Arowana Blogger

New Financial Program for hobbyists/investors

2008-03-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

This is my own adapted version of proxy farming (an overused term).
Bascially my aim is to develop a win-win situation for all parties. It does not matter if you are a hobbyist or an investor who is looking for alternative financial model to achieve higher returns. It is the same like dabbling in stocks (calculated risk based on opportunity).

I am still developing the contents for this model.
Interested party in Singapore (outside Singapore, you can join also but you need to be clear with the terms before participating). I rather have a happy customer than a frustrated one.

Meantime, for those who are keen to find out more, please contact me at 65-93688626 or sales@arowanaasia.com for a discussion and I am most happy to share my passion in this hobby as well as business venture with you.

Hope to hear from you. Cheers.

Back In Action

2008-03-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

Haven't been blogging on arowana. However, I am still playing arowana. In fact, I am hoping for a great year 2008.
Recently the darn weather is driving us nuts. Last week coldest is 21 degrees.
Was quite concerned with the water condition in ponds. Touch wood.
It has been quite a journey with arowana for me.
Do watch out for this space. Many upcoming interesting articles to appear.

I am back

2007-11-24T06:26:00.000-08:00

Back in action after sometime. Workload is heavy, hence haven't been blogging.
Return of the arowanas finally.
Been visiting my arowanas weekly. They are doing real fine and have been doing gardening too to improve the living conditions.
By another one year, all of them will become huge monsters already.
My pocket also injured by them already....the way they eat. hmmm, more prawns than any human being I believe.
Ever heard a man injured by a huge arowana during harvesting. Well, my dear friend just got injured as the brooder hits him on the eye. Luckily, it is near the eyelid. If the eyeball, that's it.

No More Boring Arowana Pictures

2007-09-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Who says arowana keeping after a while becomes stale?
Perhaps you have not seen it all. Neither have I.
In fact, I always want to travel around Asia to look for arowanas in all places (as long as there are great arowanas).
If you do know of such place, please remember to email me at arowanaasia8@hotmail.com
Apart from girls who we look, here are the healthy pictures for all of us.

If you want more exciting articles, please visit regularly my blog site. It will motivate me to contribute more.
Less clubbing/drinking and more blogging.

More Pictures Xposed (Don't be too excited)

2007-09-27T23:51:00.000-07:00

Here they come. The rest of the interesting pictures can be found at http://www.arowanaasia.com/index.php?categoryid=3

Just Good Pictures Only

2007-09-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

Today a little tired. So no mood to talk, just show good solid pictures that were never shown before.

Here comes the babes.

More Actions than Talk

2007-09-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots taken very recently. The tanks are clear tanks, hence pictures may be a little blurred.

There is this crossback taken in a bag. In the pond for quite sometime and yet when took out, gold lines still remain. Maybe when purchase, it was a gold head. This I did not ask. But anything when submit to the acid test will know what is the actual quality of the crossback. And this crossback is supposely the KING KONG crossback (don't ask me how I know - the certificate says so). But I am quite 'sua-gu' type....king kong crossback - don't play play. To me, I don't really care if king kong or gorzilla or spiderman (as long as it is a great quality arowana, that is all I care). Though I still dream of my own brand Marlboro Red ;-)

The pictures are intentionally layout in unconventional way....We always follow process. For once, let's break out. The reds are supposely from a famous local farm, but when I look at the standard, think mine is better. But the reds shown above are for now thin framed, but well that may change as some of the experts here will know. The small crossback shown I think is from XL and looks like a shortbody to me. When pointed to the brother who bought it, he was like 'ya, seems like it'. Maybe when he purchased, he did not even realize it is a Shortbody. But guess as long as he likes, who cares. This batch of small crossbacks have very deep blue sheen. Even from the above picture, we should be able to tell too.

More pictures will continue to be coming out (btw: I am just an amateur photographer who just shoots hor. Please don't hiam my photography skills, else you will be volunteered to ask to take pictures for free).

Looking deep into my pond - still can't see light....basket, all don't relax there. Please action too. Thanks.

Pictures Expose

2007-09-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

Finally something more interesting I hope for all of you.
Been writing quite a fair bit, so nothing beats a picture than a thousand words.
Due to some activated exercise today, above are some pictures of mine to share.

I must say I am darn proud of my reds. Above pictures are taken with zero modication, just the good digital camera and plenty of hot sun.

Return of the Superworms

2007-09-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

Having stopped superworms for sometime, today bought 1kg to feed my house arowanas.
My third prize award winning young red then at Qianhu competition suddenly jumped to life on seeing superworms. I remember his favourite food is superworm. Just that I have not been buying as a bit smelly and hard to keep compared to other diet. But seeing so happy to be fed superworm, I then began to pump the bugger. Think today he ate 20 superworms at one feeding. Basket, feed market prawn also not so excited. As if see a 'chio bu'/pretty woman.

The faved red also likes superworms a lot and also ate all 20 superworms.
And my crossback community of 4 arowanas only happy because it is the first time as a community that they ate superworms. Just whacked till nothing left.

As for the small expensive but solid crossback of 5 inch, finally ate 3 of the skin shredded superworms (or white superworms). Ate all up. Easier to digest. Don't try those unshredded superworms. you can try at your own risk for small arowanas as explained in one of my previous blog.

On my way to farm

2007-09-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

Was driving to my farm to avoid the noon jam. Saw two white figures there. Guess what - our favourite traffic policemen were there 'filming'. Come on - the road is pretty straight and for a moment, I was watching out for signboard for speed limit and cannot see even. Sometimes I don't understand what we are trying to prove here. There is only one way into the farm road and even this road needs to be monitored intentionally. Not as if the trucks and cars are going to race into the farms. However most of us are rushing for time - be it delivered our goods or to feed the fish. Can't we exercise some flexibility and discretion here? Shan't debate on this topic - never ends.

I ever encountered a parking warden asking me to park the car in the right direction of the road and it was a parallel park in a small lane. Does it really matter to face front or back? I did ask her and she said yes. How on earth can Singapore become more entrepreneur if we all think like that? I did not further debate with her in case my blood boiled.

Sorry, though this post got nothing much to do with my arowanas. It frustrated me. Go to fish farm also has its own set of frustrations - quite crap heh.

Progress of the Acquired Crossback

2007-09-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

It is doing fine, except can be better. Due to the tank location, it is a bit scared because my maid opens and closes the concealed store room. The arowana swims to avoid upon seeing the shadow. Better train it to become a commando arowana.
So far so good in terms of colour. Because I subject it to blue tank treatment, I am afraid that it will lose its standard but up to now (though too early to say), so far so good and touch wood.
Still feeding on small froggies and small catfishes. Safest bet in my opinion. Anything but not superworm when young. Unless the superworm sheds the skin. Because superworm is harder to digest in my opinion and small arowanas may have problem digesting the superworm. My crossback is about 5" inches only. So I will not take the risk. Well, I said the above based on experience and obviously darn costly experience.

My Raved Red

2007-09-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

Been neglecting this piece. It fully recovered from a little fungus infection last month and now it is back to its good old self. Swimming left to right in the 5 feet tank and responding very well. Its favourite food is small frogs and live prawns. Market prawn - unless you starve it. Superworm for sure it eats but have not been feeding because superworm tends to be smelly after a few days. I am too lazy to keep taking out dead superworms etc. So stick to my regular supply of live prawns and small frogs. They will do the job.

Diet

2007-09-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

I have been feeding all sorts of food to my pond that you can imagine (no beef though). The monthly expense for feeding this pond is bull frog, prawns and hmmm....pork.
Used to buy a whole carton of prawns, realized not too good also because the freezer is not strong enough to handle large volume of prawns to last for one month. In the end, I gave up and revert to buying for every two weeks.
And per feed, throw in 100 bullfrogs and all can be gone within 10 minutes (at maximum). Sometimes you just take your time to feed, so as to maximise your enjoyment (basket... ...something like bowling....pouring money into the drain....in this case...pond). Sometimes makes me wonder if I am smart or dumb. But what the heck - just enjoy my hobby and pray lor. There is a deity next to the pond. Though I am not a believer of any sort, what the heck...just pray lor...maybe he/she can do magic to my pond. Well, when that day comes, watch out for my blog. Sure headlines.
Think the petrol money and time plus fishes make it a darn heavy investment. So this darn arowana investment better reap returns far better than the stupid technology fund which is not far from the darn $1 per share. Really crap fund. Too bad if you are the fund manager of this fund (if good, i say. if crap, I will also say). Let's not talk about which bank (see the fund, 'sian'/bored already).

Harvesting

2007-09-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

Today I manage to witness by chance a harvesting of 15 beautiful arowana fries from an adult crossback. The fries are healthy and doing real well.

One of my reds did not end up well as it was fighting (stupid bugger). A fierce fighter is not necessarily the smartest. Must know when to run. Anyway, end up dissecting the bugger. What a day! These days, I am numb, just like how the stock price moves up and down. No more heart attack and emotionless.

In life, there are always risks and this is definitely one of them. Who ever tells you that it is easy. Unless you try it on your own, you will understand what I mean. Definitely heart pain but what to do, life goes on and we learnt from real expensive lessons.

My Superb small crossback

2007-09-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

It is eating real well and yesterday it ate 5 small frogs.
However did one adjustment (bring down the powerhead). Currently two powerheads in tank. Current is too strong for the bugger.
Once bring down the powerhead, it is easily swimming already. Real cute chap/lady. Can't tell for now.
It is quite a joy keeping this piece.
When wake up, will check on him/her to see if it is doing fine.
When free soon, will update the pictures of it. Maybe should also change the lighting. Just using a warm light on top of the tank currently.
Hmmm....next test....see if it has a good appetite. I love good appetite arowana.
I have one arowana that I am keeping (saw the brooder of that piece by the way....huge papa crossback) that has solid appetite (always the first to whack food) and this morning took a big bull frog despite just a 10 inch bugger. BTW it grows from say 8 inch to 10 inch in less than 2 months under my care and it looks like trying to replace the alpha crossback in the community. Basket, the alpha crossback better wakes up its idea - a bit more fussy on food....sigh....just like superworm only. Give bullfrog like give plain rice like that....better send the crossback to ethopia to wake up its idea.

Why Man Likes Fish

2007-09-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

In case they are female readers here, well I just say it as it is. It is better for man to like fish than to like woman. Some men spend money on women, some on drinks, some on dogs, some on technie stuff, some on fish like me and some on god knows what.
Women in general likes shopping right or buying nice things.
The logic is the same.
There are a bunch of us who are into arowana keeping or trying to breed. In fact, I have known of collectors of over 50 pieces arowanas in total. Don't guess me how many I keep (also consider a lot). Just in case, she read my blogs too ;-)
At least at minimum, the arowana can grow bigger in size compared to the ungrowing diamond ring. Having said that to be fair to woman, a diamond ring can be used to walk around. Your arowana cannot go for a walk right hahah...well, I just find some excuse on why I am keeping arowana right?

Today Acquisition of little dragon

2007-09-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

Quite excited to pick up this bugger.
Yesterday see, reserved and today picked up.
Better be safe than sorry, nice don't waste time, pick and go. Before the seller changes his mind. Or in case another joker offers him a better price than mine.

This piece is most 95% cross fully, which is what it amazes me.
And guess what, it is now in blue tank. Personally I don't really believe in white tank treatment. Yes in initial stage, may have to go white tank to fasten the process but as it goes along, I prefer blue. Black is too black and may impede the development. Blue is somewhere in the middle I guess and so far, good gene crossback will develop on its own and I am not too concerned about it.

Sighted

2007-09-15T03:11:00.000-07:00

solid crossback by chnace today. Really unintentional and I was amazed with this piece. By the way, I am seldom amaze as I have seen many too. But this piece is really different.
So I just negotiated and bought. Tomorrow I will be bringing this back home and groom it.
Watch out for this bugger. I am pretty sure it will be hell of a piece. Else why I buy within 10 seconds.

Nature Preservation

2007-09-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

As Singapore grows and land as usual being scarce, I hope that farm space is always retained. The greenery contributed by the environment is so refreshing and I don't think you can get a freshier air anywhere else in Singapore.
A comment I have heard from an experienced old timer farmer is that the land is lousy (he is referring to the sand) and I am not surprised. When the soil is dug and you look at it, there is so much debris and stones. Obviously such land quality cannot contribute to the success of breeding right?
Of course, there are those who can afford and just pay to overcome this but how many people can afford to do that?
It has always been my dream to own a plot of land and perhaps keep arowanas in the ponds. However, in order to make it sustainable, there is be something else. What this is - well, I cannot possibly put on the web right though it may make my site more attractive. If you want to know, engage me as your consultant and I will tell you.
Anyway the dream comes about so that when I wake up in morning, I am surrounded by ponds and when I am free, I just throw some live food for my dear arowanas to eat and see them splashed. Wah, what a dream.
But hopefully I am working towards it. That is my passsion.

Types of Arowana

2007-09-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Golden head was the craze for a while. Formerly was golden lines.
Personally all this is marketing. Must admit that the arowanas should be of good parentage in order to achieve this (assuming there is no artificial mean).
Having said that, if one looks closely at all these so called golden head arowanas, most of the time the arowanas look like bleached white - so you say if they are good or not. I leave to the judgement to yourself - you can make your own call on this. No right or wrong.
As for chilli red or blood red, you think the farm is so free to segregate or even know which is which. I doubt so. At least the farm does so right from the beginning. To me, as long as it turns out into good reds, who cares if it is chilli or blood red (if weak in colour, I cannot even be bothered with the grade).

Why I create a universal arowana forum

2007-09-13T18:00:00.001-07:00

It is natural that each region just focuses on its own audience. Not just for arowana keeping but also sports, hobbies etc.
However each region is only that big per say and after a while, things may get stale (depending on how active the group is).
I feel that in this transnational world where the world is 'borderless' and information is free flowing, there is a global marketplace even for arowana hobby and keeping. Hence inspires me to add more value onto my own portal http://www.arowanaasia.com/

In the end, what results is my dreamt forum (from structural perspective). If there are some bugs here and there, please forgive as it is launched just yesterday and I was struggling with it for two days.
http://arowanaasia.s10.forumsplace.com/index.php

Hope this forum will rock and attract much attention from all arowana hobbyists around the world, regardless of place, language or religion. As long as you like arowana, you are in and we count you as one of us. So what do you say and what the fish you are waiting for - come and join us.

No more saliva already. Please join. Cheers.

Arowana Discussion

2007-09-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

After a while, the discussions normally get bored and some questions are quite simple.
Hobbyists will need to increase their skillsets and start doing experimenting.
In fact, I have seen a few people experimenting with pairing one male and female adult arowanas in hope to breed via tank or small pond. Though I have yet to seen a successful pair by myself (let's not talk about through You-Tube), at least people are bold enough to take a step forward and who knows, it may work with the help of the one above I guess.
For me, I am not required to do solo pairing, but rather 'jumbo mixing'. Unless they are all of the same sex, cannot see a reason why it does not or should not work. With a bit of secret receipe, it will have to work. Else I will become stupid to waste my time and effort on something that produces no result. May as well go shopping and buy a nice looking watch. Hmmm, I am still eyeing the F1 fierce looking watch.

Pond Settings

2007-09-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

Challenges we face in Singapore pond are:
- water is not clear enough
- greenie water condition than the Indonesian brownish/blackish water
- environment is not as natural

Maybe it is also because our fishes are not old enough. Having said that, I have seen arowanas that are old and yet not even an egg. Makes me wonder if the arowanas' inclination is towards the same sex.

Well I am also experimenting on my own pond and makes it as natural as possible. Also to pump them up to grow them into healthy big fishes. And hopefully by then, they can start production soon. Now my raw materials expenditure seems high and no output.

Having complain all this, maybe it is time to re-examine the pond and get the above moving instead of the darn complaining and no actions.

Was wondering

2007-09-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

how to make the arowana portal more exciting and interesting? I have been cracking my head for some months already and still figuring. The aim is to spread the joy of this arowana keeping around the world. I have been keeping arowanas for more than 5 years and still truly enjoy the hobby. So much so that I actually started a business for it.