cuz i've changed 40-50kg's of gravel 3 times in my prior 4ft aquarium.......3 sessions of 2 hour massages also not enuf to cover the pain and exhaustion...i'm not kidding

Pros:
1) if you are only having gravel no plants.....gravel will make the tank look much nicer
2) dirt is not so easily seen at the bottom as compared to bare-tanks
3) gravel provides more capacity for bb colonization as the gravel themselves provide good surface area for the bb to attach themselves to thus you will have better de-nitrification probably
4) if you are gonna use plants that dont need the aquarium soil to grow well ...you'll most likely be looking at anubias, java ferns, brazillian weed and the likes which can be tied down to a wood piece (found commonly at most lfs)


plz take note this is merely my opinion from my experiences, in the end the choice is yours to make

hope this helps



just to show off a bit of my old 4ft semi planted tank ^^
i miss its beauty sometimes




This post has been edited by leong2084: Jun 4 2010, 06:31 PM

haha

hows it doin?

nah, tmr will be going to seremban for my grandma bday >.<"

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Added on June 5, 2010, 1:25 amlol enjoy chasing good luck and all the best with the gals ^^



This post has been edited by leong2084: Jun 5 2010, 01:25 AM