African Arowana info needed
- Thread starter SmileyZx3
- Start date
The african arowana, Heterotis niloticus, is extremely difficult to keep alive as juvies in aquaria. They basically have to have food constantly available until they hit about 8" and their bodies start holding reserve fat. These are filter feeding fish that can reach 3ft in length.
I kept mine going by keeping it in a bare tank with sponge filters. The sponge filters were beneficial in that they attracted food to their surface which the aro grazed on between feedings. Water chemistry is hard and alkaline with rift lake salts added to the tank. Water changes are every other day and sponge filters each are rinsed off on alternating days to keep spoiled food off the aros grazing areas. The tank receives direct sunlight to 1 side for an hour or 2 a day. The water is pretty green (to match their native waters). Once he hits a foot long, I'll probably move him from the 120 to the 360 and stop the sunlight/algae routine. Young can be kept together for only a short time before they become intolerant of each other and begin fighting. However, I have other small growout species in with my aro and he's never bothered them. These fish are active in all areas of the tank and are always on the move.
Foods consist of frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp plus, daphnia, cyclop-eeze, commercial dense culture crumbles, and mosquito larvae.
This is an awesome species if you can resolve yourself to being extremely busy on their maintenance for the first 6-8 months or so.
Here's a little something from the 'net:
I kept mine going by keeping it in a bare tank with sponge filters. The sponge filters were beneficial in that they attracted food to their surface which the aro grazed on between feedings. Water chemistry is hard and alkaline with rift lake salts added to the tank. Water changes are every other day and sponge filters each are rinsed off on alternating days to keep spoiled food off the aros grazing areas. The tank receives direct sunlight to 1 side for an hour or 2 a day. The water is pretty green (to match their native waters). Once he hits a foot long, I'll probably move him from the 120 to the 360 and stop the sunlight/algae routine. Young can be kept together for only a short time before they become intolerant of each other and begin fighting. However, I have other small growout species in with my aro and he's never bothered them. These fish are active in all areas of the tank and are always on the move.
Foods consist of frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp plus, daphnia, cyclop-eeze, commercial dense culture crumbles, and mosquito larvae.
This is an awesome species if you can resolve yourself to being extremely busy on their maintenance for the first 6-8 months or so.
Here's a little something from the 'net:
Plankton works OK. But, I've found that mysis works better (smaller for small aros). Any plankton deemed too large by the aro is ignored.
Once they get to 5-6", they start taking just about everything, including pellets, flakes, frozen krill, brine, etc. As Oddball noted, they are notoriously fragile when small though. As filter feeders, they need to be fed frequently when young, i.e., several times per day. Older Heterotis can get by with daily feedings or even occasional off days without feeding, as they've built up the necessary fat storage to survive such off-days.
