does any one have a full grown african arow on here

[skillzizzo]

Hey guy's i've been a member here for about 8 months or so and i have read pratically every thread in this arowana section so i have gone through the post before asking this guistion. But i have found no reall info in mfk about african arow's at all. First and formost i want to see a pic of a full grown size one are there different one's or do they come in only one color shape exct. I have found and been told that they grow to about the same size as a jardini. Some of you may now i am in the middle of setting up my new 240 glass 8'2'2 and was planning on it being home for a jar i have allready owned a jar till around 19 inches so i need no info on them.

But i would like to see pics of others on here if you have a african guy i want to see a full grown size one and ask you what there agression is like are they more freindly like a silver and black or mean like a jar. Also i've never seen one for sale or even heard of one for sale, does any one have a clue were i could purchase one of the africans and how much do they go for. Also are they more bendable like a silver or a black or more stiff in frame like a jardini. Like i said i haven't seen a full grown one and would like to and haven't been able to find any info on them really any where not even with a google. And also like i said i do not need any info on silvers, blacks, jardini's or asians i all ready no alot about these spiecies of arow's but not much about the african kind if you could please help me out i would greatly appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey allen Braley

[AwolAngler]

I don't have one... but They are def. heavy bodied and I would think they would be even less bendable then a Jar! A big reason why you don't see as many of these around is because they are extremely finicky eaters when young. Also I don't believe they are actually considered to be a "true arowana" if you look at their mouths their actually mid water feeders... not top feeders like the rest... I also don't think they are nearly as attractive IMO.
http://group.ezlife.com.cn:8080/data/media/7/20050907014541589.jpg
http://www.ninekaow.com/fishes/thumbs/1096546232.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/fuarowana/NEGRO.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/bidewaterkant/Arobericht%2007-2006/heterotis-niloticus.jpg
Heres the description from wikipedia.com hope this helped....
The African arowana, Heterotis niloticus, is one of seven members of the arowana family. Despite being called an "Arowana", the African arowana is more closely related to Arapaima gigas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arapaima_gigas), the only other member in the subfamily Heterotidinae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterotidinae). The only plankton-feeding osteoglossid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoglossidae), the African arowana has a more terminal mouth than other species of arowana (Osteoglossum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoglossum) and Scleropages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scleropages)). Rarely imported for the home aquarium, in captivity it is known to be willing to accept dry, floating pellets on a regular basis and, in fact, sometimes does not consume live goldfish.

[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_arowana&action=edit&section=1)] Description

Like the other Osteoglossids, the African arowana is a long-bodied fish with large scales, long dorsal and anal fins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_anatomy) set far back on the body, and a rounded caudal fin. Its height is 3.5 to 5 times Standard Length (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_measurement) (SL). It has been reported to reach up to 100 cm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centimetre) (39 in (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch)) SL and weigh up to 10.2 kg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram) (22 lb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_%28mass%29)).
This fish is gray, brown, or bronze in color. Coloration is uniform in adults, but juveniles often have dark longitudinal bands.
African arowanas have air-breathing organs on its branchiae, enabling them to survive in oxygen-depleted water. A suprabranchial organ allows it to concentrate small planktonic food particles and also has a sensory function.

[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_arowana&action=edit&section=2)] Range

This species is widespread throughout Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa), where it is native to all the watersheds in Sahelo-Sudanese region, Senegal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senegal), and Gambia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambia) as well as parts of eastern Africa. This range includes the basins of the Corubal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corubal_River), Volta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volta_River), Ouémé (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ou%C3%A9m%C3%A9_River), Niger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_River), Bénoué (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9nou%C3%A9_River), and Nile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_River) Rivers as well as those of Lake Chad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chad) and Lake Turkana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Turkana). It has been successfully introduced to Côte d'Ivoire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B4te_d%27Ivoire), the Cross River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_River) in Nigeria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria), the Sanaga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanaga_River) and Nyong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyong_River) rivers in Cameroon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameroon), and Ogooué River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogoou%C3%A9_River) in Gabon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabon), as well as the lower and middle Congo River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_River) basin, including Ubangui (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubangui_River) and Kasaï (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasa%C3%AF_River) Rivers. It has also been introduced in Madagascar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar). In some cases, introduction is reported to have had a negative impact on the local ecology.

[filiportela]

it's like a small arampaima, more than an aro.. still very cool ;)

[Miguel]

do a search in MFK..Oddball has them and has explained how he reared them up..very dificult when babies...

[Gr8KarmaSF]

check oddballs thread in the photo gallery sticky....

[Oddball]

Here are a couple of pics of my sub-adult. He's a bit over 2 feet now. So, he still has a bit of growing to do.

Sidenote: I suspect they're filter-feeding habits change as they grow. My "filter-feeder" chased down and ate 2 3" minnows yesterday.

[wizzin]

amazing how the african more closely resembles the south american as opposed to the south asians.

[skillzizzo]

Hello again thanks for the info so far guy's i appreciate it so oddball if you'rs is already over two feet how big will he get then. Thanks for the pic also i like them they look very interesting to. So then my next quistion is what do you mean by saying there filter feeders i have never heard that term before. They won't eat live food like my jar did i used to love to feed it crickets and watch him eat them i would feed him two dozen a day just to watch him eat them and frozen blood worms in the morning and frozen brine shrimp at night so a different diet is necassary what do you feed him. You said he was 2 and over two feet so grows fast like the jar's do. I kept my jar in like 7.0 ph with crushed coral to raise the ph a few live plants and i used black water treatment the amazon stuff are these water perimiters ok for the african as well. And is my 240 glass 8'2'2 big enough to house one for life oddball like i asked before how is there flexibility is it in comparison to a jar or more bendeble like a silver, Also do you have any links of one of you'rs the big one swimming or any other's i haven't been able to find any yet. Again thanks for all of your times i appreciate it very much so.

Sincerely

JEffrey allen Braley

[Oddball]

I've had problems raising other afaros in less than a pH of 7.4. And, I would suppose that blackwater tonic (normally used for south american fish) would not be a good choice for these african species. You should consider setting up their environment as you would set up african cichlids. Mine are in a high alkaline (pH 8.0+) setup with aragonite and bulk limestone. I also add rift lake salts per the levels for tanganyikan cichlids.
Mine is currently in a 275 that he can barely turn in. He's going back into the 650 once the welding work is done on the tank rack above it.
These aros are considered filter-feeders. They feed by cruising through the water with their mouths open. Small inverts and other digestible matter are caught up in their gill rakers where the water is passed out their gills while the particulate matter is swallowed as food.
As to how big mine will get, who knows? They grow to 3ft in the wild. I have to wait and see how close to that size he'll get in my tanks.

[skillzizzo]

Ok thanks for the infor guy's i don't think i'm really interested in these fish after all so thanks for you'r time on the subjecxt but no more info is needed by me i don't now how to close this thread but iff a administrator reads it go ahead and close it for me i'm done with it thanks again for you'r time.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey alLen Braley

[Oddball]

No need to close it since other members can post questions to keep the thread alive (if desired).

[kriztu]

oddball's afri is so cool! african aros are definitely not for novices, quite a task for most hobbyists