How red does a normal red get?

[classic-chassis]

I was taking a look at the local fish shops, thinking about what's going in my tank next month. The chilli red's out of the question due to cost and inexperience.
The RTGs look good but there are also reds, which are about half the price of an RTG. Again it’s the inexperience ticket that’s making me twitch with the RTG.
My wife, (who I should listen to because most of the time she’s right), said “why don’t you buy a red, grow it out, sell it or trade it for a young RTG when you’re confident at keeping it alive.”
I was wondering though how red can they get? The ones I saw today were about 12in and had red tails and fins, the head had a little red on it but on the whole the bodies were silver colour.
All from a Singaporean farm, chipped and certified.
Help me out guy, and please don’t just say “save a little and get an RTG because it’ll be worth it!”
Remember the main point is, up until now I’ve had max 10gal tanks with red parrot fish and 1.5gal tanks with betta fish.
Now I’m playing big with 200gal and 70gal sump. It’s all new to me.

 

[lee1]

I would buy the aro that you can afford even if it is a green the red you are talking about is probably a banja red which is a red breed with a green,that is why they are fairly cheap,aros are really easy to care for do your water changes keep a cover over your tank and feed them a good diet and you will enjoy them for many years to come.90% of aros death comes from jumping out of tanks.

 

[classic-chassis]

Do their bodies become red or just tail and fins?

 

[lee1]

Orange/yellow tail and fins the body might get a few hues depending on quality and the checks might get a sligt blush and you will see lots of gree around the head region.some are going to be better than others hard to tell when they are young you just have to trust the source.

 

[classic-chassis]

the ones i was looking at yesterday looked like this one, which obviously belongs to another MFK poster.
The biggest and most expensive was pretty much the same as this and was priced at 200$ us dollars. (the will be negotiable with cash in hand).

 

[kriztu]

well that depends on the variety and the quality of the breeding scheme where it came from. reds are generally have two base varieties, the chili and the blood red respectively, which are known as the super red asian arowanas. from these, they've managed to breed new varieties and strains, including the VFSR's, etc..... there are some weaker reds too like the pine-apple red and orange reds. just known as reds, not super reds. here are two pics of the chili and the blood.....

 

[kriztu]

also depends on the base colors (scales). the first pic shows a blue-based chili red with a very good spoon head and broad body. chili reds have generally broader body frames compared to the blood red variety

 

[classic-chassis]

As i said in the OP i'm not interested in chillis or super reds.
Just plane red, cheaper than RTG's. Similar to the one in the picture i posted above yours.
Supers and chillis are out of my price range and i'm not experienced enough to own a 1000$ us dollar fish just yet.

 

[Robert_Lu999]

I wish I could get a banjar red for that price....my LFS sells one for AUD$4K. When I saw your post that it only costs you US$200, my heart stopped.

The one at my LFS is probably 35cms and only the fins are orange/red. The body is grey, not red at all.

 

[classic-chassis]

^yes, pretty similar but the biggest fish in the shop had a little red hue on it's body.
I am leaning towards one of these to be honest. RTG's are in my price range but only just and if i want a good one they're creeping out of it. A good Banjar red in well within my price range.