The ‘crazy’ secret of the world’s most expensive fish, even higher than a Ferrari: Is it really a ‘guardian’ for business, bringing wealth?

Many traders believe that arowanas carry ‘spirit’, which can help them do better and predict bad luck.
On a foggy morning in February 2017, federal agents in an unmarked car overtook a white Toyota Corolla in Orange County, California. They approached the car cautiously. Sitting in the driver’s seat was Shawn Lee, 29 years old. As the agents got closer, they could see him clutching a large plastic bag. Inside this bag are the objects of the hunt: 8 Asian arowanas – the world’s most valuable aquatic pets.

As an endangered species in the wild, the import and trade of Asian arowanas in the US is illegal. But in other parts of the world, arowanas are a highly sought after luxury item and completely legal. They are prized by Yakuza gang members in Japan, business magnates in China, and fish collectors in Europe. A single primitive specimen can be more expensive than a Ferrari. From a swamp creature to a luxury item Asian Arowana. For centuries, Asian arowana has been a popular folk dish of Southeast Asians. Outside of local markets in Malaysia, this fish is neither widely traded nor favored. But everything changed in 1975. As wetland habitats in Southeast Asia decline, Asian arowanas begin to decline in numbers. CITES, a treaty restricting trade in endangered wildlife species, has classified the Asian arowana as threatened. This move aims to ban the trade of arowanas for commercial purposes. But according to Emily Voigt, who has spent nearly a decade delving into the story of the Asian arowana for her book, The Dragon Behind the Glass, “That official endorsement is completely counterproductive. It really turned the fish into a limited edition luxury item.” Smugglers in Malaysia began to smuggle Asian arowanas into Taiwan and Japan. In an effort to stop this illegal trade, CITIES has allowed farmers in Southeast Asia to legally breed, harvest and sell Asian arowanas. But again, everything went to a dead end. In the decades that followed, hundreds of arowana farms sprang up across Indonesia and Malaysia. It is noteworthy that these fish all disappeared from the wild. Today, the biggest market for Asian arowana is China. The fish has a “spirit” and the plastic surgery market for fish blooms Emily Voigt said: “It has become a mystical creature that is said to have the power to protect and help you make good business decisions, bringing wealth and prosperity. There are even stories of arowana jumping out of the tank as a warning of bad luck.” To keep their fish aesthetically pleasing, owners don’t mind spending money on “plastic surgery” to satisfy their hobby with eye lifts ($90), chin augmentation ( $60) and tail editing ($60). This belief has turned farm-raised Asian arowanas into an estimated $200 million/year global market. Huge income from trading arowana In the mid-1980s, a printing industry executive in Indonesia named Tris Tanoto quit his job and bought 12 Asian arowanas for $170. With the help of friends, Tanoto bought a small farm in East Jakarta, raising fish in a pond on the property. Experiencing many failures, to this day, Tanoto’s base of operations is one of at least 250 CITES-accredited Asian arowana farms across Southeast Asia. PT Munjul Prima Utama is one of Indonesia’s largest exporters of Asian arowana, especially “Super Red” – a crimson arowana that is very popular with the Chinese because they consider red to represent vitality and good luck. Each year, the company sells about 1,000 of the 7,000 Asian arowanas, generating about $3 million in annual sales. The average is $3,000/fish, but prices can fluctuate based on many factors such as color, origin, fin size and head shape… Tanoto sells 8 varieties of Asian arowana, with prices starting from 1,200 up to $5,500. Tanoto sold a “perfect” Super Red arowana to a Chinese man for $30,000. The extremely rare Asian Arowana can earn 10 times that amount. A Malaysian breeder specializing in albino Asian arowana once sold one of his arowanas for $300k. Instead of going directly to customers, many farms in Southeast Asia sell in bulk to dealers in other countries. Among these agents is David Carr, who runs Planet Arowana. With a passion for arowanas, David Carr moved to Malaysia and spent a year learning everything about this fish from local breeders. Carr says the process works like this: The lake has 20 arowanas (6 males, 14 females). Each female lays 10 to 80 eggs. Every 2-3 months harvest fry (called fingerlings). The fish are shipped to the UK and sold at 4-6 months of age for between $300 and $4k or more each. Carr sells his arowana to buyers around the world. In recent years, Carr said demand has expanded from Asia to the West.