Exploring Sekayam Basin Pt. 1

I was away the last few days on a short exploratory trip in the Sekayam basin as we are setting up a new Forward Quarantine Center. During my trip there I took opportunity to survey the area and the weather was perfect during this trip. The Sekayam River runs from the mountains near the border with Sarawak towards the south east and joins with the mighty Kapuas.

Some quick photos of plants and fishes sampled in this region

It was a very nice trip into this region and I will share more when able. Thanks for following.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to all of you. Here is Malaysia, just fresh after the 1st week of January the Chinese communities are preparing for the Lunar New Year celebration soon.

I spend the new year away at a beach resort this year with my wife and some close friends. We had a wonderful time together, reflecting upon 2011 and contemplating 2012 with refreshed zeal and excitement.

At Borneo Echo Streams, we aim to introduce fish breeding and cultivation on our village's social enterprise development program. This program have occupied much of my time and energy last year as we seek to convert our infrastructure of collection outposts to breeding capacity. 

Also in the last year we signed an MOU with a Singapore higher learning institution to provide training and exposure to students on their aquaculture program. We hope that this exposure stint with us will raise the appreciation and skills of the next generation going into the industry.

I will update the blog again soon. It is still raining heavily here in most parts due to the monsoon season. Many parts of Kuching was flooded yesterday but today the sun is out in the morning as I write. However it appears that rain will arrive later in the afternoon. 

Take care and God bless!

Cryptocoryne Nurii

This beautiful Cryptocoryne Nurii from Pahang is one of my favourite plant. I love the tiger stripe markings and colors exhibited by this specimen. We also found a variant with extreme pink mutations at this location. More when I get home from my field trips.  Have a great weekend. 

Bucephalandra sp 'Sintang'

I just returned home from Kalimantan Barat after going back and forth over the last couple of weeks. The first part of the tour, I covered the west of Kalbar while the second part I visited the eastern part of Kalbar. There are lots of interesting plants and fishes in these areas and I had opportunities to visit their natural habitats.

One of the most remarkable plants for planted tank enthusiast as well as plants hobbyists is the Bucephalandra species. It is an aroid plant and a distant relative of Cryptocoryne. They are rhyzome plants so just tying them to a stone of driftwood should anchor them for submersed or emersed environment. The plant requires low to moderate lighting and can make a nice alternative to Anubias Barteri Var. If keeping them in emersed form, please keep them in high humidity.

There are many forms of Bucephalandra from different locations in Borneo, each pretty in their own ways.

On Kalimantan Tour

Hey guys,

I just got back from exploration trip in Bengkayang, Kalimantan Barat for a couple of days. New set of clothes and today I am off to Sintang, Kalimantan Barat with 3 other buddies. I havent had time to post videos and photos yet but I hope to do so by next week.

Cheers!

Mystus Bimaculatus

Hey guys, sorry for the long web silence. I have been very busy with a number of projects here in BES. All of which is progressing steadily and we will share about them as soon as possible.

Along with photos, I plan to work on short videos here on this blog and the first step is unedited trial upload to see how this will work out. I think it will be exciting to see short clips of video from time to time on fishes, plants, exploration trips, special projects, people and life in Borneo.

In the meantime, I like to share a little about these little reddish catfish from Sumatra. For those of you keeping community tanks, please give them a try as they are easy and non demanding fishes. They are not frequently available as they are not easily sourced. They are from Sumatra but adapts readily to tank with pH around 6.0. They feed on micro pellets readily too.

Cheers!

Cryptocoryne Bullosa's spathe

Just wanted to share a photo of the Cryptocoryne Bullosa's spathe which is short and spots bright red flower with dark ring colar. The plant in photo is under shallow fast flowing water. Cryptocoryne Bullosa was described by Engler in 1879 and can be found in central Sarawak. Depending on the locations where the specimens are collected, they sometimes exhibit slight differences. I once had a friend who mistook Cryptocoryne Uenoi for Bullosa but flowers often is the sure way to tell. The largest species of Cryptocoryne Bullosa is found in Northern Sarawak at one particular river where their dark leaves grows to the length of nearly 1 feet long. Needless to say this variety is in deep water and collecting them in rainy season is near impossible.

Happy New Year and may your 2011 be a good year from all of us at Borneo Echo Streams!

Cheers!