I came across this very interesting article which was just published a few days back. Personally I think they are still a few years yet to finding anything conclusive about understanding the breeding intricacies of asian arowanas. Anyway have a read and let me know what you think in the comments below!
Discovery of arowanas’ secrets boosts breeding
Molecular tools help uncover the breeding habits of expensive fish
by Shobana Kesava, The Straits Times Friday 3 Oct 08;
UNLIKE most of their scaly counterparts, Asian arowanas mate for life, local studies by ornamental fish farmers and scientists have found.
And when it comes to taking care of the brood, father knows best. The male carries the babies in its mouth for over six weeks before allowing them to swim free.
The secrets of the world’s most expensive ornamental fish were uncovered using molecular tools at the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) and the fish of mainboard-listed Qian Hu, during a five-year research project.
Their discoveries on breeding habits have led to a doubling in fish production.
‘In the second year alone, it was a 50 per cent increase and each year since then, its been a 20 to 30 per cent increase on the previous year’s broods,’ said lead researcher at TLL, Mr Alex Chang.
Qian Hu managing director Kenny Yap said the group produces a third, or about 10,000 of the world’s supply of this freshwater fish each year.
The studies were conducted on close to 230 adult fish which had their genetic fingerprints put under the microscope.
‘Knowing which fish have paired up could reduce breeding costs, because we can bring smaller numbers of fish together in a single small pond,’ said Mr Yap. It can also guarantee customers who pay thousands of dollars for a fry complete information on the pedigree.
Traditional breeding methods have been hit-and-miss because farmers cannot tell one sex from another, let alone which fish have formed pairs. Breeding patterns are also hard to predict.
‘Most are monogamous, with the odd few going astray or preferring complete celibacy, much like humans,’ said Mr Yap.
To achieve the most prized characteristics and increase the baby count, the next phase of the research will use ‘in-vitro’ fertilisation. This will guarantee specific characteristics are carried by lineage.
‘Within reason, we’ll be able to give the buyers what they want – bigger fins, brighter colour, favoured shape of head,’ Mr Yap said. The company is investing another $3 million over the next three years, on top of the initial sum of $1 million, to start a research centre in Sungei Tengah next year.
Mr Chang, Qian Hu’s first formal scientific scholar, will head the facility, which will have 32 ponds. Two-thirds will be for breeding while a third will be for research.
Professor Peter Ng, director of the Tropical Marine Science Institute, said findings could change the conservation landscape for this species. ‘Of the red, green and silver arowana in the wild, the red is most endangered. There is a chance it is a separate species and if this is proven through the genetic tests, more must be done to protect them.’
With Qian Hu’s expected jump in arowana production, stocks in the wild could be replenished, said Mr Chang.
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Tracing the lineage and habits
* DNA tests comparing fossils and present day arowana show the popular red and green arowana diverged from their prehistoric predecessors up to 30,000 years ago, when Kalimantan separated from the rest of its South-east Asian landmass.
* The fish lack sexual dimorphism – they look the same whether male or female. They become fertile after three years and naturally spawn up to 80 marble-size eggs once a year. In-vitro fertilisation, using cryogenically frozen sperm and eggs harvested from the mother, could see many more fish produced.
* They remain fertile for about 30 years and generally mate for life.
* Extremely protective, the father carries the brood in his mouth for 45 days till they are large enough to fend for themselves. The male fish starve during this time.
* These top predators usually eat live amphibians, fish and insects. TLL and Qian Hu intend to optimise medicines and diet for these prized pets to increase their reproduction.
* A five-month old, 15cm-long red Asian arowana, the most prized colour, can fetch sellers $2,500. The largest known 40-year-old specimens reach 1m.
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would like to know your diy filter .any pic to see and can it be connected to my sump for a 6ft tank.pls advice
thanks for the story on breeding breakthroughs. im not sure how much new info is written in the story though. i think this comes from the guys that believed the eqautors magnetic environment effected breeding.
we knew the male holds the fry, we knew they pair up and also knew they will stay in pairs for the following years, lots of species has some individuals that do not follow the norm and run around and change partners and obviously not all fish are going to find a partner. even harder when fish in the pond are already pretty much paired for life.
i think what is good that comes from this is being able to identify the pairs. but that could have been done by eyeing the pairing fish and swimming them down pipes in a pond especially designed to do so and having them pass a transponder reader. as opposed to stressing all the fish in the breeding pond. in the past it seems all fish get harrassed to extract the ones that young.
then those fish could be matched to their chip and later be taken to a pond full of pairs only, then the non paired fish can all have a better chance at finding a mate with them being now in a pond full of single fish. i think that is how they have made reproduction numbers gains but instead by using genetic marking tests.
as far as the in vitro thing is concerned, i am surprised that has not been done before. we will see how they go inducing the females to spawn, i guess they first thoguht this too hard to try with some beleif that egg development reaches the final stages in the presence of a desirable mate only. the male milt will now be stored for later use so this means that one prize male could be used many times over and real control over genetics can now be implemented.
this will allow greater leaps in breeding outcomes, and could be replicated. when is someone going to do a thorough water quality test from a breeding farm and comparing that to which species do well in an area????? as opposed to simply saying it is the mud type and the magnetism..
thanks for the informatoin. keep up the good work. more power to you
Thanx bro for the info.
thx for ur interesting article…btw also gain more info & knowledge abt aro breeding breakthrough…
keep in touch…steven
Thanks Steven for the info on breeding on a commercial basis. At least we do know the genes of the young ones instead of relying on heresay. Thanks again
thanks steven, for the info. hope malaysian farm can do the same step.
Melvin,
I custom made my tank with the overflow tank. So it is not diy.
Steven
Arowboy,
Good analysis. You seem to know quite abit about this. Thanks for sharing..
Steven
thanks for you info.i hope you will give me more info about arowana.thank again.
well really good news to keep the dragon alive n avoid extinction… so they can reproduce an arowana to our liking? even the shape of the head to be infact…
this is like cloning is it? well all this is gonna make the industry thrive and produce good quality fish… but also keep in mind that these fish are going to be expensive…
thnx for the info steven!! cheers!
Sabri,
In my humble opinion, I think it will be awhile more before we can produce ‘quality’ arowanas.
To be frank, I do not find anything really ‘ground-breaking’ in the article. I think more work will need to be done before we truly see something unique.
Steven
interesting artical, thx, but still lot more to be done, hope to find out more in future, keep ur good work, surely u r the man.
Hi Steven,
It’s great to know that alternative methods are being considered in breeding asia arowanas, more productively as well as produsing high quality offspring.
I was wondering, weather “Trout, Salmon and Tinfoil barb” breeding methods have been applied for breeding of Asian arowana. Which is to artificially stimulate breeding behaviour in the mail and female by hormonal treatment, which in turn develops eggs in females and Sperm in males which are arificially extracted (by expert extractors with no harm done to the parent fish) and fertilised in controlled environments.
This method has proven to be very productive as well as choosing the best parent fish for the job hence producing the most Healthy, colourful and best body shapes in terms of offspring quality.
This method also eleminates in-breeding, need for Large breeding ponds and infra structure, waiting for natural pairing of parent fish, reduced Fry fetality as well as the whole jargon of the times taking and rare mating habits of the parent fish.
Having said all that,I know that although in theory it all seems fine, im sure there is much more to it. But neverthe less, it seems to be a sound theory which I think, should be seriouly considered if it is possible.
Has it already been implemented? Can this method be applied to Asian arowana? Would like to know if so.
Regards
Zafi
Zafi,
Good observation but I guess no one knows for sure if it will work. Anyway time will tell.
Steven
Dear Sir,
I read from some articles that the male arowana can be identified physically as follows:-
The two Barbels of arowana extend from the lower lip and in the male these extend above the upper jaw.
Please confirm, In the case of male the Barbels starts from upper jaw, or it starts from lower lip and extends above upper jaw.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Maheendra,
Don’t think you can tell like that.
Steven
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