New Pickup - Kamalau

[BIG_ONE]

A monkey type kamfa or gold monkey. I believe only the originals were called Kamalau which dont really exist anymore, So Kamalau is not necessarily an actual strain anymore.

As far as Kamalau goes, they very much exist for sure. But like many other strain, there is also many type of Kamalau aka GM. And what is a monkey type Kamfa? Kamfa itself and GM is two different strains from my understanding. A monkey type Kamfa would be a Kamfamalau if you ask me.
Here is how stuff works...
Kamalau/GM = KGM(extinct & some fish may still carry this gene) - SML(extinct but some Kamalau still carry this fish genes) - MK - DKM - BKM etc.
Kamfa = RM - SRS - RS - TK - KL - KD - PK etc.

So the Kamalau strain itself, is still an actual strain today for sure. But there are only a few Kamalau branch that is out of the family tree and has earned themselves the hall of "legend".

 

[FishingOut]

As far as Kamalau goes, they very much exist for sure. But like many other strain, there is also many type of Kamalau aka GM. And what is a monkey type Kamfa? Kamfa itself and GM is two different strains from my understanding. A monkey type Kamfa would be a Kamfamalau if you ask me.
Here is how stuff works...
Kamalau/GM = KGM(extinct & some fish may still carry this gene) - SML(extinct but some Kamalau still carry this fish genes) - MK - DKM - BKM etc.
Kamfa = RM - SRS - RS - TK - KL - KD - PK etc.

So the Kamalau strain itself, is still an actual strain today for sure. But there are only a few Kamalau branch that is out of the family tree and has earned themselves the hall of "legend".

“The real Golden Monkey or KAMALAU is bred by Mr. Lam Seah and Lam Soon in Bercham, Ipoh, Malaysia. The last Generation is GEN 3 and all of them were sold to A-1 Aquarium during the year 2001. This type of FH is a LOUHAN based fish and not a mixed type Zenzhu or Kamfa.”
Accordingly,
“The entire 3rd GENERATION was composed of 320 fry of which only 12 pieces turned out to be true Golden Monkey or KAMALAU. The rest were then culled by A-1 AQUARIUM. The cost during that time for the entire batch was RM 50,000 or US $13,513.51.”

Strains like this confuse the hell out of me. To my understanding Kamalua is a flowerless fader not created from either ZZ or Kamfa. What I meant by monkey kamfa is just a faded Syn. Almost a grey kamfa with monkey features. Photo reference of OG true Kamalua/Golden monkey.
Can you go into more detail with this statement "Here is how stuff works...
Kamalau/GM = KGM(extinct & some fish may still carry this gene) - SML(extinct but some Kamalau still carry this fish genes) - MK - DKM - BKM etc.
Kamfa = RM - SRS - RS - TK - KL - KD - PK etc."

 

[BIG_ONE]

Just so you know, Mr. Lam Seah and Mr. Lam Soon were breeders only. They aren't creators of the Kamalau fish itself. By the way, those generation 3 batch that were sold off is KGM(King of Golden Monkey). They were the last generation of the true "KGM". And those two pictures you posted are KGM, those are the ones that faded but KGM also does not fade also. Every KGM you see that is yellow/pale with pinkish/reddish color all faded. The unfaded KGM are the ones that you will see metallic blue pearls(similar to a Thai Silk but has a richer deeper metallic blue coloring to it. Also rarer than the fader KGM and you don't quite see them at all - there is also 2 other variety of KGM coloration which is darker in color + less pearls). And no Kamalau aka GM is not total flowerless, the KGM strain itself is the first strain to obtain the flowerless aka free marking strain of GM. And from what I know, the free marking KGM gene is sturdier than the ones with flowerlines.
So overall, KGM itself doesn't really exist as of today. But the Kamalau tree line itself is still very much alive. Some breeders overseas try to recreate the KGM strain, although they came close to it but they never succeed it. It is still a mystery to me and many other flowerhorn hobbyists out there that where did the original creator the KGM line itself have gone? Did he past away? Did he gave up on the fish itself? Who knows...I may have to ask Lucky from flowerhorncraze about this.

P.S. - The 4th generation of the KGM is actually an SML. But these SML is a one time hit thing like the KGM also, they are long gone and has earned itself the name of a "legendary" flowerhorn also.

 

[BIG_ONE]

Almost forgot to elaborate the Kamfa and the KGM part. KGM came from the old school classic Kamfa. But to my understanding, the modern Kamfa came from KGM itself. KGM was bought by Thailand breeders, they crossed a KGM x Thai Siam ZZ x Kamfa and created their own KGM aka Thai KGM. Although they are much more difficult to create through a few generation of inbreeding and selective breeding. As far as modern Kamfa goes, I don't know exactly what they used to create the modern Kamfa but I know that it is created in Thailand using a KGM.

 

[hamfist]

All these FH strains confuse the hell out of me !!!

Chrisplosion, your's does look to me to be a med quality old school ZZ though. Love his bottom jaw .... straight off a bulldog !! A fish that is used to getting his own way !

 

[Chrisplosion]

I need to find a nice big female parrot for him. I doubt Butters (the one in the second pic at the top) would breed with him.

 

[RD.]

Congrats on your new FH.

 

[Chrisplosion]

Some better pics

 

[Unclejohn]

The updated pictures very nice red color.

 

[BIGguppy]

you have a very nice looking fish, before i even knew anything about flowerhorns i bought one for ($29us)not knowing what i was getting into and put him with a rose queen cichlid and a few other fish in my 75 gallon tank! soon after he got settled he started to kill everything in the tank and then was the only fish in there. i had to move and the heater failed in the rubbermaid tub i had placed him in for the move and he was exposed to 41 degree water when i looked at him floating in the tub i swore that he was dead and that i had lost him for ever but i tried to warm him up anyway and he came back to life slowly it took like 2 weeks for him to be 100% again but he is a fighter none the less now he owns a 75 gallon all to himself and is close to 13 inches total lenth! eats like a pig and wont let nothing else live with him not even a pleco i doubt anyone of those other high grade expensive flowerhorns out there could survive what "spanky" my fish went thougheven though i would love to have such a beautiful fish like a some that are displayed on this tread spanky has my heart and i must devote my time to him and treat him well