Down a small street near Phnom Penh's Central Market, behind unmarked shop front shutters, a unique business is thriving. The setting is spartan. Three massive claypots filled with water stand covered with timber slats. Oxygen pumps hum busily atop each one and a large glass tank stands empty. "That is where I put the fish when they are ready to breed," Om Sophon, 48, says. These are no ordinary fish, but dragon fish, or arowana.
These South American ornamental silver arowana (osteoglossum bicirrhosum) have a growing popularity among lovers of tropical fish because of their worldwide free trade status, their ease of maintenance and their reputation as a cheap feng shui alternative to their more colourful Asian cousins. The Asian variety found in Malaysia and Singapore are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). Ornamental Asian arowana, such as the Malayan bonytongue can fetch tens of thousands of dollars.
Also called dragon fish because of their long whiskers and large, sleek scaly bodies, arowanas are believed by many in Asia to ward off evil, predict business affairs and bring good luck. But because of their CITES status and endangered listing in their native equatorial Asian habitats, many countries including the US prohibit their importation, even if they are bred in captivity, which is a difficult feat in itself.
South American arowanas, recognisable by their more snake-like bodies and plainer black or silver colour, depending on the breed (there is also a South American Black Arowana), do not face this problem.
But Om is the only man in the kingdom - so much further north of the equator than South America - who has managed to breed these natives of Brazil and Columbia successfully. From just one pair, he now has eight breeding fish (four pairs) and 11 fish altogether. He has no way of knowing whether the remaining three will breed. The fish measure 60-70 centimetres. One day soon, he hopes to take his fish to neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam to create a new export business for his country.
Potential arowana breeders in Cambodia have unique difficulties to overcome. Because of Cambodia's position, "cold snaps", where the temperature falls to the mid to low 20s (Celsius) at night, can discourage the fish from breeding for months afterwards. And the sophisticated aquarium equipment easily available in other parts of the world is prohibitively expensive. Fish breeders routinely have two or three other jobs to support families and cannot afford large expenditures on such risky ventures. Om, for instance, is also a jeweller. And electricity supply, although more reliable now than five years ago as Cambodia's post-civil war economic recovery grinds forward, still fails.
"I actually bought five fish - two potential breeding pairs and a spare for US$24 a pair. I lost three fish when the power failed and the oxygen pump stopped," Om says.
Arowana are mouth brooders - after breeding, the eggs and newly hatched fish are kept in the female's mouth. The fish are notorious for eating their young. "It took me years to find success," Om says. "I was ready to sell these fish, but the fish wouldn't let me. They are lucky fish for me. Any dragon fish has luck."
He bought a pair of fish from his friend Tang Chheng, 61, the owner of Kea Heng fish shop and Phnom Penh's premier fish breeder and importer, six years ago. Tang was importing Vietnamese-bred silver arowanas.
"I have never kept any other fish before," Om says. "At first I just kept them as pets, but after some years I wanted to breed them, but they did not [breed]. I grew tired of feeding them. Then I agreed to sell them and set a price with one buyer. The night before he was to take them, one fish jumped from the tank to the floor. They had never done that before. I believed that was a sign he did not want to leave me, so I cancelled the sale.
"But time passed and still they did not breed. I agreed to sell them again. Again one jumped. I waited, and soon, the female lay on the bottom of the tank and would not eat. Then, I looked in her mouth and there were eggs. I had succeeded."
At first, 200 eggs only translated into 40 or 50 offspring. "But then the fish started to love their children. They bred every two months or six weeks, and began to raise 150 or 160 per brood."
South American dragon fish are faster to grow than the Asian variety. After three months, the fry are 12 centimetres long and ready to sell.
Two years ago, Om says, the young brought a wholesale price of US$8-$9. Now, market saturation from his fish and an emerging middle class that is affluent enough to buy imported arowana has cut that to US$5-6. However, the rise in survival rates from each brood more than compensates for that.
And markets in Thailand and Vietnam, where the fish are also very popular, are open to Cambodian exports and flourishing, he believes. He says the fish have not been bred with great success in Vietnam, either, although it is a major supplier for the region.
"I would love to breed the expensive arowanas, but I cannot afford thousands for the stock or the equipment. These large earthenware pots I keep mine in cost me US$30 each. I didn't have to outlay much to keep these. They are hardy."
Tang, now sells most of Om's young fish. The adult versions of these are often to be seen in the display tanks of hotels, restaurants and other high-profile businesses that wish to have a representative of the lucky arowana species, but not the conspicuousness of a priceless red or gold arowana. "A lot of high-profile people in Cambodia have Asian arowana in private, but they do not wish people to know that," says Tang, who imports lower grade Asian arowana with papers overland from Malaysia and sells them in his shop for up to US$2,000 apiece.
He says his customers often send bodyguards to pick up the precious fish and believe there is still a risk that conspicuous displays of wealth, such as showing off a fish worth thousands of dollars, could lead to their owners being kidnapped. Silver arowana, however, while striking animals, do not attract that sort of attention.
"They are still lucky," says restaurant owner Ly Kieng. She has six in large tanks at the entrance to her premises, called Heng Neak, which translates as Lucky Dragon. "I used to have 12. When six got sick and died, my business died off as well. It halved, and a nightclub I owned was closed down," she says. She is a firm believer in the power of the fish to predict business trends and create luck.
"A friend of mine had a fish who changed colour and got sick with a humped back. My friend lost his health, then his position in the army, and now he is dead. I believe these fish have power just like the expensive ones, but if I bought the expensive ones, they would be stolen or I would be robbed."
If dragon fish have been lucky for breeder Om, across town, professional fish breeder In Sophon has another tale to tell. Although the large painted sign at the front of his property is adorned with pictures of dragon fish, he has none.
He, too, once believed in a new international market in these enigmatic fish for a country that has few export commodities. Now, seven years after his first attempt to profit from the fish, he is a disillusioned man. "I don't want to know about them. I breed fighting fish now. I spent US$30,000 on a farm trying to get arowana to breed. Even when they did lay eggs, they just ate their children," he says with disgust. "I do not want to keep trying."
He even bought breeding fish from Om, but despite the fish being acclimatised, second- and third-generation Cambodian fish from proven breeding stock, they stubbornly refused to breed.
He decided that the drop in the market price combined with their fickle nature did not warrant his perseverence. "In the early nineties, when the United Nations were here, you could sell one of these fish for US$1,000. No one questioned it," In, 42, says. "Now there is less of a market anyway. I'll stick to fighting fish."
Arowana expert Kelvin Fong and other subscribers to the web-based club, arowanas.com, say climate has a lot to do with the fickle nature of arowana in Cambodia. "It is too far north for them to breed normally," says Fong, who acts as a convenor for the web discussion page.
But arowanas.com's Philippine-based hobby breeder Junichiro Minagawa says he can see the appeal of South American arowana. "They are cheap, they have a relatively high population and they are the only ones available, legally speaking," he says. "I keep silver arowana. It's cheap here in the Philippines."