The Asian Arowana
Said to be the world's most expensive
Fish in today's video. I want to talk about why that might be the case and
Why it's probably illegal for you to own one. I get it if they're so illegal
Why do I have three of them? Well, put it simply I'm from Canada
No, that makes no sense. So let me explain it further about 49 percent of my audience you guys that watch my videos is
American six percent watch Canadian. Why is that relevant?
Well, I've said it many times in the past that keeping Asian Arowana in the United States is illegal now
Even though so many of you watch it
I want to make sure that's the case because I'm clearly setting an example with a lot of the tanks that I have
but so many give me feedback like I was to my local fish store the other day and
I saw an Asian Arowana. It was only a hundred bucks
So let me make something abundantly clear and point out a few facts here one if that truly was an Asian Arowana one
It wouldn't cost a hundred dollars. They cost thousands of dollars in most cases
Even the ARP salute cheapest costing hundreds of dollars if your local fish store in the United States is selling Asian Arowana
Three things will happen to them one their store will be closed down for trading and endangered wildlife
They will receive a fine of up to ten thousand dollars per fish that they're selling and they will most likely do jail time
Trafficking in a dangerous species is illegal in most countries
depending on a
Few things that we're gonna get into in a minute
Anyway, second thing I'd like to point out is you probably didn't see an Asian Arowana
You probably saw one of their cousins
Maybe it was the silver Arowana or the black air one of both from South America both
similar to these guys in appearance or perhaps you've seen the jardin e which is the
closest looking
Arowana to an Asian Arowana that is legal to keep and doesn't cost as much but boy they mean anyways
There's a ton of different Arowana US the Asian Arowana is the one that you can't have in the United States unless of course
You are a zoo or a public aquarium of some sort
that is
That has the permits to keep such fish which by the way
If you ever see an Asian Arowana in a public aquarium in the United States or a zoo of some sort
Chances are that is a fish. That's probably been confiscated from illegal activities. Oh
Hey the catfish are getting so big more on them in a future video, okay, let's cut to the chase
Why can't I keep them but people in the United States mostly you guys cannot keep them
The Asian Arowana is listed as an appendix one
threatened with extinction
Basically, it's a highly endangered species. This is being listed with cities cities or CI
tes stands for
convention of international trade in endangered
species of wild fauna and flora now cities is basically an
international agreement between governments and the purpose is to ensure the international trade of
Animals and specimens does not actually threaten their survival
So essentially it's an organization that everybody agrees that these certain animals and plants and specimens are either endangered
Threatened or extinct or threatened with extinction and we need to protect them
now, of course every government in every country will have like its own little
allowances and almost like loopholes for example in the United States
You do have the United States Endangered Species Act
but if you are keeping some of these endangered species for scientific or educational purposes, I believe there and you have
specific permits to do so you can keep them but in the case of the Asian Arowana
It would have to come from a city's certified firms
but because of the Endangered Species Act of the United States the Asian Arowana is
Protected by it and you will not be able to keep one in Canada
We have wild animal and plant trade regulations. Now. You heard me say earlier as city's certified farm
There are farms in Asia that are raising
Non wild caught Asian Arowana and reproducing and producing mass numbers
Cities doesn't see this as a threat to the wild
populations
So in Canada if we can get an Asian Arowana from a cities certified firm we can have one
We just have to be able to prove it at the time were to come would do so with a simple
Certificate like this you guys have seen them on the back wall. Many of you guys asked what they are
Well, these come with a microchip number each Asian Arowana that's coming from a city certified firm has to be microchip
They do it at a young age. Sometimes they do it a little larger
But essentially they take a little microchip that looks almost like a tiny little fuse they put it in this syringe type of the device
Insert it under the set scale into the fish's flesh and if scanned it can come back to this number
proving that this correlates with the certificate proving that it is a city's certified farm and it is a
second generation
Or beyond produce through captive breeding
So no threat to the wild populations, but that is the reason why we can keep them in Canada
just the
Interpretations of laws and what's allowed to be kept and what's not I guess if you want to have one in United States just come
To Canada. There's plenty of room up here
But of course that doesn't explain why these guys are just so darn expensive and to be honest with you
It's extremely comparable to discus. You guys know discus fish used to breed them
You know that they're also pretty expensive and a lot of times they're high in demand
but why it comes down to how what it takes to breed them and the supply and demand for
example with Asian Arowana
They only lay a very small amount of eggs anywheres from you know
Say 10 to 20 every several months. We're not producing hundreds of fry here or anything along those lines
Plus they typically need to be done in massive ponds
So not only do we need a massive amount of area and they're only braiding them by small amounts
It could potentially take years till you get a breeding size imagine that type of investment it would cost you
Thousands of dollars thousands upon thousands just to get started then you have that demand supply and demand is everything isn't it?
Lots of people want it but only a little amount of it raise the prices to maximize profits essentially
But why the demand while in Asian cultures they believe the Asian Arowana is the reincarnation of the dragon brings wealth. Good luck fortune
Prosperity you name it in my opinion. They're just absolutely beautiful fish some of their colors their deep coloration
They're just a majestic swimmer their scales do look like a dragon scale just armor plating
Their pectoral fins spread out like wings by fire just the king of the aquarium just an impressive fish
I remember the first time I seen an Asian Arowana in person and I was never impressed as much as any other fish since then
It's one thing to see them on video and whatnot. I can assure you
It's an entirely different experience to see them in person. And I don't mean those beat-up things that you see in the zoo's
You're probably wondering what does an Asian Arowana?
Actually cost. Well, there's several different variations and species of the arowana. There's the green the
High-back the gold the cross back the reds and there's so many other new variations coming out and they cost accordingly in that
Scale that I just mentioned with the Reds
Costing thousands of dollars some selling for 200 and 300 thousand dollars
Whereas others can sometimes only cost one to two to three thousand dollars
But they're always when you mentioned a red arowana the word thousand is in the dollar price
Then you get into blue base cross backs cross backs
Greens green only cost a few under but it depends on the color
Variation and the species of that Asian Arowana and that will depict its cost now
I know a lot of people out there know that there was a platinum, silver Arowana
sold for like four hundred thousand dollars once you'll also have heard of a
koi
Sold for 1.8 million dollars at one point koi are definitely up there with more at world's most expensive fish
But they don't always cost that you can go to your local fish store and buy a koi for five bucks
It comes down to quality
I get it, but you can't go to your local fish store and buy an Asian Arowana for five bucks
These guys are always going to be
extremely expensive and perhaps one day when a
New tally of just how many thousands upon thousands of Asian Arowana there actually are these guys might be
No longer listed as endangered
However, there's like 300 million people in the United States almost 400 million now, why do you guys want them?
I think we would deplete pretty fast, but that's a discussion that we should have as well as should they still be?
Illegal in the United States would they still be as?
Sought after if they weren't so expensive, it seems so much attentions put on things that cost so much money
What do you guys think would an Asian Arowana still be a highly sought after fish if it didn't cost so much
Something to think about let me know in the comments section below