Looking for GH arowana

[kookus]

Hello. I have a RTG right now and I'm looking at maybe upgrading to a GH crossback. What should I look for and what should I expect to pay?

I saw this in the for sale area and was wondering if it was worth it?

http://www.arowanaclub.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=4346

Thanks all.

 

[chen88]

it's a very nice XB!. funny enough if you buy this is that it was from Vancouver at one point! kind of like going home!

 

[bcarlos]

X2, very high quality fish

 

[Joey]

Superior fish. Beautiful. Go for it!!!

 

[kookus]

Thanks guys. The fish looks nice, I just thought for gh the head had to be covered in gold through out? But I guess there are varriations and $$ dictate that.

 

[AroNoob]

Bret at Shine Aquatics would be the man to speak to about a Golden Head. They are graded based on coverage and even a "full helmet" isn't entirely covered in gold. Good luck on your search

 

[chen88]

Bret at Shine Aquatics would be the man to speak to about a Golden Head. They are graded based on coverage and even a "full helmet" isn't entirely covered in gold. Good luck on your search

yes, and this particular GH that is for sale was actually from Bret.

GH just like in any aros are graded....the more gold, the higher the price.

 

[exoticaquaria]

ive always been skeptical about GHs since they are quite new in the market. there is very little that we know about GHs except for the fact that they have a golden head lol. i know most/all farms now use enhancing techniques which really is misleading. i know its a common practice for all farms that produces high end xbacks in the market to "tan" these xbacks until they "develop" enough to be sold as a golden head. once imported, most of them eventually fade. to what percentage? i guess thats what we have to find out at a later date! i have a friend that owns one right now which faded quite a bit after a few months. i too am one that jumped on the GH band wagon. i guess what i didnt know is what percentage of the GH that will remain. there is no guarantee. i would love to own one again but i think i rather get a xback with only gold lines on the head but is fully crossed!!!

 

[AroNoob]

yes, and this particular GH that is for sale was actually from Bret.

I thought that GH was from Bret but wasn't positive so I didn't mention it.

ive always been skeptical about GHs since they are quite new in the market. there is very little that we know about GHs except for the fact that they have a golden head lol. i know most/all farms now use enhancing techniques which really is misleading. i know its a common practice for all farms that produces high end xbacks in the market to "tan" these xbacks until they "develop" enough to be sold as a golden head. once imported, most of them eventually fade. to what percentage? i guess thats what we have to find out at a later date! i have a friend that owns one right now which faded quite a bit after a few months. i too am one that jumped on the GH band wagon. i guess what i didnt know is what percentage of the GH that will remain. there is no guarantee. i would love to own one again but i think i rather get a xback with only gold lines on the head but is fully crossed!!!

How much gold did that particular GH lose in your possession?

I believe Bret kept this GH in a dark tank and it seemed to keep most of it's gold.

http://www.arowanaclub.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=3703

I think there are always going to be skeptics against and supporters for GHs.

 

[T1KARMANN]

nice aro but it has drop eye for me i wouldnt be able to live with that

the good thing about buying this aro over a small one is you get what you see no tricks like white tank treatment when the shine and gold head may fade after a few months

 

[exoticaquaria]

the drop eye is the reason why i sold this aro to begin with. i couldnt live with it either lol.

here is a pic of when i was selecting the GH. the GH is the 2nd from the left. now from this picture, it sure looks like the GH traits is very high and it looks like that the aro will have a strong potential to develop further. we can only assume that the traits will grow "stronger" as the time goes on since aros should be developing nicer as they age.

question is. with these "high end" aros appearing in the market, will the farms take responsibility for their product if they dont maintain the level as when they are sold, or in some sense they decline in overall look.

i know theo was able to get cv maju to replace the blue base xbacks that came in looking like rtgs after a year and a bit. (as they should i think)

but how about the other farms that we buy from?

in this scenario, bret is the middle man (just like theo) and only relies on what information pang long provides about their stock. bret, do you think by showing pang long this thread, are they willing to compensate owner RTG for the lack of development/decline in overall look of this GH after his this aro for over 1 year?

only reason why i bring this up is because as written above, there are a lot of people who are skeptics in the whole GH scene. i was skeptical at first but took the plunge anyways for the love of keeping aros.

i think quality shown/marketed, should be quality maintained. if there is more improvement/development while keeping the aro, then thats an added bonus. however, i think quality should not decline.

i want to do a high end aro import as well and bring in quality fish. the only problem is which farms can we trust and how do we judge what is quality and what isnt?

 

[AroNoob]

It was definitely the best of the bunch. With your personal experience, I can understand why you have your doubts in GHs. IMHO WTT was a terrible discovery, it gives the false sense of potential to lower quality XBs. Years later these young aros with high shine can turn into XBs that have no higher shine than a RTG.

 

[T1KARMANN]

I feel YES they should replace the fish if it loses ANY of the shine level or gold intensity as farms have told us for many many year that we have to wait for the aro to develop

if we pay high money for a fish that is meant to already have that development it should have already developed meaning it shouldn't fade due to some trick the farm has pulled to kick up the price

But you know the farms they will tell us the aro has lost shine or color due to diet or water conditions just to get out of it

 

[Boydo]

the drop eye is the reason why i sold this aro to begin with. i couldnt live with it either lol.

here is a pic of when i was selecting the GH. the GH is the 2nd from the left. now from this picture, it sure looks like the GH traits is very high and it looks like that the aro will have a strong potential to develop further. we can only assume that the traits will grow "stronger" as the time goes on since aros should be developing nicer as they age.

question is. with these "high end" aros appearing in the market, will the farms take responsibility for their product if they dont maintain the level as when they are sold, or in some sense they decline in overall look.

i know theo was able to get cv maju to replace the blue base xbacks that came in looking like rtgs after a year and a bit. (as they should i think)

but how about the other farms that we buy from?

in this scenario, bret is the middle man (just like theo) and only relies on what information pang long provides about their stock. bret, do you think by showing pang long this thread, are they willing to compensate owner RTG for the lack of development/decline in overall look of this GH after his this aro for over 1 year?

only reason why i bring this up is because as written above, there are a lot of people who are skeptics in the whole GH scene. i was skeptical at first but took the plunge anyways for the love of keeping aros.

i think quality shown/marketed, should be quality maintained. if there is more improvement/development while keeping the aro, then thats an added bonus. however, i think quality should not decline.

i want to do a high end aro import as well and bring in quality fish. the only problem is which farms can we trust and how do we judge what is quality and what isnt?

Like any gold arowana if it is kept under high output lighting like it was when it was under mikes care the golden head features and high shine simply will just burn off. Mike was made aware that these fish should be kept under standard fluorescent tubes like t-12 or t-8, however he choose to use T-5 HO fixtures.

So should Pang Long or I be responsible? I have made every attempt to help educate people to care or groom their fish out to look amazing. Some people are just set in there ways and would rather make blame to others than learning from a mistake. I made a quality of arowana available in Canada that wasn't before. I have 11 pieces of gold head in my care now and have grown out several now and they have all continued to develop - under t-8 shop lights!

So skeptical or not these are a special fish in which special care should be given. For those wanting crazy golden head and like the light shiny look ....yes wtt will be recommended to maintain and promote the development.

So is WTT any different that keeping a red in a black tank?

We all know that reds look way better in black tanks... hell we even use NAN and red lights to make them look better. Why is it out of the question to set up a tank that a gold will look its best?

Maybe for fun Theo can move his red into a white tank and we can all see the difference that takes place over the next few weeks. Once the color drops would it still be considered show quality? Should Maju replace the fish under these circumstances?

 

[Boydo]

Bret at Shine Aquatics would be the man to speak to about a Golden Head. They are graded based on coverage and even a "full helmet" isn't entirely covered in gold. Good luck on your search

Thanks, for a golden head to be called a golden head it most have gold above the eyes. From there the more coverage the more money. Pang Long has recently graded their golden heads with a category system:

-Full Helmet = 90% or more
-Cat A = 70% or more
-Cat B = 50% or more
-Cat C = above the eyes and more.

The piece in the add above is an entry level golden head. This is still a very high quality piece and the one who ends up with it will know over the next few years as it develops.

Golden Heads are rare especially high coverage pieces this is the reason they come with a high price.

 

[exoticaquaria]

by no ways am i blaming you at all for this. if i wanted something done with this issue, i would have brought it up a long time ago! not after i sold the fish and over 1 yr later! im just talking about the gold head aros in the market from ALL FARMS and how and why does the gold head decline from selection to our home tanks? that was my main purpose of this discussion. since this fish was brought up, i think its ok to talk about GHs since i did own that fish at one point and i can share my experience/views.

the only thing i want to come out from all this is that will farms take responsibility? theo was called out on the forums and asked why the farm he represents sent bb xbacks looking like rtgs? you can say both cases are slightly the same. just wanted to see what can be done regarding this situation?

like anything we buy, we are guaranteed some sort of warranty for defects/flaws for 1 yr. i know fish are not electronics and there are many variables invovled but shouldnt there be some sort of standard?

im merely trying to start a thread where we can further understand ghs and the way to upkeep them and how they develop over time.

the picture below is when i first received the fish from you. with your care, shop lights, white tank, why is that the top portion of this aro look different than the advertised picture from the farm?

the point im trying to make is that ALL farms over expose their GHs. if they stay the same as the pics they took at the farm, that would be great but that is not the case. its the same thing for every other farm out there that sell GHs. why is it that only the farm can groom GHs but once out of their care, it is difficult for us hobbiest to do so?

 

[Cirrus]

I have no stake in this debate about GH. I support Bret and his import of Pang Long aros, I support Mike's imports of exotic fish. I do not have any plans to import GH. I would prefer not to be involved in this debate as a reference point Mike and Bret.

However, I have collected a lot of information over the years from various farms concerning all sorts of things aro related. A year or two ago when I considered bringing in some GH I made some enquiries. I was told that GH required very special care or else their colour can be unstable; I was told that the special care was a "trade secret", that such care was only shared by farms with their best customers. I am sure Bret is considered a "best" customer and so I am sure he knows what he is talking about.

I am on record from way back about not liking WTT, it is just not my thing.

 

[reddragon]

I dont know if you have to keep a gh in certain enviroment for it to remain a gh. But i have a friend who bought a 70% golden head and as it got older and bigger it started to lose lots of the golden head features. It was kept in a 180g tank with white background all around and got about 6hrs of light a day. The light he used were 96w 6700k cf. The head started to slowly get darker in some areas where once it was golden. so i dont know.

 

[chen88]

fyi....I've got 10 pang longs, my 4 XB's are very nice and has great colours, my 6 reds varies, some are very slow growers and the others are developing amazing colours. 3 out of 6 of my reds have DE....do I care well...not really as I look at the fish as a whole. DE to me is part of raising an aro...because it had DE doesn't mean I think of it any less...would I like to have no DE, yes...is it something that can be guaranteed? no..so why worry about it.

I think everyone has valid points...I'd love to have a GH and some that is available through our vendors here are outstanding....so are the reds.

 

[T1KARMANN]

Like any gold arowana if it is kept under high output lighting like it was when it was under mikes care the golden head features and high shine simply will just burn off. Mike was made aware that these fish should be kept under standard fluorescent tubes like t-12 or t-8, however he choose to use T-5 HO fixtures.

So should Pang Long or I be responsible? I have made every attempt to help educate people to care or groom their fish out to look amazing. Some people are just set in there ways and would rather make blame to others than learning from a mistake. I made a quality of arowana available in Canada that wasn't before. I have 11 pieces of gold head in my care now and have grown out several now and they have all continued to develop - under t-8 shop lights!

So skeptical or not these are a special fish in which special care should be given. For those wanting crazy golden head and like the light shiny look ....yes wtt will be recommended to maintain and promote the development.

So is WTT any different that keeping a red in a black tank?

We all know that reds look way better in black tanks... hell we even use NAN and red lights to make them look better. Why is it out of the question to set up a tank that a gold will look its best?

Maybe for fun Theo can move his red into a white tank and we can all see the difference that takes place over the next few weeks. Once the color drops would it still be considered show quality? Should Maju replace the fish under these circumstances?

so in the wild reds should stay in the sun all day and golds in the shaddy area

i think drop eye is a farm related thing which affects more of the indo farms and reds

i have at over 20 aro all from sig but only 2 reds out of the 20 and not one fish has ever got drop eye

for me its one of my pet hates even as i have had my aro over 4 years if it got drop eye it would be out the door