The Nami Green, so impressed with this breed of Asian Arowana that I have decided to pen it down, thus a short story of my encounter with one of the beautiful species of Green Arowana. My interest in Arowana keeping dates back in June 2001. I have all along been an enthusiast in fishing related activities, as such fishing locally and offshore and doing a lot of commercial pond fishing for many years have been part and parcel of my life. A friend that I know, who is the owner of a commercial pond, reinvested his business to an ornamental fish shop. It was at his shop that I was introduced to the wonders of Asian Arowana, said to be the king of ornamental fishes. With my zero experience in keeping the exotic Arowana, I was advised to kick start the hobby and have a first hand experience with the Green Arowana. My excitement soon turned to a short moment of sadness when I was told a local batch of Green Arowana will only arrive in the next coming month. Looking around at the shop and I made up my mind that I need to get things started and hence I decided to try with Gold Arowana of the Red Tail Golden (RTG) breed. Exactly one month later, I received news of the new batch of local Green Arowana, on display and for sale at my friend’s shop. There were about 17 juvenile Arowana in a small 3 footer tank. My jaw dropped and I am in awe when I saw a huge and impressive 33 inches adult Green Arowana on display at the entrance of the shop in a jumbo 5x3x3 footer tank. I began to strike a bond with the adult Green Arowana on display for its discus like “snake-skin” pattern on its gill plate and small patches of glittering shine on each of its big scale. It was a sight to be hold. It was beautiful. It was that adult Green Arowana that inspires me to keep the same type of breed which I knew later it is a locally breed Nami Green Arowana.

Here is the huge 33” Green I manage to capture with a very old digital camera.

After some long discussions and chat with the shop owner, I am now more aware of the Nami Green Arowana which is a local breed from a lake near a small town known as Nami. Often, when locals go for fishing, they would most probably mention that they are going to Nami. From the scenario above, no wonder the Green Arowana is known to most local there as the Nami Green Arowana.

A lake near a small town known as Nami

The lake is actually part of the Muda Dam located north west from the Alor Setar town center. It is next to the well known Pedu lake of Kedah State.The Muda and Pedu catchments are well know as a good fishing spot.Here is the place where angler can hire those wooden “sampan” for angling activites.The place is near a small town call Gubir. Very likely, when locals fish, they would mainly target “ikan - Haruan” or local snakehead, for its juicy flesh and its superior healing qualities for anyone who has undergone and recuperating from an operation. However, it is by no surprise that if anglers themselves landed their catch with an odd Green Arowana. Below is a very old picture taken by one of the local fisherman. This Green weigh about 7kg. As can be seen from the picture, the back ground is the Muda Dam lake located.

A 7kg Green Arowana

The next day, I bought one of the Greens from the batch and started keeping it.There was nothing special about this Green when it was small.No sign of pattern or shines on the gill plate or the scale.Here it is when it was about 5”.

My 5" Green Arowana

This species of Green has a very good in appetite and grows really fast the first 12 months.

6 months later

It reach 12” in 6 months time. The gill plate started show very obvious pattern at around 14”.

At 14"

The gill plate started show very obvious pattern at around 14”. Here it is at around 16” on May 2002.

At 16"

There are many special features about this type of Green. It has very unique snake skin pattern on the gill plate.

Unique snake skin pattern

The eyes are red in colour.

Red eyes

There are spots of shine developing on the pectoral fins.

Shine developing on the pectoral fins

The scales are large and having spots of shine and patterns.

Currently, there are farms embarking on a project of breeding this type of Green. I am sure with their expertise and knowhow; they will succeed in breed this type of Green for all to enjoy in a not so distance future. It was a very exciting experience knowing that this type of Green is very special and unique. I do hope that farms will maintain the originality of this breed so those hobbyists who like the feature will have the opportunity to keep and enjoy such a breed. By Max Loo.