Thanks all for your help in confirming it's a Channa Asiatica, though I am still rather puzzled with the colour but it could be the settling in effect, or simply variants with slightly different colouration. I still see a lot of gold and all! The lfs didn't know they were selling an Asiatica, hehee, so I got away with a damn good price. coz Asiaticas are rare in SG. I have been hunting for this fish for sometime but meanwhile, have accumulated like half a dozen Burmese snakeheads (pulchra) from the same lfs and still looking for that elusive ornatipinnis. The supply for Pulchra seems to have run dry for the time being, and I'm like going back and forth to that lfs every now and then to boost my collection. I may have got the Asiatica at a good price, but I'm quite sure if I were to handcarry it from China, it would cost a fraction of what I paid!
Let's see how the fish turns out when it settles down, and I will update with more pics in due course. Very excited about this channa!