The Clan Jetties, part 2

Woke up at 5am to go to the jetties and wait for sunrise. How dissapointing it is when u see this!

But well, it doesnt rain.. so we stayed and tried some shots using Cokin ND filters (thanks to Chuppy)

So here's 2 version of what i got that morning;

Will definitely go again and try to nail some shots of the beautiful sunrise! :P

Nikkor 16-35mm F/4 Nano - First Day Test Review

Another dream comes true when finally, i bought AFS Nikkor 16-35mm F/4G ED VRII N lens! Cost me close to RM4K, but believe me, it's worth every cent! The sharpness of this lens is superb, with Nano coating and Vibration Reduction, it claims it's place and replace my kit lens, the cheap and cheerful 18-55mm which i bought for only Rm400. 10 TIMES DIFFERENCES in price, let see if it could deliver 10 times better photos in the future XD (ok it's not fair to the kit, it's all up to me, the person behind the DSLR isn't it :P)

It looks good on my big and trusty Nikon D200 plus grip. Handles very well, and it's pretty long too. Doesn't look like a ultra-wide angle lens to me. Hehe... Anyway, it just feels good! Finally found a good replacement for my kit lens which serves me for over 2 years and will continue to serves me well in macro photography in particular (all the shots you've seen in this blog, 90% comes from the kit lens!)

Minutes after purchases, i went around Penang for some testing. Visited the famous Penang Clan Jetties for a short while as it is getting dark. Manage to get some shots, particularly with the HDRs attempt. Love's the range of 16-35. Very useful as a walk-around lens. The VR works pretty good under low light condition.

Here's some shots from the Tan Jetty:

and here's Chew Jetty;

needed some directions?

Stay tune for more photos to come in the near future! Nikkor 16-35 F/4 rocks!

Kalimantan Samurai, the Sphaerichthys vaillanti

One of my favourite fish ever! Got them few months back and finally, they grew up and colored up just like what i saw online! Simply amazing and unbelievable at first. I've left with 7 pcs out of 10pcs, with 2 confirmed pair right now, and some misc unknown :S

They've been courting since last week but no results in brooding yet :( Hope for the best!

Here's some photos:

The magnificient female Samurai! Look at the coloration!

And here's the male, with his breeding dance, showing how big his mouth can be to brood eggs.

The pair, female are alittle shy though..

Wish me luck in breeding this amazing labyrinth! :P

Breeding Parosphromenus nagyi

Finally succeeded breeding my 2nd species of Parosphromenus, the P.nagyi from Kuantan, Pahang.

The breeding pair is housed in 1ft tank, ph 5 (tap water mix with rain water) and peat granules added. Temperature were constant at 28C. The pair are fed with mosquitoes larvae, daphnia, and artemia twice daily and finally, i was rewarded with few batches of eggs and fries in 2 weeks period! Cant believe it!

Here's some photos of the fries and pair, albeit blurry ones.. :(

Hope i can manage to raise all to maturity and continue to conserve this species in captivity. The type locality and natural habitats of all Parosphromenus are threatened by development and forest clearing. Such a sad sad issues..

CTY Betta Fish Competition 2010

December is full of events isnt it? CTY organized another Betta competition, and this round, it manage to pull an enormous entry of over 500 fishes! That is such a good sign for the hobby in Penang. I've manage to take some photos of the winning fishes, but, sorry guys, am not so good in capturing the betta.. still learning :P

We have this Grand Champion, Orange Crowntail! Nice!

And here's some winning fishes..

And here's a shot of my friends, from the left, Q Betta Team, Rosdi (BSM President), Niwit (Judge of the day, from Thailand) and Ming Yuen (qualified judge and SuHo.. LOL)

Penang Flora Fest 2010

Again, here i am, visiting the famous flora festival held occasionally in Penang Botanical Garden. All the floras, especially orchids and adenium, and bonsai, are attracting thousands of peoples from all over the country. I'm there almost every show to see what's new, to photography some flowers and not forgetting, buying some home :)

Look at this Nepenthes, unique isnt it?

I bought this home, only cost Rm20.

Lovely orchid! Kinda expensive though :(

My cousin and lil brother, 2 fatty in da show.. haha..

Mum bought Hoya, RM35 per plant - actually it's a mix of 4-5 different colored Hoya. Nice isnt it? hehe..

And look at this giant adenium! Stunning!

And more orchids!

It was a nice show nevertheless, with some location shifting to the new part of botanical garden. Oh ya, the Giant Water Lily (Victoria amazonica) pond is almost ready! Cant wait for it, the largest water lily in the world is coming to Penang! hehe..

Flowerhorn - Photo of the Week

Won another Photo Of The Week organized by Aquatic Photography website.

Thank you so much, guys!

Aquafair Guppy Competition 2010

Here's some shots of the champion winner guppies during the competition held during Aquafair @ KLCC.

Class 1 Champion - Solid Color - Albino Full Red

Class 3 Champion - Bi-color - Sky Blue which also happens to be the overall GRAND CHAMPION

Class 4 Champion - Blue Mosaic

Class 5 Champion - Red Lace

Class 6 Champion - Vienna Emerald Doublesword

Class 7 Champion - Short tail

The REAL Betta gladiator!

Presenting, the REAL Betta gladiator from Maliau Basin itself! It is caught by Mr. LC Chan of ADA Malaysia and was showcase during Aquafair held few weeks back at KLCC, Malaysia.

I was lucky to get some shots of the real gladiator pair, enjoy!

For anyone who is interested to use this photos, please contact me via email harnsheng@gmail.com. Thanks!

Diskus Discus

Visited a discus farm few days ago.. and i saw this stunning pair, simply stunning! The dots, the colorations.. love it! Im not really a fancy discus fans but it does makes me go 'wahh' sometimes :P here's 2 shots of the couple!