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June 05, 2008

Fun Places For Kids To Visit In Singapore: Kranji "Long Kang" Fish Farm




Fun Places For Kids To Visit In Singapore: Kranji ‘Long Kang’ Fish Farm


Hausmann Marketing Aquarium and Fish Farm is one of the fun places for kids to visit in Singapore. I discovered this on a recent Sunday afternoon when I brought my three children to 291, Neo Tiew Cresent in Kranji to visit this aquarium and fish farm. This kids-friendly aquarium cum fishing pond/farm visit was recommended by yg, a well-travelled blogger (click here to visit his site) of places to visit in Singapore and the world. With this aquarium and fish farm placed on the top of my shortlist of fun places for kids to visit around Singapore’s Kranji wilderness, I set off with the family in tow on a Sunday afternoon.

A shower of blessing welcomed us at the fish farm’s single-storey main building just as we reached the driveway. The heavy downpour at the narrow carpark, cramped with other vehicles, tested my driving skills severely. Rain must have contributed to a cluttered feel when we arrived in the crowded reception area as there were many standing visitors huddled around dining tables filled with more seated visitors. It looked like many of them were waiting for the rain to abate.

I was looking for a fun place for my kids to visit in Kranji, one of the few remaining wilderness left in Singapore. At this fishing pond in Kranji, ‘long kang’ fishing was the specific type of fun fishing on our minds. This fun fishing place for kids to visit was available within the same reception cum dining hall. A 4-metre by 3-metre one-foot deep concrete pond that was subdivided into mini-canals or ‘long kang’ evoked sweet childhood memories for me.

Kids who had arrived earlier were seen dashing around the ‘long kang’, chasing fishes with small square-shaped nets in hand. They were animated and noisy as they splashed water on their own clothes while they chased after their prey in the man-made longkangs. Loud whoops of joy were released whenever a successful catch was made.

For a $2 fee at this kid-friendly fish farm in Kranji, children were allowed to catch as many ‘long kang’ fishes as they could within half an hour of play. The fishes that were scooped up into small plastic pails during this period had to be surrendered to the farm owners. If you are willing to pay $5 per child, a souvenir of two goldfishes in an oxygen-enriched transparent plastic bag would be handed over in exchange for the compulsory return of all catch-and-release fishes.

Elsewhere on the aquarium and fish farm premises, a roomful of tropical and exotic aquarium fishes were on display and for sale in Singapore. I was impressed with the amber-bright Columbian stingrays for their colour with their brown doughnut-shaped ring patterns and the live shrimps for their intense colours despite their tiny sizes. Like other private-enterprise aquariums where picture taking is generally forbidden, the menders at this fish farm were wary of camera-toting visitors like me.

Outside this aquarium room, huge black Araipaima fishes about 5 feet long intrigued us with their large physical dimensions as they floated eerily in dark one-metre deep concrete pools of water. Hungry Carps in feeding frenzy as they gulped bread dropped from little fingers provided kids and young-at-heart adults with plenty of thrill. Terrapins huddled in a tank raised their lean necks expecting food whenever we approached.



Further within this property was a large pond for fishing enthusiasts to indulge in their pastime. As the downpour continued, most anglers took refuge under flimsy zinc-roofed shelters while a few die-hard fishing kakis donned ponchos and continued to perfect their art under pelting rain.

Rain had other unexpected spin-offs. Mini-waterfalls were apparent as a result of gaps in the zinc-roofed extensions around the main building. Walkways around the periphery of the main building were uneven with makeshift wooden planks covering drainage canals. Water showers and swirling puddles certainly made our footwork challenging, as we had to leave the main building to reach another section on this fishing farm.

While I had mentally prepared myself for a wet experience in view of the ‘long kang’ fishing adventure, rain had multiplied the fun quotient for our visit to a long kang fish farm in Singapore’s Kranji.

Related posts:
1) Longkang fishing in Kranji (1)
2) Longkang fishing in Kranji (2)
3) Kids fishing place at Bottle Tree
4) Fishing place for kids at Sungei Tengah

See more places. Live more life.

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2 comments:

Lam Chun See said...

When my kids were quite young, I brot them to this place. Must be mid 90's. I already had a digital camera then and took some picturs. Don't remember seeing any Araipaima then.

Admin said...

I was wondering a bit about the place showing its age. Now that you mention it was around since the 90's, that explains it.

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