My journey is opposite to yours. I started modifying cars when I was 18 and I still do until today but I've always been a Skyline/RB person having modified RB20, RB25, RB26 and RB28. I did stray however and had a V9 STI and 350z but luckily I came to my senses. Used to have a few cars at once but now I'm left with my favorite which is my R34 GTR V-Spec II. Although I agree that modifying is a waste especially once you cross the seven figure mark but why do you call yourself "sampah masyarakat"? It's a legitimate hobby with many responsible enthusiasts and I'm sure you were one yourself.

Actually, been into fish keeping all this while but not serious type and currently have a 3ft marine tank and a Koi pond in my Damansara house, a half acre pond stocked with 4000 catfish at the Hulu Langat house, a concrete pond in the Janda Baik house stocked with 2000 catfish and in the Perlis house I have three different ponds one purely for Puyu, one empty as its new and another is fairly large I'd estimate around half acre mark stocked with Jelawat, Catfish, Tilapia, Jelawat and Haruan. None of them are commerical purposes though.

Now, with help from ggMing I've decided to venture into freshwater monsters and after meeting him today at his shop, I feel confident he'll be able to help me achieve what I have planned in mind. Apparently, it's somewhat of a unique setup and I'm sure ggMing will be seeing more of me in the near future.

Anyways, kudos to ggMing, highly recommend him as he's extremely helpful and accommodating compared to a few other LFS I've been to.

[quote=ggMing,Nov 16 2010, 10:46 PM]
Now, with help from ggMing I've decided to venture into freshwater monsters and after meeting him today at his shop, I feel confident he'll be able to help me achieve what I have planned in mind. Apparently, it's somewhat of a unique setup and I'm sure ggMing will be seeing more of me in the near future.

Anyways, kudos to ggMing, highly recommend him as he's extremely helpful and accommodating compared to a few other LFS I've been to.

[/quote]

thank you bro for the kind words... just sharing my information with you only, nothing helpful...

thank you for dropping by, and of course, hope to see you soon in the future...

guys, this is a monster fish keeper with monster ponds... seriously............................ and a river.... hehehe

[/quote]

Shh don't spill the secret just yet or no more wow factor LOL

Well to be honest, what tipped the balance was the fact that you took me very seriously which for some reason most LFS don't because firstly fishes are a relatively new hobby for me and I don't know always know what to ask. Secondly, they probably think what I have planned are purely daydreams and a waste of their time as I'm probably a time waster in their opinion, thirdly they are more concerned with selling rather than educating and finally you're the first person who has admitted that there are certain questions which you do not know the answer which is rare as other LFS would rather close shop than admit ignorance.

Actually, I was very close to buying the tank just now but I held back as impulse purchases never end well. Secondly, I've yet to finalize the types of fishes I'm going to have in the tank - the Arapaimas and RTC are confirmed but I'd want a couple others perhaps a Gulper Catfish if suitable and really a Gar if its suitable.

To be honest, I didn't know that Arapaimas are banned as pets although I do know their numbers are dwindling in the wild. Because I've seen them for sale and some places have hundreds available so the question of them being illegal never crossed my mind.

Why are you getting rid of your RTC? I notice a lot of people tend to sell their fishes especially Arapaimas after only a couple of years, sometimes after only a few months.

BenSow,

Actually count your blessings bro. I just realized you are still in high school - when I was your age I didn't even have a handphone what more an aquarium to keep all sorts of exotic fishes. If I were you, I'd consider myself so lucky because compared to other 15 year olds, you're already ahead of the curve. I admire your enthusiasm in wanting to earn your own money to support your hobby and trust me I understand what it feels like to have parents who don't understand your passion; been there done that. Perhaps you should take up ggMing's offer to work part-time but don't let it interfere with your studies. The fishes aren't going anywhere but you as a person - you're going places.

ggMing,

Looks like I have quite a bit of planning to do and I think the best way going forward is for me to determine a budget and then you can suggest various combinations of fishes that fall within the price range. Obviously I'd need some help with the construction of the pond - how deep it should be, tiled or cement covered sand for the bottom, whether it should have various depths or same depth throughout, how to properly use stones/rocks/driftwood etc to make it as authentic as possible and much more.

Although you said filters weren't necessary, I feel its something I should at least look into as I'd want the water to be as clear as possible. This definitely needs proper planning to coincide not only with the dry season as currently ground too soft and wet to construct anything properly as well as being ready to receive fishes that are ready to leave the grow out tank.

Right now I've got even bigger fish related problems - been trying for the past couple of months to source for Pacific Bottle Nose Dolphins and currently the Solomon Islands seems to be the nearest place but their prices are steep; over RM1m per dolphin and I need five. I don't suppose you could help me with that could you? LOL

I think you have gotten the wrong impression of me. I am very new to this hobby and I've been absorbing as much information as possible. It just so happens that we have several houses and for some reason all of them have ponds with freshwater fishes. However these are fishes which are meant to be eaten and aren't pets.

On that note, if anyone is interested in catfish then I have probably a couple hundred fishes which I want to give away. Most are just the right size to be eaten while some have grown a bit too large and won't taste as nice when fried, etc. But at the end of the day, they are absolutely FOC as its surplus after taking into account my family's personal consumption and even after giving away to immediate neighbours.

The catch is that you have to pick-up in Janda Baik and also I would appreciate it if you were to donate a token sum to my family's orphanage which we have run for the past 20 years. The amount doesn't matter - take 100 fishes and donate RM10 is fine because donation amounts must be 'ikhlas'. If interested please SMS me on 019-2578888 or 019-2588888. Alternatively, you can email me razlan.radzi@gmail.com

Back to the topic at hand, in terms of keeping fishes as 'pets' then all I have is a pond full of Koi and a marine tank both of which are at my Damansara House. I've always wanted monster freshwater fishes but didn't want to rush into it until I'm confident I can provide the best possible environment for them.

BenSow - bottle nose dolphins are cetaceans and since their original habitat is the open ocean, you can't keep them in your aquarium. Currently we're planning on constructing a 600,000 litre aquarium which does not include the open air dolphin enclosure. This is a very small setup as the consultants we've spoken to have constructed private aquariums up to 1.6mil litres in size but they are usually in the palaces of the Arab royal families. To give you a sense of the size, Aquaria KLCC is about 1.2mil litres and that is a public aquarium. These are all marine based setups however.

But the dolphins I've been looking to source aren't for me neither is the 600,000 litre tank but is actually a tourist attraction project.

Basically, there is a project that was initiated by a State Government and is meant to be a marine mammal park however it was abandoned after 40% of the work was completed so it had to be rescued by the private sector - basically another company willing to not only buy over the land and completed work (of which all the systems were setup wrongly and would have failed even if completed by the original company) but also secure the additional funding and expertise required to complete the project. But then once completed, the company has to make a return on its investment in addition to managing a wide range of risks from the economy going south to losing all their fishes on display. This requires a team of experts ranging from marine biologists, dolphin trainers, F&B staff, maintenance staff etc some of whom would have to be expats.

Personally, I don't agree with dolphins being kept in captivity as half of all dolphins captured from the wild in the first place die within weeks of being in captivity. This depends largely on how they were caught and subsequent transport to the final aquarium. Those who do survive live for around 7-10 years max which is 4x less than in the wild. In fact, dolphins in captivity have been known to suffer from depression leading to developing ulcers and a whole bunch of other illnesses. Furthermore dolphins in the wild travel up to 40-50 miles a day and when placed in someplace like Sea World where the industry standard for keeping dolphins is 10ft x 10ft x 30ft per dolphin, then it would have to swim round its enclosure 1700 times a day to match what they are able to do in the wild.

Dolphins also produce a lot of waste so filtration is extremely important. Also, dolphins communication can travel for miles under water and they use this form of sonar to hunt as well so imagine being in an aquarium and having these sonar waves bouncing back at you from every angle. The reason why bottle nose dolphins are used the most is due to the fact that they look happy with a smile which is not necessarily the case as dolphins have been know to commit suicide in captivity either by refusing food or even to the extent of banging their heads against the enclosure.

Therefore, dolphins when retrieved in the wild do not adapt well to captivity which is why Australia and UK have banned all cetaceans from captivity and its only countries in Asia, Middle East, US and especially Japan who allow dolphins in captivity. There are dolphins who are born and bred in captivity usually in open cages by the sea and is a big industry in places like the Solomon Islands. Only dolphins born and raised in captivity would actually perform tricks like jumping out of the water onto the side of the pool and perform tricks before retreating back into the pool. Getting a wild dolphin to do the same is next to impossible as it goes against their natural instinct and its unnatural for them as being out of water means the weight of their bodies presses down on their internal organs and if a dolphin performs three shows a day seven days a week over several years you can imagine why they don't live for very long.

In short, on a personal level I disagree with the concept and I've tried my best to get the whole concept changed completely as you don't need to have dolphins performing tricks three times a day to attract visitors. If I could have it my way, I'd go for a concept like the Atlanta Georgia Aquarium which is the world's largest and was donated by the founder of Home Depot at the cost of quarter of a billion dollars. It's size is 30 million liters or 30 times larger than Aquaria KLCC. It also has 125,000 fishes a large number of which are HAND FED daily and they have the best experts in the world not to mention massive manpower; even their volunteers number in the thousands. Currently, the Atlanta Georgia Aquarium brings in over USD 1 billion to the city of Atlanta without even having to put on a single show or even have a single dolphin in captivity. So it can be done, it has been done and its doable without being cruel to dolphins.

So why is it happening? Well, at the end of the day this project had already been started and since the original parties have failed, the new company which is attempting to rescue the project has already doubled the amount of capital in addition to nearly tripling the land area. However, the terms of the takeover are very clear which states that this is a marine mammal tourist park with a dolphinarium so if its going to happen the best anyone can do is try provide the best environment for the dolphins as possible. I still harbor hopes that the dolphin part can be eliminated and in its place a bigger aquarium or even more than one aquarium and for the same money produce something that puts Aquaria to shame as current plans already include an aquarium half the size of Aquaria's so imagine without dolphins you could have more than twice the size and even have a whole reef.

What does it have to do with me? Well, I studied finance in University and my first job was in investment banking. I was exposed to the world of finance during my early teens as my parents subscribed Business Week, Economist, Malaysian Business and even current affairs like Newsweek, Far Eastern Economic Review (before it was banned those days) and I was given annual reports of public listed companies to read. I've since moved on and basically my life's work has changed dramatically as I now help run our family's orphanage but purely from the financial side so fundraising, investing whatever money we have etc. Next year I will assume more responsibility and I guess at some point I will take over from my father. So although my priority is the orphanage, I do have a business with another two in the pipeline along with some investments in property and the stock market. Basically, with regards to this dolphin venture I'm basically looking out for the interests of the company's chairman but I don't own any shares in the company nor am I employed by the company and it does not require much of my time as I'm focused primarily on everything related to the finances of the venture so I look at everything and anything to do money from costs to loans to rate of returns to pro forma statements of cashflow, revenue, etc. I was offered the chance to be a part of the venture but I do not agree with the concept and I also have to juggle my own ventures/investments.

I hope that answers your question?


This post has been edited by [PIMPIN]: Nov 18 2010, 11:56 PM

Well I was answering a question and anyways if I was super rich I'd have had a whole pond of monster fish by now built by consultants rather than hoping for free advice from forums but I got lucky as I found Jason's shop and he is quite sure that I can achieve my goal using free flowing river water. Mission accomplished IMHO. Anyways, good luck with your search for the catfish which I'm sure Jason or khairul anwar could easily source for you.

Hahah bro, sabar. I'm not easily offended especially when its by an anonymous person online.

Jason,

You mean kept by monster size person or in a monster sized pond?

Hahahah no lah, I'm just kidding.

Anyways, you will definitely be coming because I'd have no idea how to build the pond on my own LOL. As mentioned the earlier pond shown to you was built using common sense which doesn't mean its as the best for the fish (depth, length, etc). Plus that was a pure cement pond with sand used on the bottom and because the water cycles 24/7, I have no idea if there are leaks because obviously the water is being topped up even as it leaks out. Nevertheless, I will probably use pond liners just to be safe.

Anyways, I will come to your shop next weekend or the following week to discuss the fishes first as well as the fibreglass tanks, etc. As you've mentioned some fishes need time to source so we'll decide on a list of fishes and I'll buy the tank, etc first and give you whatever deposit you need for the fishes needed and once you've sourced them I'll pick them up hopefully all at the same time.

Well bro, technically its not a hobby just yet. Don't worry about the length, took me maybe 10-12 mins max but if at least one person learns something about bottle nose dolphins then its time well spent. Forums live and die on the willingness of members to take the time to share knowledge, experiences, etc. To be honest, on other forums on which I'm more active that's considered normal length for me and pretty much everyone is used to it by now LOL

Well compared to an Arapaima its not really all that huge is it? 4-5ft in length at most?

Even taking into account the 'biggest alligator gar caught' figures they don't seem to be that big even in the wild in Asia? Plus compared to an Arapaima its not going to look super huge is it? Anyways hopefully I have time to map out the new pond using string to see dimensions and then go from there.

Anyways, I might get a couple of catfish as they are bottom feeders and two arapaimas which feed at the surface so each sort of have their own space. If it were you what else would you add with a maximum of 8 in total but they must be compatible and be substantial in terms of size so they don't eat each other. What's your opinion Ben?

This post has been edited by [PIMPIN]: Nov 19 2010, 11:25 PM

Currently, I have this pond which took two guys just under 2 weeks to build by hand. Both have no prior experience in building ponds so they sort of figured it out themselves.



This is where the water comes from and is fresh river water which is channeled in PVC pipes that comes in rolls 150m long each and we went through quite a few roles but this was done easily a year ago and has never clogged up. However, Jason recommended that future pond have multiple inlets to reduce dead space.



This is water clarity (first picture taken sometime back, second picture last week) and considering its rainy season and there is no filtration whatsoever aside from netting on the PVC inlet pipes so that no debris can enter. Otherwise, all sorts of sediment is able to enter so I reckon on a whole its quite good. New pond will be deeper is going to need proper system in place.




The water cycles 24/7 as there is an overflow which leads back to the same river which runs for 200m. Basically there is nothing else upstream in terms of properties or houses so its as close to the source as possible.



If you guys want any catfish just PM me because its purely for consumption as well as friends and family.

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Added on November 20, 2010, 12:26 am

What do you do with all that kelah?



Where has Pima gone too? Would you mind sharing more pictures?


This post has been edited by [PIMPIN]: Nov 20 2010, 12:26 AM

Ivan,

That's pretty much what it is. I was going to say a bowl but it seemed a bit crude. The water comes close to 500m upriver and the 'pond' itself is higher than the river and the overflow goes back into the river but downstream. The river water level used to be between knee and waist high depending on which part of the river but currently the deepest point has been increased to roughly 10 feet.

You're right in saying that the river water does fluctuate but only during rainy season when its noticeably higher with a stronger current/flow. Regardless, the level inside the pond does not fluctuate as no matter what there is constant flow into the pond so its just a question of how fast the pond overflows back into the river. I hope that explanation makes sense.

But I believe with a little guidance, the guys who built it could easily build a proper pond as they're quite handy with their hands and very creative; using whatever that's available in on the property or surrounding woods. Slightly off-topic but these two guys built two of these gazebos by hand; which each taking about 10 days to complete. Even the bridge was hand built using bamboo that line the perimeter of the property.


Anyways, your collection is nothing short of impressive! I see you're into Koi; a hobby I've yet to appreaciate. Currently I only have cheap Koi because the house came with a pond complete with filtration, etc however the depth apparently isn't ideal (2ft) but leaving it empty would look weird. Plus, at the time my old friend from Uni just started a Koi business in Tropicana (Koi Division) so I bought the cheaper ones just to show my support for an old friend. Otherwise, I generally don't know much about Koi and I don't see that changing in the future.

Looking forward to more pictures of the 10ft tank and even some of the Koi tank as well; always thought they needed deep ponds like 4+ feet as it affects the growth but what do I know LOL

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Added on November 21, 2010, 11:34 amP.S: How deep is the 10ft tank?

This post has been edited by [PIMPIN]: Nov 21 2010, 11:34 AM

Don't hold your breath bro. Just started measuring the new ponds dimensions and should be ordering materials later this week or latest next week but its going to be the same concept - river water flowing 24/7 but this time through filtration of sponges and brushes (will probably get my friend from Koi Division to recommend a suitable setup).

Currently my concrete pond is 22x15x3 and I've emptied that pond over past couple days and just starting demolition as I've decided to make it in same place but bigger and deeper half of it above ground.

Someone on MFK suggested going for bottom drains rather than overflows but have yet to figure out how to go about it because if inlet gets blocked then pond would drain out but in terms of water quality its better as the water cycles more compared to overflow since its all natural. I guess I'll be posting updates there so as not to litter this thread with 'irrelevant' information since it doesn't involve primitive fish - yet.

Jason - will see you Monday week or sometime during and you're welcome to come enjoy the river anytime. I try to go once a week but usually twice a month is the average depending on workload.

Jason,

Sorry for late reply to your PM. As mentioned earlier I was busy with parents just arriving home from Hajj, etc past 3-4 days so that's why I've been MIA. If you still have the pair, give me your banking details. Also, if you're free this Sunday as mentioned via PM maybe you'd like to come and have a look at the pond as I'm about to start demolition and building new pond so your input would be extremely valuable.

Whoa quite a selection - the canvas one is new to me. Do you have one by any chance? I only ask as you've obviously got quite the collection of tanks. Btw, just curious where are these guys located as there's no mention on their website but their number has a local prefix.

You want the tank but you don't want to call? Well then..

What size you after? I thought you were getting rid of your fishes why the change of mind?

I've got a friend who was supposed to source some from me as I was toying with the idea of using them as part of a pond build. I'll PM you in a couple days if/when I hear from him.

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Added on November 30, 2010, 10:04 pmWhy buy one while trying to get rid of another at the same time?

This post has been edited by [PIMPIN]: Nov 30 2010, 10:04 PM

Hahah bro, you know what every shop is selling and even the price somemore. Walking fish portal

When does school holidays end? PMR went OK or not?

Org dulu ponteng sekolah pergi main snooker, Ben pergi tgk ikan

Liching is the one double story one right? With a basement?

Opposite them those guys should be shut down; selling fishes in a baldi.

Those are the shops I'm referring to. Those pasar malam roadside shops where the fish are subjected not only to the heat but also traffic fumes, etc. I wish there was something that could be done to stop this but they'd just move on and sell somewhere else.