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Breeding Asian Arowanas Is A Lucrative Business But

By: Steven Yeoh

Today we see an interesting development of individuals who are enquiring about the feasibility of investing in arowana breeding farms. These potential investors are ofcourse only interested in the more expensive asian arowanas which consists mostly of the cross back gold, red and red tail golden (or RTG) arowanas. We will continue to see a steady increase in demand due to the growing affluence in many parts of Asia especially in China.

Because asian arowanas resembles the mythical dragon in asian folklore, they are a much sort after fish in the feng shui realm. Many people keep them at home or in their offices and consider them a 'lucky' fish. Arowanas are considered one of three feng shui fishes, with the other two being koi and goldfish. Luo Han or flowerhorn was at one time also considered a feng shui fish but they have not really stood the test of time and have more or less been dropped from the feng shui list.

What has also driven up the prices for these beautiful asian arowanas are the fact that it is very difficult to breed them. (Again we are talking about the red, gold and RTG arowanas only.) Thus far, they have only been successfully bred commercially in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. No one has succeeded in breeding them anywhere else which has led to a constant 'short supply' of asian arowanas in the market. Success rates in breeding asian arowanas in tanks are also too few and far between and is just not viable commercially.

As mentioned earlier, many more parties are seeing the potential of this very lucrative business and are therefore seriously considering investing into it. But before you do so, you need to know some of the risks and issues before you do take the plunge.

1) The initial investment into this can be quite substantial because you have to purchase many adult arowanas of breeding age. You will also need many ponds of about 20-40 adult arowanas each if this is to succeed as a business because not all ponds will be producing from day one. Each adult arowana will cost between $5000 - $10,000 so you will need to work out your sums. And this cost is on top of the investment you have put in for the farm itself!

2) Your job is not done even if you have managed to build a top notch farm with many ponds of adult arowanas. You still need a very important component which is an experience person to run it! We, as amateurs, will not know how and when to harvest arowana fry in the ponds. You would need a person who is knowledgeable and experience. This person can help you spot pairing arowanas and decide when best to harvest the fry from the arowana male's mouth. We need to be able catch as many of these pairing arowanas as possible because even the professional and experience breeders get it wrong sometimes.

3) Asian arowanas have only been successfully bred commercially in three countries. They are Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. If you are thinking of breeding them anywhere else, think again carefully and know the risks here. Asian arowanas do not breed easily and need a right mix of climate, water and soil in the mudponds to do so. However are we saying that you will not succeed anywhere else? No one can say for sure. As long as you venture in knowing full well the risks, then go for it! Who knows!.. you could be the first to succeed and be the talk of the arowana community!

Article Source: http://www.particlearticles.com

Steven Yeoh is an passionate arowana fish lover who is also involved with an asian arowana breeding farm. If you find his arowana article helpful, do sign up for his seven days ecourse for the "New Arowana Hobbyists" at his arowana care site.

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