146 replies to this topic

[bigjohnnofish]

i've seen videos on you tube with people hand feeding rays without being a little girl johnsie!!! lol

we used to put mulies between our toes at rotto in the bays and let the rays come in and eat the fish from our feet... couple times big manta rays came in... 1.5m across.... quite friendly actually

[werdna]

Last time I was in Rotto we went swimming with the Rays.
Mind you, that was before Steve Irwin decided to give everyone a lesson on how to upset them...

[scotty81]

Last time I was at Rotto al lot of the barbs had been cut off the rays

[Peckoltia]

I hand feed one of my rays. Comes up to the surface and makes a heap of noise flapping when he's hungry, really loud. Can hear him from the other side of the house.

Back on topic.

[Angelo]

I've seen these tanks empty for so many months I thought it wasn't going to happen. Glad to see Paul, Troy and Dan working on this, Its gonna turn out awesome! Looking forward to the discus tank the most. Good luck guys!

Edited by Angelo, 24 April 2013 - 09:36 PM.

[Mr_docfish]

I quoted the whole thing to the cent - It was all in or no deal, but two weeks turn around with a two week prep.....
Looks like it was too much - but it was still less than one weeks worth of advertising....
We considered endless greenery (you'd be amazed how much 1.5m high fake plants are worth - and custom made stuff even more) and we considered the cost of coloured gravel (and the cost of cleaning / washing the cheaper CIM gravel)
The filters were going to be pre-seeded before putting them on (2-4 weeks would have got them cycling at least past half way) - but from the start I knew the owner would put his own stuff on..... And as I said, it was all or nothing - the end result would be a showcase of what we as a shop could do - I dont envy you Paul, if you get hamstrung in your design, the end result will never be as good as you would have wanted it.... I wont blame you if things dont turn out the way you would have wanted....

If you want to see a copy if our quote Paul, feel free to pm me - might give you a couple of extra ideas... And if you need any ideas or anything sourced, same thing.

I just wish the owner had the balls to contact us to let us know what was happening - have not heard one word from him after he tried to get details on some of the products we were quoting on (trying to use us to do the research and the he will try to get it direct)

I hope you can make some money out of this one Paul....

Cheers
Oliver

Edited by Mr_docfish, 24 April 2013 - 10:29 PM.

[tywonreef]

Hi All,
tanks are progressing well. some of you out there will no doubt look at these set ups & say they could have been done better, no doubt this is true, but given the constraints of 3 days to quote & only 2 weeks to fill we can only do so much.
The owner really wanted flexibility in the tanks as he would like them to change in layout & fish every now & again, so heavy, long term layouts are not practical. He also wanted artificials as much as possible. It is a case of make them look as good as you can & get some fish in there so the public have something to look at. We have an understanding with the centre that we will be building & improving on these units as time progresses until such time as all are happy (yes, they will be paying for all additional work, fish & equipment as this is part of the quote)
Once they are running we will be able to step back, have a good look & say "this is what we need to do to make them special" (we already have had some great ideas & suggestions, but these will need to wait).
I hope you come down for a look & do like what we have done when finished. We will definitely still be setting them up once full so much swimming & holding of breath will be required. As more items come to hand such as rocks & wood, we will add them in to enhance so out comes the snorkel - no mankini I promise.

Ollie, thanks for the offer & I would love any suggestions you have, the more input the better. If you have anything you think would look great in there, please let me know & we will be happy to source from you as I am trying to keep as much as possible in W.A.
To put your mind at rest, I am a retail store & charge retail prices only, no discounting at all as this is the only way I can be sure of providing the service they will expect. I have had enough experience with corporate jobs in the past to know what they expect & to make sure I have covered myself. I initially declined the work, but was approached again with a very generous offer of support from the centre both financially & with labour as well as installation. My proximity was a major factor & I hit it off very well with the owner as we have spoken in the past without me even being aware of who he was. As I have said before, I hope that this project will be a boost for the freshwater industry right throughout Perth.

[SamJohns]

Popped up and saw Paul and Troy at Morley before. They are busy to say the least.

There is always going to be critics mate. Dont worry about that. I see it more than anywhere in the tattoo industry.

At the end of the day the customer is getting what they asked for from you "suppling fish and decore only" and as you said it has room to be changed in the future.

Also if Troy is getting in those tanks make sure you take a ladder for that short arse

[tywonreef]

Hopefully he won't give them any nasty infections.

[Angelo]

Couple of tanks were full this morning and the rest were half way there, from what I saw its all coming together nicely, will look great once the fish are in.

[tywonreef]

Troy had a swim in the tanks on thursday, good fun. I have posted the pics on morley aquariums facebook page & a few on pcs facebook.
A few fish are in there now, look great - 30 boesmani rainbows have settled in particularly well. All tanks should have fish on monday.

I would like to speak to some of the committee, the owners are looking to make this into an educational display as well, inviting schools & groups. They are wanting as much information & pamphlets on the fish species & local interest groups as possible.
Please give me a call ( not monday i am fishing at the fads - yahooo!). I am in the shop tomorrow.

[SamJohns]

Yeah Johno they are friendly as until you accedentially tred on one and they barb you through the foot and you spend the next 24HRs throwing your guys up in a world of pain. I have experienced this personally from the salt water variety. I have heard the fresh water variety are alot more painful as well!

[Peckoltia]

How'd you go at the FADs? Monday was the last decent day of weather we will have for a while. I'm spewin' just got a new reel and a couple old favourites serviced. Always the way.

[kamalau]

Hay I'm yet to see the setups but if your ever after ideas this place is the best just to start to give you ideas its helped me a lot when setting up people's tanks I really like the simplicity of some of thier hardscapes and just some stuff that I would overlook sometimes like contrasting the substrate to the rocks etc.
http://www.aquariumd...index.php#_home

[SamJohns]

That site has some great scapes mate!

[Peckoltia]

Yep, amazing tanks.

 

A lot of them look very freshly set up. In particular the one with the tangs, no pits or signs of digging. Unless the substrate was flattened out for pics.

 

Either way, they are amazing. I particularly like when the wood sticks out of the water.

[kamalau]

I believe the one with the tangs was just cleaned up for the pics that tanks on YouTube etc
Obviously they would make the tanks spotless for the photos.
But give me some nice perspective on what tanks can look like if you put a bit of thought into it especially not having to many differance colours in the tank say no more than 3 different coloured rocks, wood, sand and not going crazy with different coloured fish just nice and simple

[tywonreef]

Fads were awesome fun, nice & calm, 1other boat & mahi mahi jumping. Got our share & more, nothing huge, lost a few & busted a couple of big ones off on the fad- insert curse word here.
Huge wahoo turned up & just cruised next to the boat, monster fish.
Coventry tanks are going well, cabinet work started & fish doubg fine. Discus went in today ( i think).

[Morley Aquariums]

discus in, all working well & getting some really positive feedback. I am going down today to see how the cabinets are looking & check on the fishies. Some of you may know Robert, he has the gig for looking after the tanks. Pretty experienced guy with rays & other unusual species.

[Peckoltia]

Interesting.

 

Look forward to seeing how these tanks are maintained over the next 6 - 18months.