A precious gold fish at the foot of Hoang Lien mountain

During business trips in Sa Pa district, we heard people talking about a strange fish. According to the story, this fish only lives along streams flowing from the Hoang Lien mountain range. It is a flower fish with special patterns, delicious meat, which is loved by the people here like gold. Perhaps due to overfishing and massive hydroelectric development, this fish is in danger of extinction, which needs to be protected.

Two fish were raised for many years by Mr. Dao A Son, Ban Ho commune.

Heard about many species of flowerfish, but in early 2018, we saw firsthand this rare fish. These are the two flowerfish that were originally the Secretary of Ban Ho Commune Party Committee - Dao A Son, 'hiding' under the small pond right next to the house.

According to Mr. Son, this species used to be very abundant in Ban Ho stream and La Ve stream in Ban Ho commune, people often catch and make food for daily use. The fish in the stream are so many that one can see fish swimming in the clear stream, just bring out the fish to eat.'Meat of flower fish is more delicious than any fish I've ever eaten' - Son said.

Beside the floor of Son's house, there is a small pond, clear water, seeing the bottom. The cool water was led by his family from the ravine, through the filter tank and then poured into the fish pond. The pond is small, about 30m ² , but there are many types of fish, such as carp, copy, tilapia, on, suddenly . the biggest one is over 1 kg. The most prominent among the fish is the two blackback fish, especially, the pair always swim together. Lu Thi Ut (Mr. Son's wife) said that these two fishes were captured by Mr. Son a few years ago, from the time he was born with a chopsticks, so far over 2kg. My family loved fish very much, even though they were sick, they went out to watch and feed them every day. People pay how much money he does not sell.

Wishing to hold the flowerfish in hand, we persuaded Mr. Son's family to catch up, but it was not possible because Mrs. Ut said: 'Catching up will scare them, stop eating for a few days, so no one dares to Mr. Son has not agreed '.

Facing the determination of the landlord, we asked the help of Ban Ho Commune People's Committee. Through the introduction of the Chairman of Ban Ho Commune People's Committee - Dao A Khoi, we followed the group of 'needers' who specialize in hunting flowerfish in streams and hydropower reservoirs in Sa Pa district. Welcoming us in La Ve stream is Lu A Sap, Head of La Ve village - 'player' has much experience in hunting flowerfish in Ban Ho. On Mr. Sua's facebook page, there are many photos of fishing trips with flower fish results. Through observation, the flowerfish has its elongated body, its back is dark green, the head and sides of the ribs have scales of black and yellow scales. Perhaps due to the special color of the fish, the people here call the flower fish .

To prepare for each fishing trip, he had to break the bait made from chicken egg yolk, rice flour, roasted bran and some other ingredients.'Player' Ly A Sua did not forget to recommend: 'This fish is now rare, so it is very difficult to catch fish depending on patience and luck'.

Leading us along La Ve stream, Ong Dau and the 'players' to choose the swirling pools, rushing to let go. La Ve spring originates from Hoang Lien mountain range, the water flows in cool all year round, is the favorite place to live for flower fish. According to the experience of the ' anglers ', flowerfish often eat strongly in the early morning and evening. Their favorite places are deep pools of water, flowing and squeezing. This is omnivorous fish, but their favorite food is corn flour, chicken heart, clones, earthworms . Although they are gluttonous, they are very smart, if you go many people and noisy they will just hang around Do not take bait. If you want to catch the question, you have to see the weather forecast, the days of returning to the sky, about to rain or when the floodwater recedes is when the fish is hungry, or the most predatory.

The anglers hunted precious fish like gold on La Ve stream.

While letting go of waiting for the fish to bite, Mr. Sau told us unforgettable stories in the hunt for this rare species of fish. Mr. Sau excitedly said: " At 10 years of age, I followed my father everywhere to find fish for my family. At that time, difficult economic conditions, spring fish was the main source of food for the family. Single fishing. The fish is also very big when it comes to fish, the biggest one is that my son and son have weighed about 9 kg, 3 - 4 kg is very much. the shore sometimes takes the whole morning, because this fish is very strong, easy to get caught in stream rocks, if inexperienced is the fish snapped off the hook right away. Now, the flower fish is very rare, sometimes fishing for a whole month can not be a child, the main reason for me is that it is completely destroyed by people like using electricity, d The drug, so gradually not only this fish, but also other fish species are at risk of disappearing, in addition, the development of massive hydropower on the streams also lost the natural habitat. This fish is said to be as precious as gold now, because it is rare, because many people buy it to enjoy or raise it as a scene, so the price is several hundred thousand VND / kg.

More than 3 hours let go along the stream with all kinds of bait, but absolutely no fish with any fish.'Player' Gold A Yem said: "Maybe it is too hot so the fish don't eat bait".

Without fishing, we came back disappointed. The flower fish are still lost in the deep water as if to challenge patience, the group of "players" appointment the next morning to get up early La La waterfall, continue the journey of "hunting flower fish".

After the failed fishing session, we continued to stay in Ban Ho commune to follow the " players" to track precious fish like gold that are in danger of disappearing.

At 5 o'clock, the ' needy ' group woke us up to prepare the verses. Although it was raining but still could not stop the determination to find the flowerfish, the group did not eat breakfast and went to the lake under La Ve waterfall right away, because according to the 'players' , the lake at the foot of La Ve waterfall was the last place. I hope to hunt the flowerfish on a regular day and have to go early because the sun is not a flower fish.

Flower fish were raised by Mr. Tran Van Thom, Nam Sai commune to preserve and develop the economy.

La Ve waterfall is not high but quite dangerous, the water flows through many layers of stone, pouring into a large, clear lake, tens of meters deep. According to A Yêm Vang 'player', the lake at the foot of the waterfall has a lot of flower fish, there is even a flower fish weighing about 8 kg, many anglers need to break and break the line and still cannot get the fish to shore.

After stopping by the lake, the crew quickly dropped more than a dozen hooks, found shelter in the rain and waited. Nearly an hour, the first fish was hooked, by experience, Ly A Sam decided: 'You have won a flower!'. Everyone was excited because the 'trophy' was obtained after 2 days of hard work.

The flower fish weighs nearly 1 kg is carefully taken to the shore, seeing firsthand, it is rare that any freshwater fish is as beautiful as the flower fish, the back of the fish is dark blue, the white belly, along the flanks are two straight scales black and gold. Under the early sunshine, the fish scales shone with sparkling colors . 'Player' Dao A Vinh said:
"Maybe this fish is called the flowerfish because of its fin color, the scales are as beautiful as the pattern."

The whole morning, our group could only catch a flower fish. In the end, the fish was brought back and released by a team member in a pond to breed, because no one wants to enjoy the fish that are in danger of disappearing.

Although the hand-held flowerfish, but that is not enough to satisfy our curiosity about this beautiful, strange fish. Through information on many books, newspapers and the internet, we have never seen a document mentioning the flowerfish living in streams originating from Hoang Lien Son range.

Bring questions about the flower fish to meet Master Nguyen Tien Dung, Head of Quang Kim Fisheries Farm (Bat Xat), we have some valuable information about this fish. Master Dung said: The only document mentioning flowerfish information is the book of Aquaculture Classification, written by Professor Mai Dinh Yen.

It is known that the flowerfish belongs to the carp family , distributed in the mountains of northern Vietnam and Hainan Island (China). In Lao Cai, fish often live in streams in Sa Pa and Bat Xat districts. It can be considered as a native fish of Lao Cai . Currently, in Sa Pa, some households have experimented with raising flower fish for economic development.

According to Master Dung's introduction, we found Tran Van Thom, Nam Sai commune (Sa Pa), who had many years of experience in raising fish. Mr. Thom's small house is not far away from Nam Sai Commune People's Committee, at the front of the house is a water tank of about 30 m3 built by him for raising flower fish.

Mr. Thom said: "In the past, there was a lot of fish in Nam Sai spring, there were dozens of kilograms of fish. In 2012, seeing big flowerfish in the stream getting scarcer, so I invested in building tanks and catching fish from the stream. To hear where the fishes are caught, I find them to buy and drop them into the tank, the first Lua with no experience in farming should be killed nearly 500 fishes with chopsticks. gradually, the number of fish is getting more and more crowded, sometimes I have 1,500 big and small fish, the biggest one is now over 1kg, this is omnivorous fish, very easy to raise, just need to provide enough clean water to feed If the investment is basically, it is very promising to become an effective economic development model, the current price of fish in the market is quite high, the fingerling can be up to 20,000 VND / fish; 00,000 - 400,000 VND / kg, but not available for sale, I try to raise fish in the tank partly because I want to develop the economy, partly because I want to preserve this species. Currently, soon this fish will disappear from the streams' - Mr. Thom is sad.

According to the research of Master Dung, in the wild, young fish often eat algae, moss, organic residue, slow growth, good quality and delicious meat. Flowerfish are able to adapt to high water temperature amplitude, good disease resistance. Flower fish are at risk of disappearing in the wild, needing to be researched and preserved. Besides, this is a fish with high economic value, which is bought by many people to be ornamental, can be domesticated by industrial feed and raised for economic development.

Ending the journey to follow and see firsthand the fish that Sa Pa people like gold, we still have many concerns and concerns about the flower fish, a little-known fish that is in danger of disappearing. In streams due to over-exploitation of humans and the development of hydropower affect their natural habitat, flowerfish are in great need of protection.