Off to Melbourne at Christmas to visit my daughter, her partner and her are keen aquarium keepers & are taking me to the Melbourne Aquarium! Hope it's not as poor as Layton said it is, anyhow I am looking forward to this.

We'll also be doing a trawl of some of the shops , won't be able to bring anything back sadly, but I'll certainly be taking the camera.

I really liked it, but the queue to get in was nasty. The coral was a bit lacking but otherwise really good.

Although I cannot vouch for it personally having never been there but Reeflections has a very good reputation in that part of the country.

http://www.reeflectionsaquarium.com/

Cheers,

Steve

Off to Melbourne at Christmas to visit my daughter, her partner and her are keen aquarium keepers & are taking me to the Melbourne Aquarium! Hope it's not as poor as Layton said it is, anyhow I am looking forward to this

sweet. i missed out on going there a couple of weeks ago when i was over there. going back for work in early december so hopefully should get half a day in

Apparently the fish shop in Coburg is pretty good. We never got to see it, despite it being a short distance from were we were staying. I Think it is in Bell St.

We managed to see the one by Vic Market, it's downstairs from the pet shop, and awfully hot and crammed. They have a large selection of reptiles there, which may account for the heat - but then again, it could be bad ventilation.

Should of taken a photo of the prices on the freezer, as they had rats for sale, that ranged from 'pinkys' to full grown!

Go and annoy the lionfish, my husband almost managed to get it to do a 360 in the tank by moving his finger in a circle on the front glass, it just hovers around and follows your finger with it's eyes, and when it gets out of range, it starts rotating!

The only downside was the manager packing a tanty behind the counter and throwing things because he thought the counter was a pigsty, not a good look in front of customers.

Hey thanks for all the info!

Looks like I could spend the whole holiday doing this!

Don't think wifey would be pleased though :lol: .

Have fun Wasp!!! Sounds like it will be a nice break...

while you're over there, check a reef shop in highett if its still there. it was an amazing little shop when i used to go in to check what stock they had. Having a shark and moray eel in their display tank was pretty cool for such a small shop.

went to the shop by the vic markets - lots of reptiles. It amazing what they 're allowed to have. Scorpions, snakes, a range of lizards wasnt really into fishkeeping then and it was the reptiles i gawped at for half an hour.

Went to the aquarium really nicely layed out. very interesting. Its interesting to note they get their water brought to them on a truck unlike the aquarium of nz - napier and Kelly Tarltons

yea i remember havin a pet scorpion when i was there. :lol:

it grew pretty big 2.

was at the Melbourne aquarium again a couple of weeks ago. they have one reef tank, with one acro and a bunch of softies in it. hardly any fish, worst aquascaping ever. some of the other stuff is cool though, jellyfish tanks, fish only tank with heaps of fish and seasnakes in it. overall really cool but if you are going there to see corals it is disappointing

Although I cannot vouch for it personally having never been there but Reeflections has a very good reputation in that part of the country.

http://www.reeflectionsaquarium.com/

Cheers,

Steve

The above is a health hazard & a rip off.

Well back now, there has already been some Melbourne aquarium pics in some other threads so here is just 3. They have a room with some stunning jellyfish tanks that have to be seen in real life to be believed, a lovely H Magnifica anemone ( I think ), and some kind of huge fish that just lazily swam around.

The aquarium had some huge tanks and the effect of them was stunning. A disapointment was the fake sps corals in the marine tanks, although I can see how providing the requirements to have real ones in such huge tanks would have probably just cost too much. Some nice softies though.

wow that fish in the last pic looks awesome- do you know what it is wasp? look how tiny the clown is in comparison...

No but i'm sure somebody will. It really was big you could easily put your head in its mouth, maybe a shoulder too!

Did see some of them on a TV doco a few years ago there was a few of them lived in some spot that was visited regularly by divers and were very docile & quite an attraction. Each was named and loved by the regular divers at this place.

But it was a few years ago I don't remember what they were now.

You got a better pic of it than I did!

Dang thing cruises around rather fast.

It's a Cheilinus undulatus - Humphead Maori Wrasse

Gets its name from the markings around its face.

The ceramic acros sitting upside down in the tank ith the square unpainted bases sticking up was a dead giveaway!

Cheers Zev!

Hey my Mum and also my brother live in Havelock North! Not into fish though.

Did you get to see any fish shops over there?

Yes but not the good ones. Time was a factor unfortunately. Went to one that is supposed to be good but it was being re worked and all the tanks moved, so hardly any stock. Weird to see all the snakes etc. though, would be pretty cool to own something like that.

The above is a health hazard & a rip off.

Gday Greg,

when was the last time you actually went to Reeflections and why these thoughts?

Did you notice anything about Gregs avatar?

Suspect it may be permanent.

yes, last post was in 2006 sometime. long one month ban.

Ah well, that's what happens when you post unsubstantiated smart mouthed comments.

Remember when you said that you would be interested in seeing his tanks when you were in Melbourne, Wasp? He nearly had a fit.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Thedoood, i'd suggest looking up all his posts, via the find all posts button.

You will discover the true talent of the guy :lol: .

He may have been saying the right thing, the shop was very run down when I took over, but that was 3 years ago now which is why I asked how long since he had been in.

I'd be worried and embarrassed if he honestly still felt that way now, cant please everyone though I guess.