Interview/Chat log with Mr Derrick Goh

**Alvin Koh** · 30-06-2009, 04:42 PM

Q: randchai : Rank the following in order of most important to least important when trying to groom a juvenile aro to champion adult : 1. Genes 2. Water (pH etc) 3. Food 4. Background 5. Environment (tank, or mud pond or FGT)
PANG LONG: Genes, Environment (tank, or mud pond or FGT), Background, Water (pH etc) and Food

Q: jwhtan: If u got a batch of arowanas that cannot make it by your own standards, will you still sell them? Would appreciate a bit more elaboration like why it is in certain order or what u would do to the aros if u dun sell them.
PANG LONG: This a question which alot of farmers dare not answer. But today i will answer as a yes. I will sell them according to the arowanas development instead of my standards.As a farmer u must sell everything . Good one good price not good one not good price

Q: laodie: if you got harvest that dun look exactly or close to any breed(eg rtg, xback, red), how do you tag them?
PANG LONG: Ok . Laodie, All brooders are register with AVA as Gold or Red. So we can only tag them under tis two category. We do not mix breeding now. Of course. We will state accordingly at the certificate and price will match what you buy.

Q: kklow: What is your opinon of the $600+ SR that are currently in the market? You pay peanuts you get monkeys or oversupply?
PANG LONG: D24 . These are good reds too. There is no over supply or, "pay peanuts get monkey". The $600+ reds are sold as breeders do not want to keep too many grooming arowanas in hand . We are only able to groom some and sell some. These are smaller reds most of the time.

Q: fireman: Is Fa Fu Long actually an aro that is deformed or a product of selective breeding?
PANG LONG: Fa fu long is god creation. Some call it deform some call it special . I call it good creation as i can sell it higher price.

Q: lincolngoh: What standard will a goldie have to reach before you sell it as a XB?
PANG LONG: First it must be a production from XB brooders first . Then you groom them and see the development of the shine and pearlies before I sell. To me minimum 5th level shine and some pearlies shine.

Q: figo : which country buy the most aro, and what the most popular species?
PANG LONG: Now China number 1. Reds are hot favorites follow by Vietnam and Malaysia on XB (Crossbacks).

Q: Aro1: do your farm buy aros from other countries' farms and tag them under your own?
PANG LONG: We cannot buy from other countries n tag them under our own. They must be taged b4 selling.N yes i do import aro from other countries.

Q: Aro1: Is it true that gill curl aro cannot breed?
PANG LONG: Not really. Some aros get curl after in pond for awhile.

Q: lincolngoh: After losing their pearls in fights, what is the chances of XB's pearls recovering? Any difference in recovery rate between blue and gold based?
PANG LONG: New pearlies will grow . No differences in blue or gold based but good water n lights will help speed up te recovery.

Q: fireman: What is the cause of "Sotong Barbel". What is the best treatment?
PANG LONG: fireman. sotong barbel is cause by water condition n too much rubbing against te glass. Salt n prevention from rubbing.

Q: rosle atin: is it true that blue base xb cross slower than say gold base ones? and blue base aro glod is more 'solid' than gold base ones alos blue base aro is smaller thn compare to gold base ones.
PANG LONG: rosle . Blue or gold base all solid and yes, blue base cross slower and no, they are same in terms of size.

Q: dermarko : Do they provide pond, either concrete or mud pond for hobbyists to house their aros? If yes, what are the charges and conditions?
PANG LONG: dermarko. Sorry i do not provide tis service.

Q: yonlada: In this present market situation, any plans to lower the aros' prices to make it more afforable to everyone? Or prefer to throw them back to pond for them to grow bigger and fetch higher price?
PANG LONG: Farms depend on selling aro to survive. Present market situation , my farms are selling 500pcs a month . We will sell te right price according to development of aro .

Q: zon: What they do with defective aro?
PANG LONG: I will keep the defective aro in the reservior and let them grow there. somrtime, there are customers who wanted such aro, i will sell them at a special price

Q: Mr.XP: from your response in the aro quality that your farm would release into the market, there doesn't seem to be any benchmark. Wouldn't you be concerned that those fish with lower quality might affect the reputation of your farm?
PANG LONG: XP. Lower quality I certify them as lower quality grade and good ones as good grade. Now aday farmers r more careful in grading.

Q: Schmike: Is there such a thing as a true 4th level classic RTG anymore? in recent years we see many with 5th level and some even with 6th level shine n pearlies in RTGs that is more like xb standard
PANG LONG: There is still the 4th level classic RTG. But with more strict grading from farmers now, there is 5th or 6th level shine Rtgs which are from XB brooders which the standard did not meet their standard they sell them as Highback RTG.

Q: jason1202: For adult farm aros, does the diet only depend on pellets? Is it hard to pellet train?
PANG LONG: jason1202. No we feed them with variety and no, it is easy to train them to take pellets.

Q: rosle atin: How do you rate xb and red harvest here in Singapore in term of productivity
PANG LONG: rosle. The gold produce better in Singapore. 10 to 1 I would rate them.

Q: zon: By AlvinLeong: There is an experience breeder ever said this " let the aro get used to the tank water, no WC, let it grow naturally, no extra lighting required" But here, we are doing WC weekly or some even daily, special tanning light, special food, special this and that.... What are your comments on this?
PANG LONG: Alvin. Do u think aro nowaday looks nicer or last time. Yes to keep aro alive you can follow the old methods but to keep the aro to develop to its full potential, you must be hard working.

Q: jason1202: For your variety diet, does it include pallets? wat abt live feeders?
PANG LONG: Yes, pellets and live feeders.

Q: mihatah: Always wonder, what do breeders do with defective aros? Besides FFL (Fa Fu Long)... and what do breeders do with the tags and certs of aros that passed away
PANG LONG: Sorry mihatah I cannot answer for all breeders but to me aro give me bread n butter . I will try my best to keep all my aros alive . Dead aros are to be reported to AVA and tag and certs will to be destroy by them.

Q: lukeber: Why is there limited breeding of TY (Tong Yan) now? Some farms do not even carry TY anymore
PANG LONG: I think alot of TY do not turn out well when adults. So to protect the reputation of the farms, alot of then stop the crossbreeding.

Q: master chief : Will there be anymore 'fancy names' coming up..to entice hobbyists?(Now the trend) Till when does the grading stops(A+/AA++ n so on)? The risks of proxy farming(how many %)?
PANG LONG: Master, fancy name will never stop as more farms r coming up everyone give their aro a name. Proxy farming no risk as long as te farms control te standard well.

Q: lavend3r9: What do you recommend to feed juvenile arowana 6" ? would you recommend SW ?
PANG LONG: lavend3r9 everything also good as long as u do not overfeed on 1 diet.

Q: bui kia: is wtt a must for xback?how come most of the farm are doing it,many years ago where got such wtt.
PANG LONG: wtt is a must nowaday. Many years ago also do not have such nice young xb. It is a environment gold species like to develop full potential.

Q: lavend3r9: Why WTT ? what is the REAL advantages of WTT ? how to achieved WTT and at what age/size should we stop WTT?
PANG LONG: Clear environment helps te shine to develop higher n faster. U can wtt all te way if u like.

Q: Nomis:
1) How often they do water change and how much?
2) Wat's their pond water PH/KH reading
3) Feeding frequency and type of food
4) Success rate of their incubation tank (% of survival)
5) Wat's their incubation tank water type? overnite or pond water with ++

PANG LONG:
1) It depends . No standard depend on how well u know ur aro n environmet.
2) pH around 6.8 to 7.5 and KH less than 1.
3) Everyday - prawns, frogs, goldfish & pork.
4) If fully fertilze 95%.
5) To me overnite.

Q: joestoys: what is doppy eyes?
PANG LONG: Droppy eyes is where the eyes of the aro look downwards and no, it is not a disease.

Q: Trend: Is there a limit in reproduction in each farm. Need is lesser than production now as i can see. Excessive will cos the price to drop further.
PANG LONG: We want more cause not enough to sell.

Q: Nomis: So TY X XB still selling as XBs or ???? Red X RTG selling = ??? XB X XB but no pearly or 5th level at 6" selling as HB or wat??? XB X Red selling as red or Xb or TY (some farm dont carry TY brand)? Green X XBs = ???? Some hobbyist may also like to know.
PANG LONG: As long as buyer see n can tell it is a juv crossback than we can grade them as xb.

Q: Nomis: Are they willing to exchange arowanas that doesn't look like what is stated on cert. Eg. Red with XB cert, RTG with full pearl and 6th level crossing, XB that look RED etc.... Confused .....seeen sooooo many in market!
PANG LONG: It depends on individual farms. But crossbreeding is not the in thing now. We can only grade them green, gold or red according to rules.

Q: zon: Any way to encourage XBs (Crossbacks) crossing faster and more GOLD ,Reds to turn redder. Or some believe being patient with their aros and time will tell ....
PANG LONG: As mention environment helps.

Q: lohlouis: Besides mud pond and cement pond ... Did farmers successfully breed aros in FGT before?
PANG LONG: I never but i heard some master did it b4.

Q: jackietan : what is the best way to differentiate/identify male and female aros by their features, other than waiting for the aros mouth pouch balloon?
PANG LONG: Female also hold eggs. Tough one

Q: jackietan : What is the percentage of male and female aros breed from every birth?
PANG LONG: Sorry bro too young to tell. But i think more males.

Q: jackietan : Is male aros hostile only towards male aros and not the opposite sex?
PANG LONG: No lah they see human also hostile.

Q: CrazyFish: Is there any way to overcome or prevent DE ? See lots of bros facing this problem with their aros.
PANG LONG: I think difficult bcos all keep in tanks with alot of reflection

Q: bichon: What is the temp you maintain for the incubation tank?
PANG LONG: 28 DegC.

Q: CullTail: With the current drastic drop in prices of arowanas, what measures have you taken to cope with it?
PANG LONG: Groom all my aros nicer n sell higher. Ppl only pay high price for good things.

Q: buikia: Do you release your defective or not up to standard arowanas to the market? Do you market them as defective?
PANG LONG: Yes, we mark them as defective.

Chat Moderator (D24): Thank you Mr Derrick Goh for your time and for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. To all who participated, we hope you have acquired new knowledge and will continue to enjoy aro keeping.

01-07-2009, 01:08 AM

A nice conversation!Thnaks for sharing.

rtgaroaro · 01-07-2009, 12:01 PM

thanks for sharing, learnt alot from here. Cheers! May all prosperous and stay healthy!

01-07-2009, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Q: master chief : Will there be anymore 'fancy names' coming up..to entice hobbyists?(Now the trend) Till when does the grading stops(A+/AA++ n so on)? The risks of proxy farming(how many %)?
PANG LONG: Master, fancy name will never stop as more farms r coming up everyone give their aro a name. Proxy farming no risk as long as te farms control te standard well.

thanks derrick aka pang long for answering my question....and also to the rest of the question...cheers!

mihatah · 01-07-2009, 10:03 PM

really clear up some doubts we had... great job to all involved...
special tks to Mr Alvin Koh for pasting this out..

cucumber · 09-07-2009, 03:24 PM

So will the rest of the question that we posted be answered or not? I tot D24 say all questions will be answered...

09-07-2009, 06:39 PM

Sorry, I got lost in the abbreviations. What is 'WTT' please?

Thanks.

KWK

01-09-2009, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KWK

Sorry, I got lost in the abbreviations. What is 'WTT' please?

Thanks.

KWK

white tank treatment - paste white oyama, styrofoam board or use white paint for tank base and background....

03-09-2009, 05:57 PM

Really thanks a lot for such priceless information... the more I read, I think I am gonna be a 'sifu'

... makes me more confdent in handling aroz...

14-11-2009, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cucumber

So will the rest of the question that we posted be answered or not? I tot D24 say all questions will be answered...

It has been so long since the Live Chat. When will our questions be answered?

30-06-2009, 04:42 PM	#1
Alvin Koh Administrator Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 1,421	Interview/Chat log with Mr Derrick Goh Q: randchai : Rank the following in order of most important to least important when trying to groom a juvenile aro to champion adult : 1. Genes 2. Water (pH etc) 3. Food 4. Background 5. Environment (tank, or mud pond or FGT) PANG LONG: Genes, Environment (tank, or mud pond or FGT), Background, Water (pH etc) and Food Q: jwhtan: If u got a batch of arowanas that cannot make it by your own standards, will you still sell them? Would appreciate a bit more elaboration like why it is in certain order or what u would do to the aros if u dun sell them. PANG LONG: This a question which alot of farmers dare not answer. But today i will answer as a yes. I will sell them according to the arowanas development instead of my standards.As a farmer u must sell everything . Good one good price not good one not good price Q: laodie: if you got harvest that dun look exactly or close to any breed(eg rtg, xback, red), how do you tag them? PANG LONG: Ok . Laodie, All brooders are register with AVA as Gold or Red. So we can only tag them under tis two category. We do not mix breeding now. Of course. We will state accordingly at the certificate and price will match what you buy. Q: kklow: What is your opinon of the $600+ SR that are currently in the market? You pay peanuts you get monkeys or oversupply? PANG LONG: D24 . These are good reds too. There is no over supply or, "pay peanuts get monkey". The $600+ reds are sold as breeders do not want to keep too many grooming arowanas in hand . We are only able to groom some and sell some. These are smaller reds most of the time. Q: fireman: Is Fa Fu Long actually an aro that is deformed or a product of selective breeding? PANG LONG: Fa fu long is god creation. Some call it deform some call it special . I call it good creation as i can sell it higher price. Q: lincolngoh: What standard will a goldie have to reach before you sell it as a XB? PANG LONG: First it must be a production from XB brooders first . Then you groom them and see the development of the shine and pearlies before I sell. To me minimum 5th level shine and some pearlies shine. Q: figo : which country buy the most aro, and what the most popular species? PANG LONG: Now China number 1. Reds are hot favorites follow by Vietnam and Malaysia on XB (Crossbacks). Q: Aro1: do your farm buy aros from other countries' farms and tag them under your own? PANG LONG: We cannot buy from other countries n tag them under our own. They must be taged b4 selling.N yes i do import aro from other countries. Q: Aro1: Is it true that gill curl aro cannot breed? PANG LONG: Not really. Some aros get curl after in pond for awhile. Q: lincolngoh: After losing their pearls in fights, what is the chances of XB's pearls recovering? Any difference in recovery rate between blue and gold based? PANG LONG: New pearlies will grow . No differences in blue or gold based but good water n lights will help speed up te recovery. Q: fireman: What is the cause of "Sotong Barbel". What is the best treatment? PANG LONG: fireman. sotong barbel is cause by water condition n too much rubbing against te glass. Salt n prevention from rubbing. Q: rosle atin: is it true that blue base xb cross slower than say gold base ones? and blue base aro glod is more 'solid' than gold base ones alos blue base aro is smaller thn compare to gold base ones. PANG LONG: rosle . Blue or gold base all solid and yes, blue base cross slower and no, they are same in terms of size. Q: dermarko : Do they provide pond, either concrete or mud pond for hobbyists to house their aros? If yes, what are the charges and conditions? PANG LONG: dermarko. Sorry i do not provide tis service. Q: yonlada: In this present market situation, any plans to lower the aros' prices to make it more afforable to everyone? Or prefer to throw them back to pond for them to grow bigger and fetch higher price? PANG LONG: Farms depend on selling aro to survive. Present market situation , my farms are selling 500pcs a month . We will sell te right price according to development of aro . Q: zon: What they do with defective aro? PANG LONG: I will keep the defective aro in the reservior and let them grow there. somrtime, there are customers who wanted such aro, i will sell them at a special price Q: Mr.XP: from your response in the aro quality that your farm would release into the market, there doesn't seem to be any benchmark. Wouldn't you be concerned that those fish with lower quality might affect the reputation of your farm? PANG LONG: XP. Lower quality I certify them as lower quality grade and good ones as good grade. Now aday farmers r more careful in grading. Q: Schmike: Is there such a thing as a true 4th level classic RTG anymore? in recent years we see many with 5th level and some even with 6th level shine n pearlies in RTGs that is more like xb standard PANG LONG: There is still the 4th level classic RTG. But with more strict grading from farmers now, there is 5th or 6th level shine Rtgs which are from XB brooders which the standard did not meet their standard they sell them as Highback RTG. Q: jason1202: For adult farm aros, does the diet only depend on pellets? Is it hard to pellet train? PANG LONG: jason1202. No we feed them with variety and no, it is easy to train them to take pellets. Q: rosle atin: How do you rate xb and red harvest here in Singapore in term of productivity PANG LONG: rosle. The gold produce better in Singapore. 10 to 1 I would rate them. Q: zon: By AlvinLeong: There is an experience breeder ever said this " let the aro get used to the tank water, no WC, let it grow naturally, no extra lighting required" But here, we are doing WC weekly or some even daily, special tanning light, special food, special this and that.... What are your comments on this? PANG LONG: Alvin. Do u think aro nowaday looks nicer or last time. Yes to keep aro alive you can follow the old methods but to keep the aro to develop to its full potential, you must be hard working. Q: jason1202: For your variety diet, does it include pallets? wat abt live feeders? PANG LONG: Yes, pellets and live feeders. Q: mihatah: Always wonder, what do breeders do with defective aros? Besides FFL (Fa Fu Long)... and what do breeders do with the tags and certs of aros that passed away PANG LONG: Sorry mihatah I cannot answer for all breeders but to me aro give me bread n butter . I will try my best to keep all my aros alive . Dead aros are to be reported to AVA and tag and certs will to be destroy by them. Q: lukeber: Why is there limited breeding of TY (Tong Yan) now? Some farms do not even carry TY anymore PANG LONG: I think alot of TY do not turn out well when adults. So to protect the reputation of the farms, alot of then stop the crossbreeding. Q: master chief : Will there be anymore 'fancy names' coming up..to entice hobbyists?(Now the trend) Till when does the grading stops(A+/AA++ n so on)? The risks of proxy farming(how many %)? PANG LONG: Master, fancy name will never stop as more farms r coming up everyone give their aro a name. Proxy farming no risk as long as te farms control te standard well. Q: lavend3r9: What do you recommend to feed juvenile arowana 6" ? would you recommend SW ? PANG LONG: lavend3r9 everything also good as long as u do not overfeed on 1 diet. Q: bui kia: is wtt a must for xback?how come most of the farm are doing it,many years ago where got such wtt. PANG LONG: wtt is a must nowaday. Many years ago also do not have such nice young xb. It is a environment gold species like to develop full potential. Q: lavend3r9: Why WTT ? what is the REAL advantages of WTT ? how to achieved WTT and at what age/size should we stop WTT? PANG LONG: Clear environment helps te shine to develop higher n faster. U can wtt all te way if u like. Q: Nomis: 1) How often they do water change and how much? 2) Wat's their pond water PH/KH reading 3) Feeding frequency and type of food 4) Success rate of their incubation tank (% of survival) 5) Wat's their incubation tank water type? overnite or pond water with ++ PANG LONG: 1) It depends . No standard depend on how well u know ur aro n environmet. 2) pH around 6.8 to 7.5 and KH less than 1. 3) Everyday - prawns, frogs, goldfish & pork. 4) If fully fertilze 95%. 5) To me overnite. Q: joestoys: what is doppy eyes? PANG LONG: Droppy eyes is where the eyes of the aro look downwards and no, it is not a disease. Q: Trend: Is there a limit in reproduction in each farm. Need is lesser than production now as i can see. Excessive will cos the price to drop further. PANG LONG: We want more cause not enough to sell. Q: Nomis: So TY X XB still selling as XBs or ???? Red X RTG selling = ??? XB X XB but no pearly or 5th level at 6" selling as HB or wat??? XB X Red selling as red or Xb or TY (some farm dont carry TY brand)? Green X XBs = ???? Some hobbyist may also like to know. PANG LONG: As long as buyer see n can tell it is a juv crossback than we can grade them as xb. Q: Nomis: Are they willing to exchange arowanas that doesn't look like what is stated on cert. Eg. Red with XB cert, RTG with full pearl and 6th level crossing, XB that look RED etc.... Confused .....seeen sooooo many in market! PANG LONG: It depends on individual farms. But crossbreeding is not the in thing now. We can only grade them green, gold or red according to rules. Q: zon: Any way to encourage XBs (Crossbacks) crossing faster and more GOLD ,Reds to turn redder. Or some believe being patient with their aros and time will tell .... PANG LONG: As mention environment helps. Q: lohlouis: Besides mud pond and cement pond ... Did farmers successfully breed aros in FGT before? PANG LONG: I never but i heard some master did it b4. Q: jackietan : what is the best way to differentiate/identify male and female aros by their features, other than waiting for the aros mouth pouch balloon? PANG LONG: Female also hold eggs. Tough one Q: jackietan : What is the percentage of male and female aros breed from every birth? PANG LONG: Sorry bro too young to tell. But i think more males. Q: jackietan : Is male aros hostile only towards male aros and not the opposite sex? PANG LONG: No lah they see human also hostile. Q: CrazyFish: Is there any way to overcome or prevent DE ? See lots of bros facing this problem with their aros. PANG LONG: I think difficult bcos all keep in tanks with alot of reflection Q: bichon: What is the temp you maintain for the incubation tank? PANG LONG: 28 DegC. Q: CullTail: With the current drastic drop in prices of arowanas, what measures have you taken to cope with it? PANG LONG: Groom all my aros nicer n sell higher. Ppl only pay high price for good things. Q: buikia: Do you release your defective or not up to standard arowanas to the market? Do you market them as defective? PANG LONG: Yes, we mark them as defective. Chat Moderator (D24): Thank you Mr Derrick Goh for your time and for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. To all who participated, we hope you have acquired new knowledge and will continue to enjoy aro keeping.

03-09-2009, 05:57 PM	#9
WarriorHead Guest Posts: n/a	great thread Really thanks a lot for such priceless information... the more I read, I think I am gonna be a 'sifu' ... makes me more confdent in handling aroz...

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01-07-2009, 01:08 AM	#2
LongVangChauc Guest Posts: n/a	A nice conversation!Thnaks for sharing.

01-07-2009, 12:01 PM	#3
rtgaroaro Dragon Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 2,031	thanks for sharing, learnt alot from here. Cheers! May all prosperous and stay healthy!

01-07-2009, 10:03 PM	#5
mihatah Senior Dragon Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 3,697	really clear up some doubts we had... great job to all involved... special tks to Mr Alvin Koh for pasting this out..

09-07-2009, 03:24 PM	#6
cucumber Senior Dragon Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 3,104	So will the rest of the question that we posted be answered or not? I tot D24 say all questions will be answered...

09-07-2009, 06:39 PM	#7
KWK Guest Posts: n/a	Sorry, I got lost in the abbreviations. What is 'WTT' please? Thanks. KWK

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