Succesful captive breeding of the Asian Arowanas

This was taken from an article that we wrote in 2005. I am reproducing it here to share since there has been renewed interest in home breeding of arowanas as seen by the posting in our Facebook page.

As seen on Shin Min Daily News on 16/05/2005

Translated for members by NSK
7 years ago, Mr Richard Goh spent S$80,000 to purchase 30 top grade Asian Arowanas. 7 years later, he was handsomely rewarded when one pair of his arowanas (1 male golden crossback arowana and 1 female red arowana) successfully breed in his own courtyard! This feat also made him the first arowana enthusiast to successfully breed arowanas in a residential property in Singapore.
In the presence of an official from The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), Mr Goh successfully harvested 28 arowana fries from the brooding male arowana, each measuring only 2 inches long but worth a total of $80,000!
While Mr Goh has been an arowana enthusiast for the past 20 years, this is only the third time that his arowanas mated and the only time that he successfully harvested the arowanas. His passion in the hobby is clearly spelt out as he has spent close to $500,000 for the past 20 years on the hobby, including building a pond in his courtyard to house his arowanas and more than 60 arowanas in his house! The oldest arowana in his house is a 13 year old red arowana that measures more than 2 feet long!

AC: Mr Yap, is this the first home harvest in the world?

Mr Yap: No, there are several occurrences elsewhere which were not officially reported. The only case that was previously reported happened in Japan.

AC: We understand that this is not the first time that the arowanas have paired up in this pond at home and attempted to breed but this time it is successful. Can you tell us why?
Mr Yap: We went through several trials and errors to correct the pH and kH levels of the water and more importantly to modify the filtration in the pond to mimic the natural environment without using carbon or ultraviolet light to remove any contaminants.

AC: So, what is the pH level in the pond?
Mr Yap: It fluctuated between 6.5 to 7.

AC: The current tiles used in the pond are light blue in color, is that the best color to be used for an outdoor pond?
Mr Yap: It would have been better if the tiles were black as a dark environment is more conducive for breeding. The tiles were not replaced since they were already in place and it would be a massive effort to have them replaced.

AC: Thank you Mr Yap. Congratulations to you as we understand that you were instrumental in advising Richard how to go about setting up and adjusting his garden pond. Now we talk to the very happy man himself Mr Richard Goh.

AC: First of all, congratulations on the successful harvest and being the first successful person to do it officially in Singapore. So tell us what is the feeling when you saw the 29 arowana fries?
Mr Goh: Fantastic! No words can describe the feeling! Was a bit nervous initially because last year, there were 2 occasions when I drew a blank with the AVA officials but this time at least they had to issue the electronic chips to me via Wan Hu! LOL!
I would really like to thank Mr Yap from Wan Hu for making all this possible.

AC: So there were another 2 times that was not successful prior to this harvest? Tell us what happen then.
Mr Goh: Well, all the officials were around than, but due to the filtration and maybe the water perimeters, the brooding arowana swallowed all the eggs. At that point of time, the water condition was maybe not optimum as I just moved into the premises few months before.

AC: Tell us about your garden pond and the arowanas in your pond.

Mr Goh: My pond is approx 18ft by 18ft and the water is about 3.5ft deep. In the pond, I have 13 pieces of Asian arowanas. 2 pieces of golden crossback arowanas and 11 pieces of red arowanas.

AC: How many males and females in the pond and what is the ratio per type?

Mr Goh: Ok, as you know I can't be 100% accurate on the gender but a good guess will be 6 females and 7 males. I have 1 male and female golden crossback arowanas. As for the red arowanas, there are 5 females and 6 males. So the ratio is 7 males and 6 females.

AC: How old are the arowanas and how long have they been together?

Mr Goh: All the arowanas are about 5 to 6 years old and I put 15 pieces into the garden pond about 1 and the half year back when I moved into my new house. When I first put them in, the first pair started to pair off almost immediately and 2 months later, the male was brooding, but it was unsuccessful.

AC: Were the arowanas from a community tank, or were they bought from the farm?

Mr Goh: They were all from my individual tanks.

AC: You mention you put in 15 pieces when you first moved in. What happen to the other 2 pieces?

Mr Goh: Well, 1 died and the other arowana was removed after a while as it was a male. There were too many males in the pond.

AC: Lastly, need to ask you about the diet of the arowanas in your pond.

Mr Goh: Nothing special really, just the normal food that you normally feed your arowanas like pork, market prawn, meal worms and bull frogs. I feed them once a day.

AC: You mention pork, how do you prepare it?

Mr Goh: I always use the lean pork and usually rinse it well in water after cutting it into small cubes.

Curing swim bladder problems

In my years of keeping arowanas, I was lucky to be blessed with healthy arowanas but this is not to say my arowanas are and will be immued to the dreaded swim bladder problem (SBP). So what exactly is SBP?

I quote from this website, SBP is any disorder that affects the swim bladder. It can be caused by either disease, physical defects or mechanical environmental. Symptoms usually include the inability to float and hence the fish would sink to the bottom and struggle to rise or swim with tail higher than the head.

D24 and Vic from Arowanaclub had written an article on how they cured a fish with swim bladder but its unfortunate that article was lost. If someone still has that, please send it to me. I have however managed to retrieve the pictures and with some research, I think I managed to figure out what the treatment was. What I am writing here is modified from their work and what I discovered on the internet.

These 2 pictures above clear showed the arowana unable to maintain its usual swimming posture, a clear indication of SBP

Arowana droppings. If the arowana is able to pass out waste, then its unlikely to be caused by constipation.

From research and comments posted on the ArowanaClub page on Facebook, Epsom salt is also used in the treatment. Epsom salt, which is also magnesium sulfate, is used as an occasional laxative to treat constipation. It can also be administered as a bath to relax sore muscles. Thus, the modified treatment is place the arowana in a separate tank and add Epsom salt and starve the arowana for 2 to 3 days. Look for evidence of the arowana passing out excrement or regain its buoyancy. If it passes out excrement, then its likely a constipation problem. Raise the temperature and if problem is resolved after 2 or 3 days, slowly increase the amount of food before returning it to the main tank.

If the arowana passed out excrement, then the problem is likely caused by bacteria or the swim bladders have been severely damaged.

The arowana was able to pass out excrement but still remained in the same position. This indicated the SBP was not caused by indigestion or constipation

Medication was injected into the food. The name of the medication was not published but I believed it must be some controlled drugs that are not easily available

After consuming the medication, the fish recovered. There was no mention of how long the treatment took

Although we do not know what was the medicine used, I suspected it is some controlled medication which was not disclosed. This medicine was able to treat the bacteria infection affecting the swim bladder. I did a search on the internet and found that Interpet has a medication for SBP. I am not sure what this medication does but I would be glad to use it if my arowana has bacteria infected SBP.

Alternatively, I would use any medication that could treat intestinal issues and treat my arowana with SBP because I believe the SBP is bacteria related and infecting the swim bladder.

Disclaimer: we are not responsible for any effects of using the above medicine or treatment. This is merely a guide and in no way are we responsible for any death or injuries that arose from adopting the treatments.