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  This foot-long conjoined arowana fish was the only "oddity" at the exhibition. An expert had offered to surgically separate the fish from its smaller twin, but the owner had declined to accept the offer.

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KUALA LUMPUR: A foot-long arowana fish which had a smaller arowana fish attached to its body caught the attention of arowana-lovers at the 2006 Malaysian Aquarium Exhibition.

Some even offered high prices for the fish.

However, the fish's owner decided he would rather share the fish with everyone by keeping it on display to the public, so he turned down the buyers' generous offers.

The foot-long arowana fish from the Bukit Merah fish farm was joined at the belly with a smaller arowana fish that was about five inches in length.

It was the only "oddity" on display at the exhibition.

Bukit Merah Arowana Fish Farm acting director Liu Zanjie said the owner of the arowana had left the fish at the fish farm for display purposes only.

Liu said the fish had been born that way and although the smaller fish beneath its larger twin looked deformed, it was perfectly healthy and had all its organs.

He said the fish's owner had been taking care of it for about a year and a half.

The fish gets one or two meals a day, consisting of worms and crickets.

"Because the fish below is unable to swim about freely, it has to rely on its twin above to get around.

"As a result, whenever we feed it, the fish on top gets most of the food, while the one below has to settle for scraps," said Liu.

He added a professional had once offered to surgically separate the two arowanas.

But the owner of the conjoined arowana had declined to accept the offer.

Liu also revealed that the fish farm had once reared two conjoined Arowanas that were 2 feet in length.