Once The Malayan…..

The Malayan Airbus Gouramy

If you happened to browse some old books on tropical fishes, the chances are good that you might come across a small fish called ‘The Malayan Airbus Gouramy’. This fish grows to about 5-6cm in length and lives in acidic water of about 4-6.5 pH. I used to wondered about in peat soil estate to look for this fish. It was once my favourite. As it swims, if floated about in water with minimal vigorous movement. Today this little air breather is no longer known as The Malayan Airbus but is now the chocolate gouramy due to its colour. Technically, it is termed as Sphaerichthys osphromenoides.

Another organism in water was also once called ‘The Malayan Giant Freshwater Prawn’. It was technically called as Macrobrachium rosenbergii or simply udang galah in Malay. Again, like the gouramy, this crustacean is no longer the Malayan but known as the giant freshwater prawn or the Hawaiian giant freshwater prawn or simply freshwater prawn.

Both the little finfish and the giant shellfish lost their original identity as once The Malayan. Like the fish, we are now Malaysian and not Malayan.

The Malayan Giant Freshwater Prawn

Some places in Malaysia still very much reflect the time when once we were called Malayan. Old towns, small towns are still around with such identities. Taiping is one of the towns. The Malayan can be brought back and this has put me a place to design a concept accepting old time activities that are very much back to nature in the form of farming in water for fishes or even harvesting fruits from trees. Like those time back in the kampong that can be re-created in my new entry simply called The Malayan, an ec0-style farm resort.

The Malayan

If this interests you, contact me to know more.