MEET AN AQUARIST SERIES: London, UK - HPLow
Asian Arowana Importer

By Theo Wyne

Original to Aquarticles

HPLow posing in front of his main show tank at home

 
Anyone who has surfed the internet looking for information on Asian arowana has probably come across the website www.arowanas.co.uk at one time or another. The owner of the site, HP Low has been importing Asian arowana for several years to meet the demand of hobbyists in the UK for quality fish at a reasonable price. Having myself done a number of Asian arowana imports to Canada, I was curious to know more about HP. Some time ago I contacted him by email; this began an email correspondence that finally led to our meeting in London, England in early January 2008.

HP is a friendly chap, very much a down to earth family man who happens to have a passion for keeping Asian arowana. His main line of work is not fish related, so he imports fish purely to help subsidize his hobby costs. At 54 years of age (he looks younger), he tells me he plans to wind down his importation of Asian arowana. Lately he has found that importing fish is just too much work (See: Importing Asian arowana to the UK). HP plans to remain active in the hobby, however, concentrating on raising a small number of show quality fish.

HP first began keeping Asian arowana when he was 15 and living in his hometown of Penang, Malaysia. He had to give up keeping the fish when he moved to the UK 34 years ago. As the global trade in captive bred Asian arowana expanded around the world in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, HP saw an opportunity to once again keep the fish. Today he has one of the larger collections of these fish in the UK. He currently has three tanks running, holding a total of 17 Asian arowana – 5 adult Red Tail Gold, one Super Red, one juvenile Cross Back Gold, and 10 juvenile Red Tail Golds.

HP’s show tank – another view

The red arowana stands out amidst its RTG tank mates

His main show tank (pictured above) has an interesting story to it. The fish were imported almost four years ago by HP from Quian Hu and sold to a man who kept them in a four foot cube tank (4’ X 4’ X 4’) with a central overflow. I mentioned to HP that such a cube tank sounded more suitable for marine keeping; he laughed and said the man had indeed used the tank for marine keeping, but decided to convert it to Asian arowana. Unfortunately the man soon lost interest in the aquarium. The fish languished in near total darkness, being fed only weekly and suffered due to poor water quality. HP stepped in to rescue the fish; he bought them back from the man and has since given them the care and attention they need to recuperate.

An RTG (Red Tail Gold) Asian arowana with a bit of a “spoon head”

An SR red beginning to show some “chilli” red colouration

A juvenile Xback Gold arowana; the fish proved too skittish (jumpy) for me to
get a closer photo of it. Hp plans to raise this fish to full size as a stand alone “show fish”.

HP has a tank of nice looking juvenile Red Tail Gold Asian arowana in stock

Another photo of the juvenile RTG’s that HP has in stock. The water level in the tank is deliberately kept
low to reduce the chance of injury when the arowana jump (as they are prone to do!)

HP keeps an ornate bircher (Polypterus ornatus) and a flagtail prochilodus in the juvenile arowana tank. Many people who keep aro community tanks find that keeping some “dither fish” helps to dissipate aggression. Kept alone in a group Asian arowana can be quite aggressive to one another.

A close up photo above of one of the RTG arowanas that HP has in stock. If you live in the UK and are looking to buy such a fish I would strongly recommend  that you contact HP. With his plans to get out of the importation of such fish, this may be your last opportunity to get a substantial savings over what you would pay at a retail fish store.

On short notice HP graciously met me in central London, arranged to show me his home aquarium set up, and introduced me to another serious UK Asian arowana keeper (See: Interview with Richard T1Karmin). I would like to thank HP for the hospitality, trust, and friendship he showed me.