Economies of scale: why Asia is obsessed with arowanas

AT THE end of a dirt track framed by rubber trees, Herman proudly shows off his family’s fish farm. Three rectangular ponds of cloudy water house about 70 Asian arowanas, a coveted ornamental fish. Both of his parents are civil servants in Selimbau, a village in West Kalimantan, a province in the Indonesian part of Borneo. But they earn more from selling arowanas. Young ones can fetch 4m rupiah ($268) from a local wholesaler, more than Indonesia’s average monthly wage. Big ones make even more. Wire netting and CDs suspended by string above the ponds prevent eagles from snatching the prized livestock. Corrugated-iron walls, watchtowers, barbed wire and a hefty padlock keep out thieves. Similar small-scale operations are cropping up across the province.