***LFS Post*** Xian Leng Aquarium Shah Alam

In need of more victim for my cichlid tank as it was getting depleted by an unknown bacteria strain maybe from all the guppies we feed 'em with from a nearby water catchment area, I decided on a trip to Xian Leng to restock! Besides AI being the nearest biggest LFS in klang-valley for me (if you can consider something as sungai buloh part of the klang-valley...), Xian Leng Shah Alam comes in as second biggest,  sorta your one-shop stop for everything aquatic. From plants to the house speciality, localled bred arowanas, you could spend the whole day here, on a family trip if going to the Zoo is too expensive! Situated in the heart of Shah Alam, right beside the Wet World Waterpark Shah Alam, there's also a Mc'Donalds a walking distance away. Oh did i mention this guys are even Public Listed in our local KLSE Bursa?! :P Anyone wants to take their hobby to a newer level??? I really do wonder what they'd give during the AGMs... a baby arowana for each shareholder maybe?

This is the house winner, the grand champion RTG... Didn't really get a very good picture of him as I did earlier during the KLCC aquafair 08, 'cause the lighting in this tank is rather bad, more for him, less for us...

Expensive Ikan billis? 

Beautiful specimen...lousy composition though, can't help it if they'd keep putting them tanks all the way up there!

Ornate bichir

Don't forget to visit their gallery. Take a right at the guppy tanks, walk on forward pass the toilets and it's lead you to XL' Mini Aquaritorium...

The freshwater tigerfish. This guys are huge in this display tank! 

Red Giant Gourami (Sabah Kaloi) 

And it's albino cousin! At a fully matured size. This guy could fit a table of 10...

Some sort of salmon fish. Sure doesn't look like the salmon we'd sushi! Or maybe it is, just that we've never seen one up close!

Pangas... or the locally known Patin fish, good steam in superior sauce!

There's also a local kenyir-dam lookalike tank, where you'd have a dozen tomans swimming around... about a meter each in lenght, graceful beauties... Wonder what feeding time's like in this tank!

Tarpons or sea dragons

Curry fish head anyone? :)

A school of peacock bass... For those who's got a need to stock a fishpond for some good fly-fishing :)

Beautiful tank of frontosa...

Semaprochilodus Taeniurus (Lampan family?)

And of course, the resident Arapaima will greet you goodbye as you leave! :) So for my purchase, i bought 5 earth eaters (RM2.50 a fish), a pair of Yellow labidochromis (RM3.00 a fish) and 4 baby Zebra maylandia (RM2.50 a fish). All in all, a worthwhile trip all the way to Shah Alam. And if you're still wondering if it's worth your while... lets just say, if your local LFS has it, XianLeng would probably have it too and more! Here's some extra information on Xian Leng. 

http://www.arowanaclub.com/clubevent/XLF/XLfarm11.htm

http://wikimapia.org/5720617/Xian-Leng-Aquarium

Shah Alam, Kuala Lumpur Showroom : 
Xian Leng Aquatic (Shah Alam) Sdn Bhd 
Persiaran Dato' Menteri, 
Section 2, 40000 Shah Alam, 
Selangor Darul Ehsan, 
Malaysia. 
Tel: +603-55123109 
Fax: +603-55132109 
Email: shahalam@xianleng.com.my

***LFS Post*** Slippery Little Sucker (SLS)

Met up with Siang and YY at this LFS tucked away in Damansara Ara. The shop buildings are relatively new, with up and coming shops. This is my first time coming across an LFS (local fish store) operating on the 1'st floor only! You'd have Irene's which takes up both the ground and 1'st! And you'd have the Pet's Wonderland franchise that can afford an entire building to its establishment... but running an LFS on the 1'st floor... Reminds me of how the old Mindshop in Bangsar and ComputerWar, discreet entrance... where you're faced with the wonders in the shop only upon entrance, where you're transported to a new world. And a new world this is! Unlike many other LFS, this shop not only specialises in fishes but planted tanks, which was the main reason that brought us here! SLS isn't too difficult to find as it's a turn to Ara Damansara off the old Subang Airport. Upon turning, keep going straight till you come across shoplots on your right. The maps in SLS's website will provide sufficient information to get u there safely... i hope! So the question to ask is, why drive all the way to Ara Damansara for a few fishes, one might ask... Well, considering that SLS is a big supporter of the Malaysia Aquascaping Club and they did get mention in our local dailies, these guys are the forerunners in our local grassroots scene for the aquascaping. Well from what i was able to goggle that is. Do correct me if i'm mistaken!

For the snail lovers, this shop has them all. A whole assortments of apple, trumpet and sorts that I've never seen before (nerite snails?!).

They do boast of being a fish enthusiast too, and you'd see that in the malawi cichlid biotopes.

Is this a Firemouth Cichlid? Someone's gotta correct me here! I'm just starting out on raring cichlids these days, so rather new and for the life of me can't remember them names!

Pseudotropheus flavus i think? 

Malawian aulonocara mbenji

Your typical Labidochromis caeruleus...

Another picture of a Pseudotropheus flavus

If you ask me, i'd call this guy is an expensive tilapia :) Don't flame me!!!

These were taken mostly from the display tanks. The shop is split between it's viewing section which is the front and the buying section with you'd enter as you move on behind. With a good selection of plants for those who're into aquascaping as well as other fishes you'd normally find in the market, SLS do have specialised fishes like the very uncommon kilifishes (RM36 per pair)... Which i think is really erm, rather expensive, albeit worthwhile if you love 'em. They've even got kribs!! Maybe I'd get them for my new planted tank which i'm planning indefinately! I did purchase 6Kgs of holland sand (RM18) for that tank, so... we're heading in that direction someday!! By the way, anyone has any idea why holland sand is called holland? Does it really come from holland the country? Or is it a cantonese tongue-in-cheek saying for if you use holland sand, everything will go hor-lan in your planted tank?!

Operating Hours:
Mondays through Fridays - 12.00pm to 9pm
Closed Wednesdays
Saturdays/Sundays - 12.00pm to 7.00pm
http://www.slipperylittlesuckers.com.my/ <--- click for map!

Kepong Wet Market Panmee

So along we went to the wet market in Kepong last week for by far the best spicy soup pan mee i've ever tried! :) It's just one of those place u'd stumble into, on a cold morning marketday as u run your errands and end up being dead-hungry!! The usual fair would be a hot spicy bowl of panmee with pieces of fish paste, pork-slices, fu-chuok (fried bean-curd) and the most important condiment, lots of celery/parsley leaves! Pictures describes a thousand words...

Another view for posterity... It's the mix of slightly salted fish paste and belacan, n really soft and tender noodles...adding a taste of crunchy fu-chouk... yummy, and then the spicy soup... marvelous! It hits the spot! Well, actually...nothing else taste like it, seriously!

Notice the greenish, chilli belacan that comes with your bowl of noodles. That's the best stuff! It's really got quite a kick so, beware! Don't overdo the chilly, lest u'd be running. *Note :- nearest, decent toilet is in King's Confectionary/Pak Hai Lam's Kopitiam... in cases of dire emergency!

My usual bowl which i'd order comes with chop chillies, do ask for a soup-bowl of panmee and tell 'em u want it "SPICY!". And you can gauge how much hair you'd want on your chest... I would recommend trying mild, 'cause my bowl of mild has this amount of chillies in it!!!

And that is only half the amount i'd take out while eating this! Of course, remember to bring tissues...lots' of it! Also, because i always order a big arse bowl, will get them to make the noodles thin (yao?!) instead of thick (chou?!), this ensure that the noodles gets cooked thoroughly as it's really a big bowl! Depending on the alignment of the moon, stars and air pressure... you'd get different sorts of vegetables, defaults being chinese spinach (yeen choi). The adventurous sorts would try chinese celery or parsley (kan-tsai. On a really weird day, you'd even get peppermint leaves in yours!  For those who don't eat vegetables...shame on you! Dear Mr. Wilson, the owner has this to share with them, for those pro-vegan (don't eat vegie, 'cause you duwan to kill 'em) :-

It's a seaweed version!! :) Brand new, never seen before, spicy seaweed panmee! Which really isn't that bad, but i'd have to kill my vegies n eat 'em too!! :) Eating all that spicy food... you'd definately require something to cool your burnin tummy! Here's a glass of the house milk-tea (nga-lat, teah). Best thing to have, a really hot cuppa....

Oh yeah, before i forget... It's actually known as a vegetable panmee stall! Well, vegetable it is! But it's got meat too! Do remember to try their dry spicy version too. Mixed with their house-speciality, the belacan... it's just heavenly! Oh and yeah, they've got none-spicy too... but once you've tried the really stomach burnin, sweat like you'd had a 10mile run,  good stuffs, there's just no going back! :) Erm, disclaimer. The really hot stuffs should be given to the Restaurant KinKin ChowKit Spicy Panmee, which i'd have to blog about on another day! Afterall, free-flow oily chilly-flakes... even the ever present msian flies won't go near 'em...standing ovation!

Maps to location found here! . The shop's really behind the Pak Hai Lam Kopitiam at the wet market, perfect landmark to finding this place! 

Naz 08'

Sobering dinner at Nazri's place on the 15'th of November, '08. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/leonglefen/BBQ?authkey=JGEg4Ith6rc#

Aquafair 2008 - KL Convention Centre

So in support of the local annual Aquafair exibition, i've decided to blog on it providing the necessary 'free-publicity' which these events sorely lack! Noticeably, this is my second attempt at blogging... clicked dictionary on a word i wanted to spell-check, to get the entire post deleted... #!$@#%$!!! Lousy UI... must remember to never over-click and be experimental!

So of we went to Aquafair 2008, in KLCC. Parking was relatively painless, as we could park for rm4 in Suria n strolled to the Exhibit halls. Good saturday evening exercise, for those of us who'd conform to our couches at home. Entrance is RM10, not really tat expensive though, i really wished there was more to see/buy even. Wishful thinking, there'd be a bargain corner or even a 2nd hand bazaar. Next year maybe?? Top left was the first picture i took upon entering... Nice golden arro. So, more picks below...

Same guy, at a  different angle. Lots of competition arros, gold-fishes and discus. Here are sommore pictures. Directly below is the 1st price winner for for the discus event. Wonder how far this fish gets to fly...Consecutively, 2nd and 3'rd i think.

This is the runner up for the arro RGT... Grand price is a beautiful matured, nearly 3 feet in lenght, lovely beauty...This guy's got character! Probs eat your poodles alive, given a chance. Would have loved to see this fish in it's natural environment, breeching to eat insects... Smacking the water with its weight.

I went over to the aquascaping section, and there were only 8 tanks showing off their "masterpieces"... Seems these guys either weren't given enough time to plan proper, or are technically non-aquascaping savvy. Pictures below explains...

Some of them looks like my backyard garden, messy and unkept. Though, the nicer tanks were scaped quite esthetically. The last picture has some matured bacopas and lovely java moss creeping on the driftwood. Your basic aquascaped tank, unfortunately breaking all the rules of third of Takashi... Love the 3'rd price winner though, i think his tank should be considered the healtiest, see how nicely the green meadow of bacopas clings to the substrates... kau kau lighting :) lovely tanks!! fyi... the names are the plants i think they are... so don't flame if they're wrong, do comment though...

But no regrets going though, as much as i'd whine about the aquafair! Saw some beautiful chocolate gouramies wished i'd love to have in my "future" planted tank! :P

They were in one of the competition tanks... full view below.

This is another planted tank (below) at a booth. I just realise i never did took note of who's tank's whose...sorry, if u guys know who these tanks belong to, i'd love to give 'em the credit for it!

 

Beautiful dragon over a forest of fansworts. Below are two other aquascaped tank courtesy of ADA (Aqua Design Amano)! man... such a sad setup, where's the intrigue, the exotic and picturesque landscape... this really looks my backyard garden, albeit flooded n very brightly lighted! Work in progress maybe??

Well, tat's it... last four pics n it was a worthwhile trip :)

Love the pics of gaping wakagois... unfortunately, i wasn't patient enough to wait for the perfect cmpositions. It's a lovely tank as the waterpumps were keeping the fishes in a single stream. Hope someone else did justice to this shot. Also, the golden arro was a real beautiful specimen! Ah well, good to see... no money to own :)  Hey, here's a thought, aquafair should sponsor a photography section too. Best price takes home an arro maybe? Adieu Aquafair, till next year then!