THE GUILLOTINES

I have not been posting anything in this blog lately because I was busy posting other posts in my new aquarium blog (aquariumfrenzy.blogspot.sg) after setting up my new marine pico tank since the beginning of the new year.

Anyway, this Chinese-Hong Kong movie production wasn't really what I expected. It was not really a movie on the deadly weapon, used by a group of secret assassins reared by the late Yongzheng Emperor to eliminate his enemies. Rather, it was a movie about the fate of these assassins, who were raised since young to be trained as professional killers, but who fell victim to the Emperor they now served because they were no longer needed and were a stain to be erased from the history of the Qing Dynasty.

Starring actors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as Huang Xiaoming, Ethan Ruan, Shawn Yue, Li Yuchun, Jing Boran etc. But I must say this is actually a movie made more for Ethan than Xiaoming, who seemed to have a secondary role as the Jesus-looking rebel. I was dying to see the invincible weapon, made famous in other early TV Taiwan productions, and was instead treated to a story of integrity, betrayal and brotherhood. If you just sit back and enjoy the movie for its cast, production etc, then it would not be as bad as how the critics made it out to be.

NANO AQUARIUM

I was inspired by this small nano-aquarium done up by a colleague. There was the usual aquarium plants and mosses such as the Anubias but I saw an Adiantum in the water too! Wow, that is new to me in that I do not know the fern can grow under water. There are a couple of small guppies in the tank, and for a tank of this size, I do think it is wise to keep smaller and few fishes in order to reduce the amount of maintenance work.

HOME AQUARIUM

Ever since the crystal shrimps died, the aquarium was quiet with hardly any life. Recently, the aquarium short-circuited and all the electrical switches in the house were suddenly turned off. It happened on one of those days before I went out to work. So I had the tank cover removed and disposed off.

Just last week, I bought a half-moon Siamese Fighting Fish (scientific name: Betta splendens) and 2 Cherry Barb fishes (scientific name: Puntius titteya). In addition, I purchased a Tiger Lotus (scientific name: Nymphaea lotus; Family: Nymphaeaceae) for some colour. Since then, a Cherry Barb committed suicide by jumping out of the uncovered tank. Everything else is doing fine.

A few links are shown here for reference:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betta
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_barb
3. http://diszhal.info/english/plants/en_Nymphaea_lotus.php

MARINE AQUARIUM

I posted about these 2 aquariums recently.

The 1st one is just a small cube and some of the fishes and corals are not very healthy. The Regal Tang (scientific name: Paracanthurus hepatus) is suffering from a bad case of Saltwater Ich or white spot disease. I love the yellow Banana Wrasse.

Links on the fish and ich are shown below for reference:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracanthurus_hepatus
2. http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/ichparasiticdiseases/a/aa_cryptocaryon.htm

The 2nd aquarium is definitely healthier and has more fishes and corals. The Yellow Tang (scientific name: Zebrasoma flavescens) is a beautiful addition to the large tank. A link on the fish is shown here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_tang

MINI AQUARIUM

I bought this mini-aquarium tank recently and set it up for about a week already. In setting up the tank, I spilled a lot of the black crystal gravel out of enthusiasm and I spent a while cleaning it up.

So what would I be keeping in the tank? Stay tuned for the next update.

SUNTEC

I was shocked when I walked past this marine aquarium on 16 Jul 10.

Seriously, I think they should change this display to a more sustainable terrarium of plants or freshwater aquarium fishes and plants.

The marine aquarium is definitely not maintained well by Suntec's Management. The number of replacements of corals etc were amazing. They never last long in this big tank because they are not easy to sustain. That was why I gave up this hobby because it doesn't help the cause of environmental sustainability.

Just look at this fish skeleton. It is not fake and I don't even know what fish it was from the skeleton. The Sea Pen that I showed in an earlier post would also be gone soon because I don't think it was fed with plankton etc. It was already shrinking in size the last I saw it a few days ago. Similarly, I do not know how long the starfish would last.

PETS

Oh, this is the last post for the day. There were so many things waiting for me to be done today.

I spent a good few hours decommissioning my home aquarium. I procrastinated doing it for a while and I finally did it. It was tiring and I only finally got to sit down around 2 hours ago. I had to post the outstanding blog posts because there would be a huge number of photos I need to sort out following my upcoming trip.

Anyway, these photos were taken at Suntec City. The marine fishes and corals etc reminded me of my previous obsession with them and my enjoyable experience of setting and maintaining a marine tank at home for years. But age is catching up and time is not on my side, so I had to eventually give up my hobby of having a marine aquarium of fishes, corals, shrimps etc.

The first photo shows a fish with beautiful eyes and lips. Don't you feel like kissing it?
The second showed a crown-of-thorns starfish. There were many other beautiful starfishes and usually this is not kept because it is known to feed on some corals.

The third shows the mushroom corals. It looked kind of bleached though.

The fourth showed a very vibrant, gregarious but pugnacious, obnoxious and territorial blue damsel. I cannot remember its full name but when you have damsels like them in a small tank, you can only afford to keep one or few because they tend to fight and it is hard to keep other fishes, especially the more timid and shy ones like angels with them.

The fifth is a beautiful red soft coral that expands and contracts in size with the light etc. When it is healthy, it is fully expanded and you can see the fine "bristles" (I cannot remember the term for it) feeding. It is absolutely gorgeous!

I am not sure if the sixth photo is that of a roboski hamster? I was so tickled pink when I saw this cute little hamster licking the corner of the glass tank, with eyes closed, for a good couple of minutes. Did it think it was licking the water feeding ball just above it? I haven't had hamsters for years now since the last one died of dehydration on me! I know, I deserved to be punished and I think I was.

The last photo showed 2 rabbits, which I never dare to keep as pets because of their sizes, appetites and voracious breeding abilities.

Alright, it's time for dinner before I start packing!