Asian Arowanas Breeding Venture - Know The Risk

In recent times, we see that many more individuals have expressed interest in wanting to go into the arowana breeding business. Here we mean the asian arowanas specifically, especially the gold (or cross backs), red and red tail golden (or RTGs) as they are the ones that fetch the highest prices in the market. There is a saying that as long as there are Asians (especially the Chinese), there will always be demands for this magnificient fish. This rise/surge in demand is more pronounced now with the rising affluence of the middle class families in China in recent times.

The asian arowana's resemblance to the mythical dragon has made them a much sort after 'feng shui' fish. They are considered a 'good luck' fish and many people swear by this! Many feng shui masters have considered them to be one of the three 'lucky' fishes, the other two being goldfish and koi. There was a 'fourth' one which is the flowerhorn or 'Luo Han' but I think this is passe now and has not really stood the test of time.

The prices of these magnificient asian arowanas (red, gold and RTGs) has also been consistently high because they are difficult to breed. As of today, only Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have successfully bred them commercially. No other country has been able to breed them thus far which makes asian arowanas always in short supply in the market. Some have tried breeding them in tanks but the success rates here are just too low to speak off and is therefore not commercially viable.

Because of the high profit potential stated above, many more parties are becoming interested in investing in arowana breeding projects. However before you do take the plunge, please weight the pros and cons first as there are inherent risk involved.

1) The barrier to entry can be quite steep because of the high initial investments needed. For this business to be viable, you will need many ponds with a minimum of 20-40 adult asian arowanas in them to breed as not all ponds will be productive from the start unless you already have some producing ones. With each adult arowana being between $5,000 to $10,000 each, you do the math. Bear in mind that these cost does not include the investment you have put up to build the farm!

2) Even if you have completed the farm and populated all the ponds with your adult arowanas, this does not mean that you can sit down and relax because you need an experienced individual to run the farm for you. This person must have the intuition and experience to be able to spot pairing arowanas that are carrying fry in their mouth (Only the male carries fry in their mouth) and know when best to harvest those fry. You will miss a lot of potential arowana fry if you don't have such a person helping. Bear in mind that even the professional breeders do not get it right all the time, let alone amateurs like us!

3) I want to repeat the following facts again. Asian arowanas has only been successfully bred commercially in three countries so far, namely Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. If you are contemplating investing in a breeding farm in some other country, please be very sure this is what you want to try. The climate and soil might be similar in some other countries but obviously they are not the same. Asian arowanas will only breed in the 'optimal' mix of climate, soil and water in the mud ponds. However, does this mean that it will never be able to breed elsewhere? No one knows! In this day and age, never say never but just know the risks you are taking.