By Teh Jen Lee

You know about investing in property.

There are also those who put their money in wine and art.

But have you heard of investing in fish?

At one dragonfish farm, the fish that is also known as arowana is bred for people to invest in.

Investors can buy the young for between $250 and $1,300, have the farm take care of the fish and sell it at several thousand dollars when it is bigger.

And with the Year of the Dragon upon us, this fish breed has been getting plenty of attention lately.

The Panda Aquatic Centre in Lim Chu Kang Agrotech Park has a proxy farming investment scheme, where it takes care of baby dragonfish for investors until they are of breeding age.

Arowanas can live more than 20 years in captivity.

When the adults breed, their babies can be sold for up to $1,300 each if it is of the popular Panda Crossback breed.

The other kind of dragonfish bred at the farm is the Panda Gold, a new variety bred by director Kan Tien Siong in the 1990s.

The 65-year-old left his job as the chief executive officer of a listed company, Causeway Investment, in 1993 and started his farm in 1995 because of his passion for dragonfish.

At that time, he had about 200 of the fish at his home, a corner terrace house with plenty of garden space.

After working out how to sustainably breed dragonfish, he began the proxy farming scheme in 2000.

Compared to a single fish in a home aquarium that might be sold at a higher price when it grows bigger, a breeding fish in the farm can seem like the proverbial golden goose.

But there are risks such as the 10 to 20 per cent mortality rate.

But as long as the fish do not fall sick or die, they can keep producing babies, which can be sold for $250 each (for the Panda Gold breed), said Mr Kan.

Investors such as Mr K C Seah, 60, who joined the scheme four years ago, have been happy so far.

He told The New Paper: "I have invested in all sorts of businesses, but this is by far the most lucrative.

"You literally see your investment grow."

Here's how it works:

You buy a baby Panda Gold dragonfish and you pay the farm to maintain it for three years at a total cost of $600.

Taking into account the mortality rate, if the fish reaches adulthood, it can be sold for an average price of $1,800, said Mr Kan.

The adult fish is usually bought by businessmen.

Even better than selling the fish is keeping it at the farm for breeding so the babies can be sold. This way, the fish keeps making money for the investor.

Mr Kan, who started keeping dragonfish as hobby in late 1970s, knows just how to keep them happy.

His expertise is recognised by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, who worked with him as co-authors of a 1996 book on the dragonfish.

Mr Kan said the fish are very sensitive to changes in their environment such as water quality and temperature.

Even noise can affect them, which is why locating the seven-acre farm in Lim Chu Kang is ideal because the area is quiet.

Black netting is put up over some parts of the ponds to provide shade for the fish.

Time "Like humans, when there is plenty of food and security, nature takes over and breeding is a matter of time," said Mr Kan.

Once the fish breed, the babies are transferred to indoor water tanks that are artificially aerated.

Mr Kan said Singapore's climate is ideal for breeding dragonfish because daily temperatures do not fluctuate as much as countries further away from the equator.

What about the torrential rain that Singapore experiences, which causes the air temperature to drop suddenly?

Mr Kan said the solution is to stop aerating the water to prevent the water temperature from falling too quickly.

The fish can survive because they are surface breathers.

Mr Kan currently has about a dozen investors who keep their fish at the farm.

He said the number of investors is constrained because of the lack of space.

The investors buy batches of about 30 fish each.

Already the farm houses about 1,000 breeding fish, which have a market value of up to $6,000 each.

Most of the investors are Singaporeans and Malaysians, although he has started to expand to China, which has become a big market in recent years due to its booming economy.

Qian Hu, despite being a listed company in the ornamental fish industry, does not offer an investment scheme for dragonfish because it does not have such a customer base, said its business development manager, Mr Jimmy Yap.

"Unless you are sure people will buy from you, it does not make sense to sink in the huge amount of capital needed to start such a breeding farm," he said.

At the Singapore Arowana Breeding Farm, owner Lee Ah See said he is too busy to start such a proxy farming scheme.

His son, Jonathan, has joined him in the business and the 28-year-old even has some friends who are investors.

Said the younger Mr Seah: "Compared to fixed deposits or other investments like stocks and currencies, which require constant monitoring and may not give good returns, I feel dragonfish is the best bet."