Remember the Scape we did @ Petstop?

I did not say I will ban you - You interpreted it incorrect.

Your statements are only HALF TRUTHS and I tempted to sort this out via PM without going public. But clearly you have a bone to pick - go and do it somewhere else - you did not have the guts to talk to me, but have the guts to post on this forum, therefore I do not respect you AT ALL and will not waits any more of my time on this thread. Do not PM me or contact me except if it is face to face.

GOODBY

 

I think Larch did this to show the members who contributed to this tank, that it is not being looked after.
It has gone public and unfortunately nothing can help that now.

Also, if the tank is viewable to the public, then why should it not be of public concern
I believe Larch did the right thing in this case.

 

Larch did nothing wrong, censorship is not the way, so he did good in speaking up.

The boat needs to be shaken. Why? so that people do not waste time going to a shop that clearly has no understanding of aquatic plants.

This is an aquatic plants forum, so planted tanks are important.

The picture said a 1000 words by itself. Disappointing.

 

I am also somewhat at fault here. I will accept the responsibility and blame as well. I do not have the time to visit PetStop on a weekly basis. That is a fact. Due to the fact that I have a normal day job, as well as running The Planted Tank as a side business.

But, for the positive, I have resigned from my day job and I will be visiting PetStop on a weekly basis from February. So I can advise, help, offer assistance whenever I am in the Shop.

Also remember that this is Petstops first foray into planted aquariums. I am sure that every single one of us on the forum remember the algae infested mess of our first planted aquariums. It's a learning curve that needs to be taught, and I will do my best to help any store that stocks my products to get to grips with a planted system.

Sean

 

End of the day their is an innocent Discus in the tank under stress... Discus need space to move about in... if anything please save the fish, its cruel keeping it in a stressful environment.

 

Algae does not kill fish, they actually like it.. but it should not be that hard to trim the plants.. just cut it all, large water changes.. when the water starts to smell, that is not good.. maybe a fish or two dead there.. not good.

 

This is totally unacceptable.

 

I did not post this to get anyone in trouble or to start trouble for that matter, I might not have helped with the scape but I stood and watched and talked while it was being created so I feel like I have a vested interest in it. And it is sad to see something that is suppose to represent our hobby be neglected.

 

I am totaly blown away by the hostilaty on this issue. Every singel person here is giving their oppinion on a foto with so much reflection that you only see the plant groth in the centre of the tank. All the 'before' pictures were taken from inside the shop with no glare. I was there the day the tank was planted and at least once a week after that. I was there even today. Do yourselfs a favour an go there and have a look at the thank from inside the shop. Have a look at the fishes. As far as I know they only received the 2 big Diskus 2 weeks ago, they are never in the corner when I'm there? I do agree that there is too much plants in the centre of the tank. The actual idee behind this is to have the plants bloom when they grow emersed.

I think everyone should have a look at the tank before they give their oppinions about it. I will make time tomorrow to go there and take foto's from the inside og the shop to compare to the 'before' foto's.

 

Pierré you know what happened when petstop had some extra plants during the sale they added it too the tank but they never removed it so they kept growing unchecked. Here is what it looked like before:

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These plants have basically smothered the entire centre of the scape you cannot even see the islands any-more, and because they are so tall they have drowned out the light for the plants below. Then if you take a look you will see the moss has turned brown due to the lack of light and proper flow. The bottom of the tank is covered in dead plants and leaves with lots and lots of snails you can see it from the outside pretty easily. Not to mention plenty of empty mesh trays lying on the bottom of the tank.



I encircled the entire area of the display side of the tank that is basically just one big mass of plant growth, you cannot see the other side of the tank nor any of the island scapes on opposites of the tank. I am pretty sure if you remove the plant mass from the middle you will see that most of the plants have died or are busy dying on those islands. Also when I checked the CO2 drop checker the fluid was clear and it looked like the CO2 was not running at all.

And the Discus were clearly stressed, I might not know Discus but I know what their stress bars look like, they hung around the open left hand corner of the tank next to the circle I made.

So I think I am not unreasonable in what I posted, because clearly the state of the scape as it is now is not what was envisioned when we first started out. But by all means take a few pictures and compare them to the original it would be nice to have a second opinion.

Like I said not out to cause trouble just concerned because it was something I was involved in.

 

Re: Remember the Scape we did @ Petstop?

Why doesn't Pierre takes a photo of the tank? Maybe it is not as bad as reported..

 

Also if Pierre could confirm the smell coming from the tank?

 

This thread is despicable.

Moolis has a good reputation in this hobby. He is known to take good care of his animals and tanks which is much much more than can be said for many pet store owners. To drag his name through the mud like this is shameful. It is one thing to cry "free speech" but free speech is not a licence to disparage a good man because you were too lazy to talk to him and find out what the issues are. I fully understand Moolis' response to this.

I'm sure Trevor has spoken to Sam or Ebrahaim about their tank and made some plan to remedy the situation. How have you tried to help Moolis, Larch? Instead we have this utterly negative and un-APSA-like thread.

Free speech is not free. It costs someone and you should have the decency to consider the cost to Moolis before dragging his name through the mud.

 

Firstly of just for the record, I have never disparage Moolis or have I spoke disrespectfully in any way or belittled him as the owner of Petstop, though unfortunately I cannot say the same thing for the other party involved. I have stayed calm and collective throughout this whole issue and my mind is open to any sort of discussion regarding this. And in no way do I have something sinister or underhanded planned by posting this on APSA, and I am truly sorry if anyone views my actions as such as that was not my intent. The original scape has been neglected and nothing that I have said were lies or un-true. I posted this thread out of genuine concern for a scape that I was part of and that people took part in worked hard on. I have also stated that if all my concerns are un-true I would public and unequivocally apologies to Moolis and the entire Petstop shop and APSA forum for my actions.

Also I would ask that we try and keep this thread as civil as possible there is no need to act anything less than adult like in this thread because we are all adults here after-all.

I have done no such thing tyronegenade, I have not once called Moolis' names or pointed fingers or played the blame game. Nor have I acted aggressively towards him or said anything derogative.

Okay tyronegenade I understand your point, but answer me this, why should I go to Moolis and point out an issue with a tank when he the owner of the establishment should be aware of said issue. I mean if he walked by the front window of his shop he would have seen that the tank cannot be viewed at all from the outside by customer or the general public because of this. The shop side of the tank is a little cleaner of plant growth but to get to the actual tank you need to navigate cramp spaces. So then what really is the use of a display tank when you cannot see what is going on inside?

Any store is judged by the shoppers in part by what they see: the store's design, the visual merchandising and the display. Most people in the retail industry called it visual representation. And I am pretty sure Moolis' knows this being a shop owner for many years, so why do I need to make him aware of this and point it out? The problem especially in South Africa is that we have this nanny state mentality, we expect other people to point things out to us and do their work for them, when in fact those people are more than qualified to do it on their own.

The display tank should not have been used to house un-sold plants and left un-attended to out grow all the other plants in the tank, and that should have never happened in the first place. If you compare the scape and tank with that when it first started out I can tell you now that is was not what it's creators envisioned for it.

Unfortunately the moment the scape was turned into a public event and people were invited to come and take part, it was turned from a normal display into a point of interest too the general public. Before I posted this I did consider the costs, and I most certainly haven't taken this entire thread lightly. None of what I have said in this thread is libellous, or based on unfalsifiable statements (lies) but on what I saw with my own eyes. So I am well within my right to have made this thread and voiced my opinion, and Moolis and whoever agrees with him are fully in their right to disagree with me.

I won't post in this thread again till we get a second opinion as Moolis has not decided to take part in this discussion. So I will wait for someone elses opinion and pictures.

Kind regards Charl.

[Edit] If anyone wants to discuss this further please PM me, lets not make the job harder for the mods.

 

Moses and or a ghost working for Pet Stop SA!!!

As the pictures bellow (taken while I replied to this post Friday afternoon) would show.
That is only explanation I could think of.
Because no staff member touched the tank since Tuesday, they were to busy and suddenly .........
I can not find the loads of dead plants, Moses opened up swimming space, the POOR Discus are attacking and taking food out of the other fishes mouths, the water suddenly do not smell, the Bolivian tetras & Congo tetras both are spawning, ................
I can go on and on ......

Before I post the pictures. Let me inform you what the plans was (This idiot would have been told if he did the effort to ask)
The marine customers of Pet Stop SA are going to get fraging demonstration end of January 2014 and they would each get a frag FREE PLUS a special guest speaker with discounts+prizes+, new in store set-ups, a quarantine area for the fish they want us to keep for them, new products manufactured by Pet Stop SA only for their use, the rest is still only for me to know and them to find out in April 3014.
BUT the tropical guys will be neglected, so I decided - Let these plants grow so I can give away cuttings the weekend END of January 2014 to the tropical guys, then atleast it show that I did not forget about them and all my co-aquatic hobbyists are happy.

Well this is not going to happen any more - I would rather throw the plants away than give it to people that did not take a moment to ask

• Is this all true?

Well you decide for yourself
PS - I thought everyone is innocent until proven guilty - obviously loads of APSA members have a different opinion - so I would rather not associate myself with this way of thinking.

PS moderators - remove DELETE me from your member's list - I did attempt to resolve this via PM and I was told to give proof he was "MISTAKEN" not wrong but mistaken so
" Larch has a right to comment on whatever LPS he has encountered be it bad or good news. thats fundamental to our forum.

but it is also against forum rules if one provides incorrect information on purpose. if he has made false aligations by mistake, we can fix that.

If Larch is mistaken then i would ask him to take it back.

i guess there has to be proof of some sort maybe? "

PICTURES - I will send it to any one that send me an email to post here - I seem to be unable to get them posts - Perhaps to angry...........?
[/list]

 

Larch damage done and a relationship ruined!!!!

 

To be honest i went yesterday and checked out the tank. water didnt smell to me and well the little bit of algae at the back can also be because of it being at the window. yes the tank is overgrown in the middel that blocks the light, but there is no problem with the water quality. the only 'smell' i could pick up was the smell of the Limnophila Aromatica. it is called aromatica for a reason. MArk is very passionate about fish and will never keep a fish in a tank with bad water quality. so in all fairness its literally just the aromatica in the middel thats the problem but thats it. just a trim and the tank would be fine. ive even seen the plants pearling.

 

Thanks for coming to the table regarding this discussion Moolis @ Pet Stop, I have already put my opinion and thoughts on the table. So I don't think we need to go through this again. I have asked multiple times the same questions but they seem to go un-answered, so I might as well ask them again. That way you can pubically reply and we can sort this out like grown ups. And like I stated earlier I have no ulterior motive I just want strait answers that is all.

1. Is the CO2 still running because when I was there it seemed like it was not, if it was I apologies for assuming it was not from my side.

2. The CO2 liquid was clear in the indicator meaning it has been depleted or just plain finished if that is not the case I will apologies.

3. The new plants that are basically growing throughout the entire tank now and over growing the other were placed there after the scape was completed as in the picture below. Am I incorrect in assuming they were placed there so that they would be sold at a later date but never happened? Please correct me if I am wrong:

​

4. The front display of the tank (From the stores front window) is totally un-viewable due to all the plant growth. Or am I wrong here?

5. Also the dead leaves and other debri I was referring too sits on the bottom on the display side of the tank and not the shop side. You can also see some of the plants that are originally planted dying because of being outgrown by these plants that were added later on. The right islands moss has turned a brown because of the lack of light and grow space.

6. The fish's swim space is very limited due to this growth of these plants, please correct me if I am also wrong here.

So now we come too the two points that seem to be the big issue here the waters smell and the Discus, when I was there I got the smell of rotting aquarium plants. If I was mistaken I will pubically apologies too all the forum members on APSA. And come and apologies too the entire shop and its staff in person.

The Discus was clearly stressed when I was there maybe they were spooked by someone or something hence they sat in the corner, and they did have stress bars displaying on their sides. If it was tank related I could not tell if it was not the same will apply as the my paragraph above.

I will still recommend people to your great shop and I will still support you, however I am not happy with how the scape and tank has been neglected one that you yourself invited the public to come and help with.

I hope we can find closure on this issue and put it finally too bed were it belongs.

Charl

 

Then it is my mistake for mistaking the smell for rotting plants, so I will take it on the chin and admit were I was at fault I have no issue with that, and I do apologies for making such an amateur mistake from my side.