When a man falls in love with a fish called 'siluk'

When a man falls in love with a fish called 'siluk'

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): It was mid-1984 when Tris Tanoto left his job as
an executive at his family's printing firm. He sold his equity in
the firm to his relatives, and with Rp 400,000 (US$170) he bought
a dozen Asian Arowana (Scleropages formosus) to realize an old
dream of breeding the aquarium fish known as siluk in Indonesian.

"I could not concentrate on my work at the printing firm when
people kept on telling me about the myth that the siluk could
bring good fortune and a bright future to its owner," he said.

"So, I decided to leave everything to focus on my new project,
only to find the truth in the myth about this lovely creature,"
recalled Tanoto, now 46 and known to be one of Indonesia's few
successful siluk breeders.

He spent his savings, borrowed some more, and got financial
support from three friends. A year later, he took his 12 fish
from the aquarium at his home to a breeding pond at his small
farm in Munjul village in Cibubur, East Jakarta.

"I just threw all the fish into the pond without any special
treatment because I knew nothing about this fish except the myth
which had challenged me," he said.

"At that time, I was pretty sure that there must be some
females among the 12 fish, meaning that they could produce
arowana babies one day," said Tanoto, a high school graduate with
no background in fish breeding.

Ornamental tropical fish lovers know that the 45-centimeter-
long siluk, a type of barramundi, needs extra careful treatment.

According to Tanoto, the first two years was extremely hard
for him and his family.

His three partners quit the unpredictably high-risk project
and asked for their money back.

"They suddenly left me alone at this lonely farm, saying that
the tales about the fish bringing good fortune were only a
bedtime story," Tanoto said.

He hoped his fish would understand his plight.

"I then decided to run the business myself because I staked my
life and future on this dazzling fish," he said. "I vowed not to
give up because I had fallen in love with this fish since our
first date (when was that?)."

Tanoto, who was almost broke, spent days and nights at the
pond.

One chilly morning, he was overjoyed when he saw several baby
arowana in the pond.

"It was a long and winding road, but a wonderful scene," he
commented of his success.

The number of fish grew logarithmically.

Today, he has hundreds of ready-to-export siluk and thousands
of fry. His super-red arowana, billed as one of the best
Scleropages formosus species, are worth billions of rupiah.

"Life sometimes starts at an unexpected age," Tanoto said.

"It seems to me that the age-old myth about the good fortune
of owners of this fish is true," he said.

His company, P.T. Munjulprima Utama, exports the fish mainly
to Japan, the home of many wealthy arowana lovers.

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl collects the Munjul super-red
arowana.

Tanoto no longer wants to sell his siluk locally.

"I've been cheated several times by local traders who used the
certificates issued originally for my super-red arowana for fake
ones," he said.

In order to satisfy his overseas buyers, Tanoto carefully
selects their orders.

"Currently, I export around 300 fish a year," he said,
refusing to give details on the total worth of the exports.

According to Tanoto, there is no standard price for a siluk.
"It depends on the condition of the fish, including its color,
body and eyes," he explains.

A reliable source said that Tanoto's fish can fetch 1,000
Japanese yen ($9,361)) each in Tokyo.

"Some even have been sold for hundreds of millions of rupiah,"
the source said.

Tanoto plans to display his fish next year in exhibition tanks
at his new plot in Ranggon village near his Munjul breeding farm.

His new farm, which will have 11 ponds, a showroom with 600
aquariums and a theater, is still under construction.

"I still have a lot of dreams for my fish," said Tanoto.

Despite his success, Tanoto has remained a simple man. Unlike
many newly-successful businesspeople, Tanoto prefers to act and
look like an ordinary person. No brand-name watch or designer
clothes for Tanato.

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post at his farm, he
wore what his employees call his field uniform: a pair of shorts
and a T-shirt.

"Me is me," he said, his favorite cigarette between his
fingers.

He does not have any specific skills to deal with his
potential foreign buyers.

"I cannot speak English, nor Japanese. And I don't want to
learn them," he said. "If buyers want to buy my fish, they have
to hire interpreters. I don't like to be bothered just because of
a language problem."

According to his 20 employees, including two fishery
engineers, Tanoto spends most of his time on his farm at Munjul,
about an hour's drive from his home in North Jakarta.

"You can see him leaving the farm at around 10 p.m. and he is
back again before six in the morning," said one of his employees.

"For me, my wife and children are still the most important
things that I have," Tanoto argued. "What's life without them?"

Tanoto said that he had to spend more time at the breeding
farm "purely because I really love to see them (the fish)
playing."

"Like many creatures, this kind of fish also wants to get
close with its owner," he said.

Strangely, the successful breeder doesn't keep Asian Arowana
at home.

"I'm afraid I wouldn't come here anymore if I had one at
home," he explained.