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Items by 459b
Marine Aquariums of South Africa
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Tank threads
Posted: April 2nd, 2012, 10:56am CDT by 459b
I moved all the threads detailing the progression of tanks to the nano section in the Members setups forum. This way the threads can now be nominated for tank of the month. -
Bring and braai - 15th February
Posted: February 13th, 2012, 3:46pm CST by 459b
We have two special guests in cape town this week. To celebrate (?) the occassion, Henk has kindly offered us the use of his place for a bring and braai. Please RSVP so that we can get an idea of numbers.
Date: 15th February 2012 (thats a wednesday)
Time: 18:30
Place: Henk's house in Parklands
Dress: casual
Bring: meat and drinks -
Most aggressive tang
Posted: February 7th, 2012, 11:21am CST by 459b
As requested by @LuckyFish - what in your OWN experience (so no link posting etc) is the most aggressive tang.
I think ive covered the usual culprits in the poll, let me know if i must add any others. -
New year event
Posted: January 11th, 2012, 12:41pm CST by 459b
Happy New Year everyone!!!
Thought we could start the year off with a proper Social event.
All the up-country holiday makers should be heading home, the weather is perfect, so why not have a family outing to Hermanus? The shark research facility (the little one in the old harbour) has indicated that they would open specially for MASA. I think i may know of a good place for us to have lunch as well.
Any thoughts?
@FransSny , @Charl_Stanhope - anything else we can do while we there? -
Eskom-proof return pump?
Posted: December 14th, 2011, 12:11pm CST by 459b
I came across this neat little pump.
Its used to fight veld fires and with a few modifications im sure it can be used as a return pump during power failures. Its powered by a 50cc petrol engine, is fully portable and comes with a set of bright yellow pipes. No mention was made of head height or flow but it looks like it might be able to replce the return pump and maybe also add a bit of flow to the tank.
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[FS] Various frags: Durbanville
Posted: December 10th, 2011, 11:25am CST by 459b
Various frags for saleCommon Names:
Scientific Names:Button polyps
Size of fragsProtopalythoa
How long have you had the frags?Various, from a few heads to around 50
Are the frags mounted?About a year
Shipping or Collection only:Yes
Your location.Collection
Price:Durbanville
Photo's:Between free and R50
Notes:Clearing out on of my tanks and need to get rid of my button polyps. Have ALOT of frags, ranging from three/four polyps to larger fist sized colonies. Want them gone ASAP so willing to give away all the small frags. The large colonies will go for R50. They the standard brown/green variety.
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Year end Meet
Posted: December 2nd, 2011, 11:53am CST by 459b
The year end meet will be held next saturday (10th December) at 14:00 at one of the restaurants at Eden on the Bay (Blourburg).
Wifes/kids welcome.
Please RSVP because i will have to book a table. -
Stripe formation in juvenile Pomacanthus
Posted: September 23rd, 2011, 1:38pm CDT by 459b
Interesting article on pattern formation in juvenile angelfish.
Warning: this is a bit of heavy reading, but pictures are extremely interesting
Stripe formation in juvenile Pomacanthus explained by a
generalized Turing mechanism with chemotaxis
K. J. PAINTER, P. K. MAINI, AND H. G. OTHMER
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
Vol. 96, pp. 55495554, May 1999
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...f/pq005549.pdf -
July meet - Cape town
Posted: July 8th, 2011, 11:55am CDT by 459b
The next Cape Towen meet will be held next saturday (16 July).
Details can be found here : Marine Aquariums of South Africa
See you all there! -
Ocean acidification leaves clownfish deaf
Posted: June 1st, 2011, 3:58pm CDT by 459b
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Cape Town meet this saturday (14th May)
Posted: May 11th, 2011, 12:53pm CDT by 459b
The Cape Town Reef Junkies next meet will be this saturday 14th May.
We will be having a late afternoon bring and braai at Meneers house.
Partners welcome.
Will be great to see new members attend.
Please RSVP either here OR on the Social group page.
Will send out address later this week. -
Re-introduction of fish into local waters
Posted: April 11th, 2011, 11:32am CDT by 459b
There have been a number of threads/posts recently regarding the topic of re-introducing locally caught fish back into the sea. A lot of reefers feel that this practice poses little to no risk to out local ecosystems.
It is easy to list examples of the devastation caused by the introduction of foreign species. Most recently we have seen reports of the destruction caused by the lionfish in the Caribbean. The highly predatory fish are eating there way through the reefs, with no native species being able to control their invasion. A similar example is the giant snakehead (Channa micropelte). Native to the warmer waters of South East Asia, this fish is now abundant in stretches of rivers in North America. Its spread has been traced back to the introduction of just two fish into a small tributary. Locally, we have the European crab (Carcinus maenas). Another highly aggressive species which is out competing our local crab species.
Besides the problem of predators, what is of more concern is the introduction of pathogens. As hobbyists we know of a handful of diseases and can only identify large external parasites. A large number of lethal fish parasites are internal and infected fish show little/no visible signs of infection. Diagnosis of these parasites can only be done post mortem and by a qualified individual.
The problem with parasites is not new. A study by Barker et. al (1994)* identified 18 species of digean trematodes in the 39 species of pomacentridae fish they investigated. More importantly the trematodes showed very little host specificity.
If you thought fish were the only things we needed to consider, here is an excerpt from a recent study by McDermott et al (2010)** :
“Approximately 130-140 species of the > 850 known hermit crab species are parasitized by 149 species in 9 phyla, and 27 species are hosts for 17 potential parasites in 5 phyla. Among the confirmed parasites, 30 species of parasitic barnacles (Rhizocephala) and 83 species of parasitic Isopoda are known. Species in other groups of parasites are few in number: Apicomplexa 2, Dinoflagellata 1, Microsporida 2, Ascomycota 1, Platyhelminthes 8, Acanthocephala 2, Nematoda 3, and Nematomorpha 2.”
“Limited information shows that hermit crabs are first or second intermediate hosts for coccidians, cestodes, trematodes, acanthocephalans and nematodes.”
The list of examples is rather long.
What everyone needs to understand is that it’s not only the things we can see with the naked eye that we need to worry about. The parasites we may introduce into our oceans is cause for concern. Some parasites have complex life cycles, including many different intermediate hosts and may even have highly resilient dormant phases. Just because your fish look healthy, it doesn’t mean they not harbouring some viscous
I’ve spoken to a number of fish parasitologists and the threat is not something we should take lightly. Parasites have been identified in imported fish which do not occur in out waters. Pointing out that sewage or chemicals or man made structures causes more damage to our oceans has no place in this argument. Thinking parasites are insignificant and nature balances itself out, is also narrow minded.
We cannot be complacent or apathetic abut this topic. It is a problem and one that we can do something about. Re-introducing fish/coral/invertes is not a matter of debate. If you take something out of the ocean and put it in a tank that has anything in it that has been imported (including liverock), then it cannot go back into the ocean. Rather donate it or kill it ...or better still, don’t collect something you cant look after.
* Barker, S.C., Cribb, T.H., Bray, R.A., Adlard, R.D. Host parasite associations on a coral reef: Pomacentrid fishes and digenean trematodes. (1994).Int. J. Parasitology.24(5): 643-647.
** McDermott, J.J., Williams, J.D., Boyko, C.B..The unwanted guests of hermit: A global review of the diversity and natural history of hermit crab parasites. (2010). J Experimental Marine Biology adnEcology. 394 (1-2): 2-44. -
Att: Cape Town members
Posted: March 17th, 2011, 10:12am CDT by 459b
There will be another meeting next saturday (26th March) at Monde's house in West Beach. All are welcome.
Details have been posted/discussed in the Cape town Reef Junkies Social group. I tried to invite as many cape town reefers as possible, but obvioulsy i have missed a few people out (my most humble apologies of i left you out). If you want to join the scial group, select the "community" dropdown menu and then click on " social groups ". Then click on " Cape town reef junkies ".
As a member of the group you will be alerted of any news in the notification bar on the top right of the home page, the same place you see notifications for new messages, friend requests etc. Getting used to this will take a bit of time but should be a more reliable way of keeping track of local events. -
Albino clownfish and the Law
Posted: February 3rd, 2011, 2:56pm CST by 459b
Im still not sure what word best describes this moning. Frustrating, unbelievable and bizaare come close. It was almost like a bad episode on the twilight zone - you sit watching, processing everything but its still makes absolutly no scense and seems too surreal to be happening.
Marcel got arrested.
As many of you know, Macel is applying for permits to breed ornamental marine fish commercially. Being the first person in the Western Cape to apply to do this, no governmental department knew exactly what/which/who he needed. And so began the long process being passed from person to person and between every department that may at some point deal with aquaculture. The whole thing reached its pinnacle early this morning when the Fisheries officers came to inspect his facility (again). Even though Marcel has done what he has been told and is in the proccess of obtaining all relevent permits...the officers insist he is in the wrong and arrested him. He spent two hours locked up in a holding cell while being threatened to be moved to Parow prison.
His crime - - having marine livestock and breeding. Amazing what being completly honest with the government officials gets you.
He has been released and will appear in court tomo morning. -
First meet for 2011
Posted: January 17th, 2011, 8:26am CST by 459b
new thread as requested...
We will be having our first meet of the year on saturday the 29th of January! Jimbo has kindly offered the use of his house. He lives in Edgemead (will pm address to all those attending) which is about as centrasl a location as we can get.
All are welcome. For all the newcomers to the hobby, these meets are a great place to get to know fellow reefers and to have most of your questions answered. There will be the all imoprtant frag swap as well.
If you do plan on attending, please add your name to the list so that we know how many people to expect. -
Davids tank rebuild
Posted: January 11th, 2011, 11:38am CST by 459b
As you may have read i had a tank crash over the Christmas holiday. Although the thought of packing up for good did cross my mind, i cannot give up this wonderful hobby cause of one smallish accident. Im going to take my time with this tank and do things properly. Still deciding what to keep and what fitration to use. So far all i can report is that the display tank is 1300 X 500 X 650.
My tank used to be one filled with too many aggressive fish. To try and stem the fighting i had way too much liverock and far too many caves. I had problems with fish knocking over rocks, digging holes and knocking over rocks, fighting and knocking over rocks...just generally knocking over rocks. This time round i want less rock in the tank to allow for better water movement and more swimming space. Also glued all the rocks together. Here is what i have come up with....
front view:
right:
left:
top:
What you are looking at is about two kilos of liverock, the rest being cable ties and pratleys putty. Going to banish the rest of the liverock to the sump.
Im not going for a natural look - i rather want to use the rock work to show off a few pieces of nice corals (rics of course, maybe some SPS?) and have plenty of swimming face for fish.
New stand arrives this week so cant do anyhting till i get that. Will be getting new sump spo totla water volume will be around 500l.
Your thoughts/comments/suggestions will be much appreciated. -
BTA/maroon clowns
Posted: December 15th, 2010, 1:35pm CST by 459b
These are the latest additions to my tank. Got the bubbletips last week and could not resist getting them a pair of maroon clowns to keep them in check.
Notice anyhting odd about the clowns?
The clownfish are tank bred and only about 3cm long. They swam straight into the anemone once i released them! -
Thread idea: Quick idea of local species
Posted: December 8th, 2010, 1:29pm CST by 459b
With the December holidays fast approaching and the coastal areas gearing up to be swarmed by those unlucky enough to live inland, i would like to propose the following idea for a thread.
Many, myself included, head to warmer waters and get tempted to plunder every living creature i come across thinking it will do fine in my tank. To prevent too many "PLease ID this thing i found while on holiday" threads and save the needless death of sea creatures, could we perhaps make a thread somewhere that includes pictures of organisms that can be legally collected and safely/happily kept in reef tanks.
This will serve as a quick refernce guide to show people what they can collect instead of them taking EVERYTHING only to find out later on that it is impossible to keep and/or will eat everything in your tank.
So this wont be a discussion thread - simply pictures and a brief comment on where it is found and if its safe to keep.
As an example:
Name: Zoanthus sansibaricus
Violet zoanthid
Collected from: Natal coast
Comments: thrives in reef aquarium etc etc etc -
Sevengill cowshark
Posted: November 20th, 2010, 11:43am CST by 459b
I had no idea these sharks occured in Flase Bay!
Has anyone ever dived with them?
Seven Gill Cow Shark | Highstead Houses
YouTube - Seven gill cow sharkYouTube - Seven gill cow shark
Is this perhaps a disaster waiting to happen?
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Livestock quality
Posted: October 19th, 2010, 1:32pm CDT by 459b
Hope this isnt throwing a cat amongst the pigeons....
There are alot of new marine shops opening up all over the place, even existing pet shops are starting to stock marines. I understand that competition amongst shops does/should lead to competitive prices that favour the consumer.
However, alot of my friends have recently had disasters with livestock purchases. (proper quarantining has come up in other threads so dont want to discuss that here). So this is what i was wondering....are shops having to source livestock from cheaper dodgy places in order to remain competitive thus leading to the importing of inferior/sick/dying/diseased livestock?