Grade this fish please

[Cirrus]

Here are a few photos of a fish imported to Canada some time ago. I am curious to see how people would grade it. A near two year follow up will be provided in a few days when I get around to uploading and resizing the new photos I took of the adult fish.

 

[rainbowfish]

These are very nice blueish base fish, nice scales and neatly arranged. Are these high back? Pearlies seems lacking for a cross back.

 

[m_class2g]

if this aro is a maju bbxback that was imported before without premium xback price, i can see myself ordering one these. could be a panda gold supreme as well?

nice looking aro imo. 5th level thick/define and some pearlies starting to develop. some specs on the 6th level is also visible.

just have to point out the possibility of plj on this aro. wonder how it developed towards an adult.

lets see some updated pics of this aro!

 

[Cirrus]

interesting opinions so far, keep the reviews coming please.

 

[Arrow]

Nice shine, good shape and has yet to develop fully develop

 

[hondas3000]

the shine is sure more then any recent shipment maju xb I seen but there is no pearl at all. Maybe it have late develop on pearl.

 

[xenon240]

I would say it is a nice Panda HB RTG. Or a quality specimen RTG from Maju. Pearls not defined enough to be a BBXB from Maju.

 

[t.duong]

I would say XB for sure, but one of those smaller pieces that you roll the dice on as far as future potential. Sometimes they turn out, sometimes not.
I suspect that this one turned out, which is why the suspense.

 

[m_class2g]

wheres the updated pics!?

 

[Cirrus]

My computer crashed and accessing photos has been a real pain lately; anyway, here is the long awaited update.

The background to this fish is that it was imported as a Gold Cross Back from Panda Aquatics for forum member Hondas3000 back in 2009; he was unhappy with it due to perceived PLJ, and Panda offered to replace it after 3 months if he remained unhappy with it. According to Panda this fish had a "scissor mouth". After three months, Hondas3000 was still not happy with the fish, but Panda decided not to provide the promised replacement fish. I found a new buyer for the fish, refunded Hondas3000, and took a personal loss of a few hundred bucks. Such is life.

After almost two years, Hondas3000 - and many others, were right - this fish did turn out to have PLJ.

But here is the funny part. The fellow who ended up with the fish has absolutely no problem with the PLJ, nor even the DE. He literally could not care less. He is kind of pissed off, however, that the fish never crossed. I think you will agree that this fish has some reasonable pearlies, and it also has a nice blue base core scale colour. But according to the current owner it should really be judged as a HBRTG.

From my perspective, this fish shows the difficulty WTT presents to buyers of small size (6 inch) Gold XB, of not being able to judge whether the fish will eventually cross or not. I've never been a fan of WTT and continue to believe it stacks the odds of the farms against the consumer. But there is nothing that can be done, I think all farms use WTT these days.

I should mention that this fish was raised in a tank with very low wattage shop lights too.

 

[EKen]

I think people should realize that "Cross Back" is just a term. Not all XBs will cross, just like not all Reds turn red, and just like Goldfish are not actually gold.

In my humble opinion, BBXBs tend to cross less than your "Gold" XBs. From the age of the Arowana shown, pearlies are not all that great. I would consider this fish to be a good quality HB, or a low quality XB. So basically, for this fish I would have paid a bit more than the average HB price, but lower than the average XB price.

On a positive side, I like the fact that the gold seems to spread into the rear fins.

 

[hondas3000]

to me its just a hbrtg, in fact it looks no different then my current panda hbrtg right now.

 

[Cirrus]

Yes, I agree, HBRTG; but when it came in at 6 inches or so, it looked like a cross back. The truth emerged later when the fish left WTT. I guess we are back to having to trust the farm, not the look of the fish - at least when talking of smaller size fish in WTT. I think this is ironic since so many people say "buy the fish, not the cert", but what do you do when almost all 6 inch WTT "XB's" look the same, yet many go on to become HBRTG?

I do think "buy the fish, not the cert" holds true for larger XB fish in the 10+ inch range.

 

[m_class2g]

buying smaller xbacks will be more of a gamble these days. i was in thailand and saw 90% of gold aros (xbacks and even rtgs) all in white tanks. i guess the best is to buy them over a foot long to see actual gold rims on the scale and not just shine. im sure a select few in asia, with their abundant selection of aros and their familiarity with wtt, can spot potential fish from young.

i think the best route is to buy bigger now a days but that is a lot more $$$. it just goes back to you pay for what you get.

 

[Joey]

to me its just a hbrtg, in fact it looks no different then my current panda hbrtg right now.

I agree...

 

[hondas3000]

for $1200 and the fish turn out like this I would be very upset with it.

 

[Cirrus]

for $1200 and the fish turn out like this I would be very upset with it.

Yes, and a broken promse from the farm to replace the fish was upsetting too; at least you got your money back in the end.

When you buy small fish you take a chance, win some, lose some. WTT makes it hard to know if a small (6 inch) Gold XB will turn out well. If you want a guarantee, buy a larger gold XB that shows confirmed colour characteristics. But you will not find one for $1200. You will have to pay hundreds more, maybe even double. As long as the market remains strong in China, that is the way it is.

I am going to make this thread into a sticky and suggest that all new aro hobbyists looking to buy their first Gold XB read it as a cautionary tale. Hopefully others can learn from this experience.