Fish Compatibility Chart

Hi all..

Thanks for your feedback and support. Sorry for haven't show up for quite a while. I've been very busy with my business right now. Now, me and my friend runs 2 wet market that sells coconut milk freshly squeezed from its freshly grated coconut flesh. Right now its a fasting month for muslims and the demand for fresh coconut milk is so high. During fasting month, we muslims cannot eat from early in the morning (after sehri) until maghrib (during sunsets). Ok..enough of that. In this post, I've attached a fish compatibility chart as a guide for you to choose which kind of fish can live together and which are not. Hope it helps..Thanks y'all !!!

T.T.T (Tips / Tricks / Trivia)

Did you know that…

1. Freshwater fish owners maintain an average of 13 fish and nearly one-in-eight U.S. households keep fish as pets

2. Aquarium fish are the most popular pet in America, with nearly 12 million householdsowning more than 158,600,000 fish

3. Research and experimental evidence indicates fish aquariums lower blood pressure inboth hypertensive and normal subjects

4. There is extensive medical evidence indicating that aquariums are a highly effective means of alleviating stress even in difficult situations such as dental surgery

5. Unlike other relaxation techniques, attending to a fish tank is a spontaneously initiated activity. The brain is programmed to attend to water and the movement of fish, therefore no training or practice is necessary to experience stress reduction

6. Students who are fish owners score the highest on both math and verbal SATs, with a combined score 200 points higher than non-pet owners

7. High schoolers who keep fish or other pets have an average GPA of 3.5, versusnon-pet owners at 3.2

8. Fish keeping began with the Sumerians more than 4,500 years ago

9. The first display aquarium opened in 1853 at Regent's Park in London

10. First time freshwater fish owners spend an average of $27.00 on fish when starting uptheir new aquariums

9. All about Snake Head

Photo 9.4 : The photos and posters above is enough to tell the Snake Head character

Channidae is a family of freshwater perciform fish commonly known as Snake Heads, and is native to Africa and Asia. There are 2 genera, Channa in Asia, and Parachanna in Africa, consisting of 30 species. These predatory fishes are distinguished by a long dorsal fin, small head with large head scales on top, large mouth and teeth. They have a physiological need to breathe atmospheric air, which they do with a primitive form of a labyrinth organ.

Photo 9.5: The diagram on what is called Labyrinth Organ

They are considered valuable food fish. Larger species like Channa Striata, Channa Maculata or Parachanna Obscura are farmed in aquaculture. Snake Heads feed on plankton, aquatic insects, and mollusks when small. When adult, they mostly feed on other fish like carp, or frogs. In rare cases, small mammals such as rats are taken. The size of the snakehead species differs greatly. Dwarf Snake Heads like Channa Gachua grow to 25 cm. Most Snake Heads grow up to 100 cm. Only 2 species Channa Marulius and Channa Micropeltes can reach a length of more than 1 meter and a weight of more than 6 kg.

The snakehead is imported to the U.S. as a food fish and also for the aquarium trade where many thousands are sold every year as pets. The Snake Head fish is unique in several ways from most other fish. Similar in body-type to a muscular eel, some varieties can grow to 1.2 meter in length. The Snake Head has a flat snake-like head and toothed maw, hence it's name. What makes the Snake Head so unique, however, is its voracious appetite and its ability to breathe air. In fact the snakehead can travel short distances across land and live for up to three days out of water! It will eat fish equal in size to itself and will consume small mammals as well. There are even reports in Asia of snakeheads attacking and killing humans (“This one have been verbally recorded, happens in Pahang, Malaysia”- Elham).

Photo 9.6 : Giant Snake Head caught when fishing

The northern Snake Head is extremely adaptable to various climates including cold waters, and like all snakeheads, breeds easily. Adaptability, carnivorous appetitive, lack of natural enemies and ability to transverse land, makes the northern Snake Head a real threat to U.S. waterways and indigenous species of fish and amphibians. Tropical and subtropical breeds of Snake Heads can pose an additional threat to warmer waterways like those in Florida and Hawaii.

Photo 9.7 : A beautiful Dwarf Snake Head

Snake Heads have been found in U.S. waters in several states, released by aquarists and freed from food markets. Many states now ban the importation of live Snake Heads, however, illegal snakehead-activities have been recorded in most of these states and snakeheads are readily available over the internet.

Many people do realize the environmental impact of releasing a pet or a food fish into local waters where that fish is not native. With no natural enemies in U.S. waters, the Snake Head's prolific breeding habits and hardy natures create a real potential for Snake Heads to multiply and destroy entire populations of fish and amphibians in the waters in which they are released, including many species on the endangered list. This could cause significant damage not only to the environment but also to fishing and other recreational industries that rely on the preservation of lakes and rivers.

Snake Heads are known in the aquarium trade as tankbusters; they grow to be very large and require a substantial investment to keep, not only because of the tank size required but also because they must be fed large amounts of food daily. For this reason Snake Heads are often released at some point by their owners. Hobbyists should return these fish to the aquarium trade where they can be placed with other willing aquarists, local fish stores, or public aquariums. It is illegal to release non-native fish into local waters, whether a Snake Head or any other type of fish.

The threat of Snake Heads finding their way into U.S. waterways is not likely to go away anytime soon. Only strict monitoring, swift action and stiff fines can prevent what might otherwise be a potentially devastating loss to the local environment with significant economic impact.(“Next time, don’t throw your Snake Head away, you wouldn’t know how good their flesh tastes. Me? I have ate lots n lots of ‘em”- Elham).

Photo 9.8 : This fish tastes much much much better than their looks

I got so little time yet so many thing to put in this blog. Maybe next time, with more photos of this deadly fish that is invading worlds freshwater habitat and inhabitans. Until next time, please take a good care of your fish.

Prohibition of Piranhas Import, etc. Regulations

There is an error on the text link on the previous post (8. All about Red Bellied Piranhas). Here are the ‘printscreen’ version of it. The proof that Piranhas are prohibited in Malaysia by all means. If I do caught a pet shop selling the fish, I would certainly lodge a report to the Customs. I don’t wanna have the rivers filled with this deadly fish!!!


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9. All about Snake Head (the Debut)

Hi all...

Last Wednesday, on August 15th I purposely apply for annual leave from my boss just to relax and clear my mind away from work. When I get into my office recently, it seems like I were in some kind of pressurized tank and the force keeps increasing and pressing me down like hell. I knew that I had to do something before my brain explode. So, I set up a plan with my technicians to go fishing at a new place we’ve found during our weekend ‘chick-hunting nite’…hehe. Since my technician works in early morning shift, they can go out at 3.00 pm. My friend Hanif will go catch live baits while others preparing for food and drinks. The live bait that we are using is none other than the Gourami and the fish we are targeting is the Snake Head!!! We’ve found their lair in a lake inside an oil palm estate in Taman Impian Emas, Johor Bahru, a new housing area which is still under development.

We arrive there at 5.00 pm and the weather is about to change. By looking at the cloud, I bet heavy rain is on its way. To get to the perfect ‘fishing port’, we have to go deep inside the estate with our bike. The soil is wet, full of slopes, potholes and tall bushy grass making the ride so bumpy. Thank God we didn’t meet with the Cobras or Pythons that usually lurks inside the estate area or else, our ride will turn from bumpy to…deadly!!! At last, we’ve arrived. We put on our fishing equipment and raise our fishing rod. Right now it is the best time to fish because the Snake Head finds their food at this moment. How do we know?? The fish will eventually move to the surface and breath on the open air. There are lots of bubbles coming out from the water which is a sign that the fish is moving up and without wasting any second, we throw our line.

No need to wait for long. As soon as our line reach the water surface, the Snake Head quickly snap and hooked. However, we only manage to caught the young Snake Head only, and the battle is not so exciting but Alhamdulillah (All thanks to The Almighty). Here are the photos taken from Hanif’s Nokia. Wanna join us?? Girls only…Hehe


Photo 9.1 : My friend’s catch. These are called Toman Bunga (Flowered Body Snake Head)


Photo 9.2 : My catch. Young Snake Head

Photo 9.3 : First Snake Head landed. Not mine

8. All about Red Bellied Piranha

Photo 8.1 : Red Bellied Piranha

Hi all, I think it’ve been a quite a long time since the last vids post. Currently, I am too busy designing jigs and fixtures for new model that will be coming soon. I think I’ve not yet telling what kind of job I’m doing right now. Well, I work in a factory that assembles VCM for hard disk drive. What the hell is a VCM?? It is a device where the hard disk ‘readers’ are located. Using magnetic force, the VCM function is to move the ‘readers’ when ‘seeking’. ‘Seeking’ is the process where the ‘readers’ is searching something like files, folders, blah blah blah...enough. The customer is none other than SEAGATE U.S. As a designer, it is my responsible to make sure the VCM assemblies can be shipped on schedule by designing, setup and troubleshoot automated fixtures. My motto is, ‘Never Fail Any Shipment’. If we fail to ship the parts, the workers in our customer site will have nothing to do and they have nothing to produce. So, the company where I work right now must pay for their workers salary on that particular day. Quite tough don’t you think??

Talking about shipment have remind me on this type of fish. The infamous Red Bellied Piranha. Are you man enough to swim with this fish?? Go ahead, nothing will go wrong (“I hope”- Elham). Some says ("not me"- Elham), their reputation as man-eaters is not true. Believe it or not, there are no reports of a person being killed by a Piranha. Piranhas, in the Amazon are a common food fish. If a fisherman gets a bite from them, its shows that the fisher is careless and the fish is actually defending itself. Outside the water, they are quiet harmless. Other than ‘play dead’, the Piranhas defensive action is done using their razor sharp teeth. Their lower jaw is so powerful just like the crocs and the gators, so please bear in mind that if you’re bitten, you will lose small chunk of flesh of your own with the Piranhas shear-action-interlocking set of teeth!!!

This fish is so common in the Amazon basin and usually found swimming in schools. When raining season in the Amazon, flood will happen and during this season, the fish will be able to swim to their doorstep thus giving the local people some free meal.

Red Bellies comes from their appearance. Their belly and chin is glowing in red and on their sides glitters with flecks of gold and silver. They are mainly carnivorous while some of them feels more comfort as a vegetarian feeding on fruits and nuts. Did you know that other than scoop the flesh of their prey, their teeth will also comes handy to crack nuts. Did you also know that mainly the Piranhas is a hardcore fin + scales nippers. Yes, they mainly take a bit of a fish’s scales or fins as their source of protein.

The Piranhas may grow from 30 cm to 60 cm long with their weight more than 1.5 kilos. When breeding, the female may produce up to several thousand eggs at one time. If you want to keep them as pet fish, just go ahead. But please make sure that your tank can filled up to 100 gallons of water with heavy duty filtration, bogwood and few robust decors. The fish should live in a tropical condition with the water temperature from 24°C to 27°C with the water should be fairly soft or slightly acidic but preferably avoided. Of the 18 piranha species, only four are considered dangerous. The Red Bellied Piranha is one of those, because it will bite when it is underfed, overcrowded or threatened. They also bite anything that moves where blood is present in the water. Fishermen have lost fingers by pulling a piranha out of the water in a net and then allowing it to throw itself around on the bottom of the boat. Some species of piranhas actually have a mostly vegetarian diet, eating seeds and fruit that fall into the water. Piranhas are sold as pets, but they are extremely shy aquarium fish and only come out at feeding time. Most piranhas cannot be kept with other fish, because they consider them food. In the wild, they live in large packs and because of their enormous appetites, spend most of their time searching for food. For your information, Piranhas is prohibited in Malaysia. Here’s the proof from Royal Customs of Malaysia. (Prohibition of Piranhas Import, etc. Regulations).

Photo 8.2 : Red Pacu, often mistaken as a Red Bellied Piranha

Photo 8.3 : Pacu, another Piranha look alike

Well, that’s the time I have for now. Got to go, right now it is raining here. A wonderful time to get some sleep. Tomorrow is Monday, sigh…same old Monday, curse you Monday!!!

Fish Tank Forum Vids Bits 4

Hi all...This vids bits shows a female Guppy in the process of giving birth. Yes...the Guppy didn't lay eggs like other fish, that's why the Guppies are also called Livebearers.