arowana newbie

I have just bought a 3 inch silver arowana and put it in an 110 gallon tank with a good cover. I've kept many different types of fish, but this is my first arowana. Any advice that members can would be much appreciated, especially on young fish like this.

 

u are going to need a 125g tank. are there any other fish in the tank? arawanas are great fish and are wonderful if u have a good lid. they grow quickly. i would put some weighth on your lid when it gets larger. thats all i got

 

well, its good to se you have an aquarium that is pretty close yo what u need....your better prepared then the people that buy one for a 10 gallon....what would you need to know about them?

 

My arowana will eventually be moved to a 220 tank . It seems very skittish and doesen't want to eat after the first day. What I need to know is any tips on feeding and what problems to look out for with this young a fish. It shares the tank at this time with a pleco and a small koi left over from a major heater malfuntion I had about a month ago. The koi will be going soon and I hope to replace it with a clown knife in the future. There doesn't seem to be any competition at this time. Most of my experience is with cichlids.

 

Here's a few sites that might be helpful.

http://www.aquariumhobbyist.com/ozarowana/care.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9665/care.htm
http://fish.orbust.net/silverarowana.html

-Chelle

 

Needle fish dude 15gallons on a tank that size wont make much of a diffrence a 110 as long is its a long tank would be great considering what other people do to em.. ive heard of ppl stunting them in 60g's and stuff :cry:

 

The actual number of gallons isn't quite as important as the dimensions. If you get a tank with the correct dimensions for comfortably housing an arowana, it's going to be plenty large enough in terms of gallons to handle the bioload.

Since arowanas can get 3' long, obviously they shouldn't be kept in an 18" wide tank. It may work for a while, but eventually it will need a tank that's at least 3' wide (which means a custom tank). You might be able to get by with a 2' wide tank because arowanas are long and can bend easily, but it would still be a bit cramped and far from ideal. The fish should also have a least 2 body lenghts of swimming space (although more would be better) which means a 6' long tank. The height of the tank isn't quite so important because arowanas are top dwellers so a 20" tall tank would be plenty. So actually for a full grown arowana to live somewhat comfortably, you're looking at a tank that's 72" x 36" x 20" which is 224 gallons (again, this would be a custom tank). You could maybe get by with a standard 180 gallon (72" x 24" x 24"), but the 24" width would be a bit cramped.

-Chelle

 

Thanks t_chelle16 for the links, I've found lots of useful info. His future tank is 2' wide by 2 1/2' tall by 6' (approx 220 gal.) I've finally gotten him to eat some frozen brine shrimp by placing some temporary fake plants made of garbage bags for him to hide in. What have other members used as tank mates to help clean up leftover food? Most of my friends think I'm totally nuts getting a fish like this, I think he's pretty cool. Should I have more than one?

 

Like I said before, a 6' x 2' tank, although it might suffice, is still going to be cramped so I wouldn't try to keep 2 in there. You might be able to get some clown loaches to clean up. I'm not entirely sure how well they would get along with an arowana, but since they're bottom dwellers and the arowana is a top dweller, they shouldn't interact too much.

-Chelle

 

Hi kpax632, When you say Silver Arawana, I am assuming you are talking about the South American variety. Contrary to most information on them they can get much larger than three feet. The Aquarium at the State Fair of Texas used to have two of them in different tanks. One of them was six feet long and the other was just over five feet in length. Avoid giving them feeders when they are young. They are one of the few fish that will actually starve themselves to death by becoming spoiled to eating feeders. Although it obviously is not a part of their diet in nature they do very well eating Plankton and grow quite rapidly with Plankton in their diet. From my esperience, as they get larger nothing is really safe from them. Clown loaches would not be a good choice. At fourteen inches my Arawana took out a Bala that was between seven and eight inches. If you have the space a Clown Knife will work because of their height, but you have to remember that the Clown Knife can also get about three feet in length.

Ooops.

 

Hi kc5gvn, thanks for the info. I was thinking about adding a clown knife but wasn't sure how they would get along. I,ve also heard that you can add certain cichlids but I also worry about in-fighting and competition.