We are all entitled to our own opinion, and it's great that we can share those
opinions here on this forum.
Having said that I would like to respond to some of the comments posted thus far in this discussion.
The floor mangers et al at Pang Long and Sing Arowanas will generally know exactly
what they have in their juvenile arowana. They pick the 1st grade, then 2nd grade,
then on down from there. They know what to expect by the genetics of their brooders,
by which pond the fish came from, and the identification of their parent (father)
when harvesting. These people have years of experience and have acquired skills in
selecting and grading arowanas, and have it down to a science.
Once these fish go into grow out tanks/ponds the fish are graded further and move
into other tanks of matching grades. Trust me we know the potential of the juvenile
arowanas and there are prices to match the quality of each grading. This is no
different than many other species of fish raised on a commercial basis (Koi, Discus,
Flowerhorn, etc) where the fish are graded, re-graded, and priced accordingly while
still very young juveniles.
Due the great spread in our hobby I can imagine that many Canadian hobbyists have
probably not had a lot of experience or time around numerous young arowanas. This
type of constant day in & day out hands on experience is how one learns to be able
to see the difference in potential between say 15 , 30, or more, 6-8 inch juvie red
aros swimming in the same tank. Trust me there is a very obvious difference between
young aros, and yes they can be graded at 6 inches. Some farms even start grading
earlier than that. This is their business; and they would never send out a AAA piece
for a price of a standard grade, when they can sell it for 4 or more times the value
to someone who is willing to pay for it. Who's not to say that occasionally a great
potential piece might slip into the standard grade stock, or vise versa, a standard
grade slipped in with the premiums. This does happen but very rarely in my
experience.
This is precisely why some vendors in Canada have to pay more wholesale per arowana,
than some of the other vendors sell their arowanas for at retail. Its not all mark
up. A reputable seller wouldn't try to sell a standard super red as a premium, just
like a premium red would not be sold at the same price as a standard quality piece.
High quality arowanas simply cost more, and under no circumstance will you get a
premium red or any premium arowana for cheap at retail or even group buy level. The
odds of doing so is about the same as the odds of winning the lottery. The farms
know what they have, and each piece is priced accordingly. Most farm owners also
know that they can't sell their best quality red for $10,000.00 in Canada as no one
will pay that here. Those quality of fish are often picked out as small as 6-8
inches, then sent to Japan, China, or Vietnam for sale where there is a much larger
market and much deeper pockets.
Yes Diablo is a trade name, and while some might refer to this as a "gimmick", the
reality is that when marketing a premium brand a trade market name helps develop it.
In the business world, it's referred to as brand recognition. (ask Coca-Cola how
that works)
The Diablo's are not a standard red nor are they a roll of the dice for quality.
They are selected and reselected and grouped together as Pang Long's Premium Reds.
The fish that don't make their stringent criteria are sold under other names or
other farms. The ones I select for Canada a very high Premium quality, and while
there are higher quality, there are very few willing to pay $6000 + in Canada for an
arowana.