Picking up a family tradition - fishing

These days, it's been a while i'd sit down to update my blog as i'm getting caught up with a new/old hobby - angling! Thanks to my dad's influence over the years, i'm trying my hands these days of fishing! After loosing all my cichlids over a tank leak a few months back, we've decided these time around to catch 'em fishes :) Twas' began a new era of bluffing 'em fishies! Above is a picture of the cyberjaya lake where i saw a pair of tomans swimming around a half-eaten tilapia! They were huge and beautiful. Obviously, this is a non-fishing spot unfortunately. Makes me wonder why can't we be civilized and promote a catch-click-n-release method! Unlike Singapore where folks would fish in beautiful public ponds, no doubt for the fun on angling. Whatever they do catch goes back into the pond, lake, river, tributaries... 

So, alas for us malaysian, we're stuck to fising in dis-used mining lakes, dirty rivers and poluted seas... here's my favourite spot for the midas cichlids i've been catching! It's called Tasik Prima Puchong and i've heard of people catching huge peacock bass and tomans weighing in at 7-8kg monsters! The stories you hear from other fishing folks :P For good reasons, i ain't gonna give u directions to this spot! Afterall, every angler has their secret fishing spots :) If u really ask nicely...maybe i'll divulge :)

Here you can see the beautiful midas cichlids hugging the lake-sides. Sad to say, i brought the wrong lens for the job hence the really bad picture. If u squint really really hard, the reddish spots in the waters are the cichlids! I've caught thus far, a dozen or so midas cichlids, a few synspilum, one baby peacock bass, a few jaguar cichlids and a few flowerhorns! I've seen really big peacock basses swimming around, a few baby marble gobies too and even a baby snake head (haruan)! 

As mentioned, the place is strewed with rubbish. Feels more like a dumping ground then a cherished location where one could bring your kids to for picnics and lunches. Maybe it's the development in the location... you'd either have a municiple that clean up the lakes and not allow fishing, or goes the opposite of that and leaves the lakes to rot away, while the public pollutes. This is where it ticks me off, to think of what heritage we'll leave behind for our younger generation. It was in this context, i've found out about Nik Rahimi and his efforts to setup a fly-fishing/artificial lure catch and release pond in Shah Alam! The place is called "Empangan Air Kuning" at Bukit Cherakah, Shah Alam. It's a beautiful natural spot, where the water is crystal clear and one could practically see the fishes swimming around. With lil' to no disruption to mother nature and something we the public can enjoy while not killing the natural environment. It really is a beautiful spot which our government should encourage and learn from in support of other nature recreational spots. I can't wait to go back to try out a spot of fly-fishing :)

Check out the forum link below!

http://www.fishing.net.my/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14907.

The person to contact if u've got more questions is Nik Rahimi on 012-3246959

Below's their brochure which i've downloaded from here!

Midas cichlids and their brood

Alas, the last time these guys bred, i made the mistake of introducing a really peckish peacock bass that totally annilated the entire brood! So, here we are again, round 2! This time around, the midas parents are really ferocious. They're taking out everything else in the tank. They've already killed the peacock bass and ended the life of my synspilum (at last i found the name to this fish!). There's another pair of breeding midas in my tank which i'll have to evacuate asap too, seeing as the parents are consistently chasing them around! 

Never knew the midas cichlids were so territorial as brooding parents. To the point that I'm not washing the algaes off my tank walls, afraid of scaring the other fishes into the brooding pair's space!

Parents looking on... babies are eating dried bread and chicken feed (which is what we use to catch these guys)

Makes me wish for a bigger tank that i will accomodate the entire generation plus other fishes! Does anyone know what fly-patterns these fishes takes to? Just started picking up on fly-fishing! :P Bad enough, u'd see the school swimming around, not a single fish would take a bite though! I've tried nymphs without much success though :P

Restaurant Good Taste Pan Mee USJ Taipan

Last monday being Merdeka day, what better way to celebrate then to eat panmee! :) Upon a friend's recommendation we decided to head down to USJ Taipan to try out this newly open panmee joint. Open by a friend's friend, we arrive around 1nish to find the place relatively packed! 

Maybe it's the holiday "brains at rest" mode, i was futily trying to take a clear picture of this menu... failed miserably!  We ordered the house spicy panmee along with a bowl of the traditional soup panmee below.

Along with those, the menu does have quite a variety of other stuffs for those non-panmee folks. With Nasi Lemak and curry noodles along with an assortment of desserts... Alas, being the lazy me, i was only interested in panmee and panmee only. Afterall, the measure of a panmee shop would be the panmee itself, no? :P

Ok, here's the difference between this chillie panmee as oppose to Kin Kin's and Super Kitchen's. The noodles's been mixed with your normal icky gravy that comes with a normal bowl of dried panmee! Now, call me an orthodox mule... but spicy is as spicy does. The gravy actually kills the taste of the noodles, making it slightly more sour and "different"! :P

That being said, maybe the spicy noodles isn't their speciality. Now, the good thing about this shop is the normal, run of the mill "traditional soup pan mee".

Adhering to years of tradition, (hence it's name),  consistent noodles thickness and texture, brothy soup, with all the perfect condiments in place and served with the much noted fiery sambal... Really not too bad, what am i saying, i'd come back for this!

Another shot of the wannabe chilli panmee... maybe it's just a state of time a'changing. Sorry, i'll pass :) Along with these, they've got "Fu zhou fish balls"! It's basically your normal fishball with stuffed minced meat! My first-time trying 'em and it was good!

The address is 11GF, Jalan 10/1C. UEP Subang Jaya, and you can find ze shop here! and if anyone has more details please comment! 

New setup tank - Midas haven

Yay! it was about time, it took me a good 2 weeks to repair and re-setup my diamond shaped aquarium; this time with a lil' more caution, we'd decided to place the tank outside! :) Only survivor from last month's leaking incident were the convicts, and a single midas cichlid. 

This time around, I'd thought it'd be fun to catch the fishes for my aquarium instead of fish-shopping as usual :) First trip out n we managed to hook 4 juvenile midas cichlid and a single jaguar guapote! First time i saw this fish, i thought it was a typical tilapia of some weird origin! Beautiful fish, with its jaguar like spots... though, i wonder how it manage to survive in a pond filled with midases... He's surely timid n gets bullied by the bigger, fatter midas! hopefully, life here wouldn't be as stressful! :) 

Here are sommore pics of the new members. They're getting bullied by the smaller convicts, surprisingly. I guess now i know how the convicts gets their reputations for being the bad boys of the aquarium world.

Oh if u're wondering if the tigerbarbs were caught...sorry, last time i managed to do that was in Kundang, Selangor... maybe 2 decades ago! These guys were purchased, unfortunately. Needed some buffer fish, to de-stress the midas and others! What better fishes then tigerbarbs!

By the way, did you see that multi-coloured fish in the background above?! I caught this guy and a slight more matured midas just the other day and have no blinking idea what he is! :P Anyone seen this fishes around? I first thought it was a flowerhorn, but then you don't get the tail colourations. 2nd guess was a Cichlasoma festae! But both aren't a dead-ringer to this guy...maybe he's just an immature flowerhorn trying to his his stripes :)

Will leave you guys with pics of the scardey midas, takes them a while to acclimatize to their new environment though; the new bunch were hiding most of the time for the first few days! Signs of intelligence maybe? :P Can't wait to go on another excursion to see what we'll catch next :)

Gone Fishing - Semenyih

'Twas a beautiful day to head out fishing last week. A friend had a durian orchard with a small pond in it where we tried our luck fishing. Durian's were abundant! Fishes, unfortunately there weren't many...Though, my dad manage to catch a kg plus snakehead (haruan) ! 

Also, along with the haruan we managed a few baby tilapia...which a friend wanted for his aquarium. Seems they're the only breed of fishes able to survive in this tank :) We were hoping to catch a few marble gobies, as a few years ago, our failed stocked of them were thrown into this pond! We were experimenting with raring them to maturity for the commercial market. "Haruan bodoh" as it's known, does fetch a real fancy price in chinese restaurant. RM100 per kg! 

Resident poultries on the loose... and the ubiquitous sheepdog lazing... :)

Here's a picture of us with one of the fruiting durian trees! 

Ever wondered what a mangosteen plant looks like? This was my first encounter with one! Talk about city kids, lol! 

Wished there were more places we could go fishing these days. As they'd say... back in those days, fishes were in abudance :) ...alas, the price of fast-pace development, ***sigh***

Cracked up tanks...

Somehow or other, raring fishes, one would have to face cracked tanks once in a while... I remember my first experience cleaning my dad's tank n accidentally cracking the base. I accidentally dropped one of the huge stones into it! That's when my dad gave up aquariums, thanks to his son :P I've actually tried repairing this filter tank the last time around, hence you'd notice the black silicone glue all over the tank. Naz, hopefully it'd serve u better then me :) After awhile, that'd start spurting too...And as they say, when it leak, it pours!! Replacement 2.5feet filter tank cost me RM75 from Irene's. Here are some of it's residence

Slightly matured maylandia zebra makonde. Love his colouration... wished i had a dozen of this guys!

Plecos playing around...

another convict cichlid hiding from my camera!

Unfortunately, even my other 10 year old cichlid tank started leaking! After a year of good service in our new house, it too started spewing water... took me a good whole month to trace the leak!! After moving this old aquarium for the third time, the silicone glue started giving way. Good thing though, because of it's thick glass, it didn't actually crack. That would have been a major hassle having to clean up furniture n all!! So now this tank is in recovery... :( 

Here are sommore pictures of the tank with everyone in running condition...

My yellow Lab..

Guess where i got this midas cichlid! Caught 'em off a pond in Puchong! Seems a whole school of them breeds in there... such beauties, easily available sommore :P

Caught this sepat (Climbing Pearch) in the same place too! It's actually quite a dull looking fish, it's just something new to add. Some folks do say that having the sepat in your tank buang sueh! or in english, gets rid of bad luck... erm, not in my case after getting two cracked tanks!! ***not tat i believe in it, nways.

My happy geophagus, or earth eaters... they were growing so well.

Lastly, here's a baby marble goby, or ikan hantu which we caught too! :) 

All in all, I've lost a dozen cichlids which didn't survive in my planted tank. One geophagus which died during transportation to my other tank. 2 midas cichlid which didn't survive in my lily-pond, along with the sepat which went missing!! :P Haven't dug around for my marble goby though...*sniff* *sniff*. Only consolation is that i have brand new setup to figure out now!

Fish Paradise Centrepoint BU

This in my humble opinion really is one of the better/nicer, comfortable LFS specializing in aquatic plants. Being smack right in Centrepoint BU, one could do lunch and then go fish-a-shopping afterwards, that's what you call convenience! Did i mention, right beside the entrance to Fish Paradise is Mc'Ds?? Tea anyone? :P

As you approach the shop, you'd notice a hugely, nearly 5 feet plus aquarium that frames the entrance! This was the tank to gawk at last time, unfortunately, they've re-landscaped it, and its not as great; that being said... it's still spectacular to have a big tank as such in your living room, sheer bliss... *sigh* 

I really wonder how much that front tank woulda cost if this really small, 1 feet aquarium would cost RM350! Javaferns and christmass moss only woh!! Here are more planted tanks.

A really beautiful red discus... and an angel fish, in a planted tank :) 

They've got some really nice setup. And if i'm not mistaken they've been around quite a while, maybe from the beginning of the new wing of Centrepoint. Prices too are quite resonable, but obviously don't buy fishes in a aquascaped tank unless you're inclined to support them :) 

Does anyone know what's the name of this beautiful cousin of the swordplant?

By the way, does anyone notice the blue smallish lil' coloured thingie swimming around?! Engrossed was i with the plants, I did too notice the huge neon tetra school...ala the deep south american jungles,  a perfect biotope! What can i say, i'm in love with these tanks :P but i kinda love money more n won't wanna spend on metal-halide lamps, eheim filters, blinking expensive ikan billis :) lol... Maybe when the Good Lord blesses and the whole world isn't suffering famine and genocide, dang... did i wake up on the wrong side of the bed today or something?!

Got this off MACC, thanks Dom :) G105b, Ground Floor, Centrepoint Bandar Utama, Persiaran Bandar Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 603-7729 1989 
Email: fishparadise.kl@gmail.com