# Zoo 'first' to breed dragon fish



## Fixx (May 6, 2006)

*An endangered species of fish, known as dragon fish, has been bred at Bristol Zoo Gardens, thought to be the first zoo in Europe to succeed.* 
Only eight individual dragon fish are thought to be housed in UK zoos - four at Bristol zoo and four at Chester Zoo. 
Jonny Rudd, from Bristol Zoo, said: "According to Zoo records, no dragon fish have ever been bred in Europe. This could even be a world first." 
The pair of dragon fish at Bristol Zoo have produced 15 fry (offspring). 
Jonny Rudd, assistant curator of the aquarium at Bristol Zoo, said: "Dragon fish are notoriously difficult to breed - this is the first time any fry have survived in the 13 years the zoo has had these four dragon fish." 
*Adults re-homed* 
Mr Rudd said the successful breeding may have been helped by recent efforts to purify the water in the dragon fish tank, using reverse osmosis, as well as increasing the water temperature by a few degrees. 
Bristol Zoo Gardens re-homed the four adult dragon fish in 1995 after they were confiscated by customs. 
The species, _Scleropages formosus_, is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's endangered list and as a result the trade of dragon fish is strictly monitored. 
The fry are held in the adult male's mouth when they are young, which makes it difficult to know their exact age. But it is estimated they are about nine weeks old. 
Dragon fish are native to South East Asia where their ownership is a sign of wealth and status. 
The species is thought to be close to extinction in Thailand and is so rare it is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in an international agreement between governments that came into force in 1975.


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

LMAO @ Rudd!!

Might have seen the dragon fish last year at Bristol


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## _jake_ (Jul 3, 2008)

Wow...i never knew thye had dragon fish:| i live like 15mins away:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## simonas (Apr 12, 2008)

just googled the scientific name in that article and an arrowana came up. Is that wha tthe article is about?


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## Phark (Jul 1, 2008)

Lol - Definitely not a world first. Fish farms in Singapore and the region have been breeding a myriad of different varieties of _Scleropages formosus, _the Asian arowana, for _years_.


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

Phark said:


> Lol - Definitely not a world first. Fish farms in Singapore and the region have been breeding a myriad of different varieties of _Scleropages formosus, _the Asian arowana, for _years_.


It does say Europe in the article.......


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## _jake_ (Jul 3, 2008)

Fixx said:


> *An endangered species of fish, known as dragon fish, has been bred at Bristol Zoo Gardens, thought to be the first zoo in Europe to succeed.*
> Only eight individual dragon fish are thought to be housed in UK zoos - four at Bristol zoo and four at Chester Zoo.
> Jonny Rudd, from Bristol Zoo, said: "According to Zoo records, no dragon fish have ever been bred in Europe. This *could* even be a world first."
> The pair of dragon fish at Bristol Zoo have produced 15 fry (offspring).
> ...


 :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

herpmad_boi said:


> :Na_Na_Na_Na:


Ah well nothing like a good old extinguishing of peoples fire with a bit of urine hey :roll:


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## carisma02uk (Sep 14, 2006)

thought arrowanas had been done before, many wealthy chinese families have arrows as pets...

awsome fish my last one was awsome.. called him harry wana lol...

nice read fixx cheers matey..

Jon


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## Phark (Jul 1, 2008)

Crownan said:


> It does say Europe in the article.......


Hmm...



Fixx said:


> Jonny Rudd, from Bristol Zoo, said: "According to Zoo records, no dragon fish have ever been bred in Europe. *This could even be a world first*."


:whistling2:


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## AshMashMash (Oct 28, 2007)

Phark said:


> :whistling2:


Ah ah ah! :naughty: Dont get cocky, else we'll re-quote the other subtle word you missed too:



Fixx said:


> "According to Zoo records, no dragon fish have ever been bred in Europe. This *could *even be a world first."


It states that it is a _Europe_ first, and that it _could_ be a world first.


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## carisma02uk (Sep 14, 2006)

well it could be, but im pretty sure i heard of a breeding many years ago,
are these not farmed also?
i know for a fact that the colour phases of these are not all wild caught..


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## carisma02uk (Sep 14, 2006)

sorry looks to be differnt sub-species...
lol

edit:

http://www.petitiononline.com/AsianAro/petition.html

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/arow-asi.htm


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## Mujician (Mar 7, 2007)

There are huge facilities in Germany with tropical indoor ponds breeding arrows. They are also bred (and micro-chipped) in outside facilities in singapore and the far east.


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## carisma02uk (Sep 14, 2006)

http://www.cites.org/common/notif/2008/ESF033A.pdf

yeah yeah benjamin...

i thought so too..

Jon


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

Phark said:


> Hmm...
> 
> 
> 
> :whistling2:


Yeah, that was done 40 mins before you... :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Mujician (Mar 7, 2007)

carisma02uk said:


> http://www.cites.org/common/notif/2008/ESF033A.pdf
> 
> yeah yeah benjamin...
> 
> ...


Sunday names eh Jonathon?!


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## carisma02uk (Sep 14, 2006)

jonathan matey jonathan..

and yes i belive it is...

we needed some sort of power thing since WE WERE RIGHT lol...


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

carisma02uk said:


> jonathan matey jonathan..


The only good way to spell it  : victory:


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## Carlie (Sep 27, 2006)

Awww, I got all excited and thought they were on about these guys before I googled the latin name.  :lol:


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## Berber King (Dec 29, 2007)

So basically they are crowing about breeding asian arowanas,been done in the fish trade for years.I love the way zoos do this,recently they were excited about breeding rhino rat snakes,another one done successfully years ago by hobbiests.Makes headlines i guess.


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

Phark said:


> Lol - Definitely not a world first. Fish farms in Singapore and the region have been breeding a myriad of different varieties of _Scleropages formosus, _the Asian arowana, for _years_.


Yeah asian arros are bred in huge numbers, particualy singapore and China.




Mujician said:


> There are huge facilities in Germany with tropical indoor ponds breeding arrows. They are also bred (and micro-chipped) in outside facilities in singapore and the far east.


Depends on the arro species. There being 3 main types, Asian, australian and South american.

South americans are the typical arros you see. The little silver things with the massive mouths. Awesome fish that will hit around 3-4foot in some cases.

Aussie arros are Jardini. Pretty cool fish, little smaller than SA arros though.

Asian arros are what this article is about. As far as I know these are mostly asian bred for colour (golds, reds etc).

Not too up on other arros, but I know for a fact SA arros have been bred all over the world. I bought mine from a breeder as fry.


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

I'm not sure if asian arrows have been bred in captivity as such. i know i was talking to someone who kept about 5 in a massive tank, and he said he was trying to be the first to breed them. tbf, farming isnt exactly in captivity.


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## Bluejen (Jan 15, 2009)

I think you find if you included the WHOLE article it would have said this...

"“According to Zoo records, no dragon fish have ever been bred in Europe. This could even be a world first as there appears to be *no recorded breeding of this fish outside Asia*. It’s great to have increased the UK captive population by such a large percentage.”"

They're not claiming to be the first in the world. Even thought it says "it may be a world first" they're saying it's a rare event outside Asia and a first for the zoo having had the fish for 13 years.....


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## Heppy (Apr 11, 2007)

They have definately being bred in captivity, in the monster fishkeepers book there is an article on a guy who's bred them, its written in japanese but the pictures pretty much tell the story. I know there in a video knocking about on the net of a female depositing the eggs and the male picking them up, the fish are clearly in a tank and not being farmed, don't know if they hatched like.


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

Bluejen said:


> I think you find if you included the WHOLE article it would have said this...
> 
> "“According to Zoo records, no dragon fish have ever been bred in Europe. This could even be a world first as there appears to be *no recorded breeding of this fish outside Asia*. It’s great to have increased the UK captive population by such a large percentage.”"
> 
> They're not claiming to be the first in the world. Even thought it says "it may be a world first" they're saying it's a rare event outside Asia and a first for the zoo having had the fish for 13 years.....


 
I think you find if you read your WHOLE post you might see a conflicting idea.

and I quote:
"*no recorded breeding of this fish outside Asia"*

followed by:

"they're saying it's a rare event outside Asia".

Make your mind up. Has it been done or hasn't it. Never happening is different to it rarely happening


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