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Beginner's Guide To Buying And Keeping Aisan Arowana (Dragon Fish) As A Hobby

SOME PRACTISES BY BREEDERS AND TRADERS TO ENHANCE THE COLOR OF DRAGON FISH:

The high price and the lack of knowledge in hobbyist to identify genuine Dragon Fish have led many unethical breeders and traders into devising ways and methods to reap a huge profit by making the Dragon Fish look attractive and irresisitble temporarily.

i) Use Of Color Hormones: This method can only be used on the young fishes of size 4-7 inches as the adult fish has thicker scale which prevents the color of the flesh to be seen. Most comonly, the Yellow Tail is fed with the red colour hormones and sold as genuine grade Red Dragon Fish.

ii) Use Of Chemical Color Enhancers: This method subjects the Dragon Fish external scale and fins to a color solution that will provide a temporary color coating. This form of treatment gives the Dragon Fish scale a very well color balance and attractive. However, the color will fade gradually over the period of 4-6 months. This misled namy hobbyists into thinking that they have not practicing good Dragon Fish keeping skill and result into poor color exhibition of the Dragon Fish.

iii) Exposing Dragon Fish To SunLight: This method works well with the Red and the Yellow Tail. When expose to sunlight, the Dragon Fish color will be darken as its color pigment is enhanced. With intense colorisation, they are considered as premium quality and sold at the prenium price. However, when this same fish is transferred to indoor tank and without exposing to sunlight, its color will fade gradually.

iv) Starving The Dragon Fish: This method provides just sufficient amount of food for the fish to survive. It stunts the physical growth in order to achieve deeper and much intense colorisation compare to other normal growth Dragon Fish. Many hobbyists gauge the age of the Dragon Fish by its size as there are no other obvious signs. This menthod is misled hobbyist into believing that the stunted fish is of exceptional quality since it exhibit deeper and intense color even though it is young. These Dragon Fishes usually have awkward appearances such as large eyes with disproprotionate body shape resulting in poor swimming style.

v) Blinding Eyes Of The Dragon Fish On Purpose: This is the latest and most cruel method used recently. Blind Dragon Fish sees only total darkness resulting in the exhibition of dark and intense body color. Inexperienced hobbyist will not be able to notice the blinded eyes.

vi) Selling Croosbreed Dragon Fish At The Price Of Genuine Grade Fish: These crossbreed young fishes look very much the same as the genuine grade fish. Infact, it is almost impossible to an expert to tell the difference between the both unless one knows the true bloodline of fishes. Some examples are Croosback/Green and Crossback/RTG sold as Crossback. These crossbreed Dragon Fish do not exhibit good colorisation when reach adulthood.

The above-mentioned unethical practices are in one way or another cruel and harmful to the Dragon Fish. To effectively "bring out" the full color potential of the fish without harming the fish, natural food such as krill and prawn, which are rich in exthaxiatine and carotene, are recommended.

THINGS TO DO WHEN DRAGON FISH IS FIRST BROUGHT HOME:

Many first time Dragon Fish hobbyist has the fright of their life when the fish die on them, minutes or hours after they are introduced to the new tank at home. Dragon Fish is considered to be a hardy fish but when subject to sudden changes of water condition, it can be fatal. Apart from acquiring the healthy fishes from reputable quarium shop or farm, hobbyist should also take additional measures as follows:

i) Prepare tank with well-aerated over-night water: This allows the dissipation of chlorine which is harmful to the fish when in excess amount, into the air. Should there be any time constraint in the tank set-up, anti-chlorine solution is available conmerically and can be found in most aquarium shop.

ii) To maintain a low level of water wich is sufficenet for the Dragon Fish to swim freely: When transported, fish are usually stressed and result in low immunity system. Low water level prevents the fish from exerting itself and help the fish to rest.

iii) Do not use strong filtration system with cause water to be turbulence. Allow the fish to rest.

iv) Use a water heater set at 30*C. This is to maintain a constant water tempoerature and to kill bacteria wich could not tolerated that temperature range. Any frequent temperature fluctualtion will further subject the fish to stress and can be fatal. Gill curling is often the result of this condition.

v) Very low aeration to maintain constant water temperature: Though with water heater in placed, high aeration will introduce external air temperature into the water and cause the work of water heater to be ineffective. This should be observed especially when the tank is located in an air-conditioned environment and in cold climate country.

vi) Do not introduce the Dragon Fish into the tank immediately: Place the bag containing the fish into the tank and allow heat transfer to take place to achieve a same temperature between the water in the bag and the water in the tank. Release the fish into the tank after 15 to 20 minutes.

vii) Feeding of food should be done 2-3 days after the Dragon Fish has been introduced to the new tank, when the fish has adaped to the new environment: The fish is stressed when transported and introduced into a new water condition. The fish will experience poor digestion. Early feeding will further tress the fish and lower the immunity system. Also the uneaten food will foul the water and promote the multiplication of bacteria.

viii) Overfeeding of food should be avoided: One per day will be sufficient. when the fish health is in stable condition after a few weeks, the feeding frequency can be increased to twice per day. Any uneaten food should be scooped out to prevent the fouling of water.

ix) Frequent water change in modrate amunt is recommended: 10 to 20 percent water change each time. Any greater amount will subject the fish to shock resulting in stress that can be fatal.

Special thanks to Mr. Nicolas Chia Poh Siong of Dream Fish Incorporated Singapore Pte Ltd. And Mr. Kan Tien Siong (Panda Aquatic Centre Pte Ltd.Owner) for providing this informations to arowanas hobby.

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