What The Fish!

Grandma used to have a relative who owns a small fish farm that breeds ornamental fish. They bred Tiger Barb, guppies, Gourami,etc. fishes of that time. They were bred using concrete tanks like the one you see in the picture. I can't remember whether it was at Potong Pasir but I do recall that once when it flooded, many of the fishes escaped into the flood water and perhaps resided later into nearby ponds and drains. In my time those days, you can find fish in every pond and drains or water ways. We tried using nets to catch some and at other times, we would improvise with a bent needle, bent by burning to resemble a hook an fish a few of them.

Before, Seletar aspired to be an aviation industry, it was one of the few remaining places in my view that is so lovely be it golfing at the now defunct Seletar Base Golf Club (SBGC), having a walk or drive through and you will still always find fish in drains and water ways. Today's fish farm is on a grander scale. You can bring your family for an excursion or to shop. The children including adult children like yourself will love it. There is something about fishes and marine life that captivates. If you have reared them in tanks at home, you will realise the therapeutic effect it will have on you just by watching them swimming, eating and breathing.

These Catfish are really huge.

I thought this starfish was trying to find Nemo. Isn't it lovely?

This was a visit to Qian Hu which means a thousand lakes?

They probably have everything you need from a variety of fish tanks to all accessories related to keeping ornamental fishes and the so many species of them. Do Angelfish looks like angels? They even have coloured ones these days.like our television, we only had black and white in those days.

Discus anyone?

Luo Han or Flowerhorn Cichlids. Some people believe they will bring good luck. They can even imagine numbers growing on the sides of the body.

Even greater fortune may come to those that has Arowana some would also believe. Arowana is a graceful fish if you were just to watch it swim. Look carefully and you will find the its lower jaw protrudes out to join its upper lip. In fact, they look majestic.

The "Soon Hock" is actually a Marbled Goby and is sought after regularly as a table fish in Chinese restaurants. Fishing ponds in the old days used to have this fish. It is surprising and by far the best tasting fresh water fish and it does not have a muddy fresh-water taste.

I love fighting fish. Toyed with them when young and we used to keep them in small glass bottles and we would keep a few in separate bottled but with cardboard placed in between. Removing these cardboard would get the fish all excited and wanting to fight and you could see them in full splendour opening their gills and raised fins. A sight to behold. 

Their ancestors are native to the rice fields of Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. We would have our first king, second king and third king and so on their ranking depending on how they fought and won. The fiercest fights were those when the two fish had their grip on each other's mouth and they would pull and spin. I never knew that this was cruel. As an adult, I kept them in isolation in larger beautiful bottles once but never fought them. They are also known as Siamese fighting fish as the Thais were the first to collect them.

These frogs are like skinless. Ghost frogs?

Puffer fish!!



Birds of a feather they flock together, so do fishes.

This fish has a lovely smiling face don't you think?

If everybody learns to smile more they will look prettier and more handsome so why don't people do that?

This was the very first time I have seen a fish with lipstick.

Is this natural or man-made? Hybrid?

Thes unique stingrays are lovely.

For $4,000 a pair? You will probably just go for the BBQ ones with chili.

These are like promphets. Slice and stuff them with chili.

These colourful crabs are probably not your usual mud crabs used for you chili or black pepper crabs.

As a fish, the arowana looks elegant and majestic but as I have described above (the protruding jaw and forked tongue or whiskers) it will look ugly as a person. So maybe we can have the same look or life but it depends on whether we are man or fish.

Just as they say early bird catches the worm but the early worm gets eaten by the birds.

The Pacu is a distant cousin of the piranha. Piranhas were once brought into Singapore but were eventually banned. So remember that whatever you bring into a country be very aware that releasing and introducing them into a new environment can be a catastrophe, be it a bird, an animal or a fish. What if someone released a couple of piranhas into some ponds? In the US, some Asians released snake heads into a pond and being voracious eaters finished off everything in that pond. Not contented with that, they got out of the pond, survived a little distance on land and got into the next water way and polished off everything as well.

Oh! Marine fish and corals are fantastic!

Fish head curry, anyone?

How about having a koi pond?

Bring your family along and everybody will find some fish they like. They have the "longkang" fish for young children to catch too. Have fun!