New 18inch silver arowana, is it male or female!

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Ahsan Ali

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 4, 2007
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Hi.

I just acquired a 18 inch long silver arowana. His outer jaw (lower jaw, the jaw that opens) is big in such a manner that it is bigger (ending more than above) its inner jaw (upper jaw, the jaw with nostrils). So it is a male right? How old can it be and is it mature or not?

Also it was peacefully sharing a small tank (5 feet long by 18 inch wide by 20 inch high) with another silver arowana that was 24 inch long. I did not saw that jaw of that arowana. So could it be a female?

Do all the arowana fight with eachother or do some do it? Please elaborate on this with all you know.

All the insights are appreciated. I tried to take the picture but the flash blurs the image and without the flash the the fish cannot be seen clearly. I will try again.



Thanks
 
Please write more about other things as well.

My arowana has similar jaws to this arowana in the picture link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Snow_Arowana.jpg

I cannot tell other things like the jaw angel being less because I dont really understand the concept of it. And also I dont know how to tell the length of anal fins because the other one was bigger than mine so I cannot compare to it, only similar sized arowanas will give away sex due to anal fin size.
 
PLJ (protruding lower jaw) doesn't necessarily mean its a male, although it makes sense the males need a bigger jaw hence the bigger lower jaw it is still beliefs with no concrete facts. Females can also brood young in there mouth and have been known to do so, so this PLJ = male is bojus. Some arowanas fight some others don't, you can risk your chances tell the guy you are buying from if you can return them if it doesn't work out, even if it does work out it doesn't guarantee you a breeding pair so if thats what you want don't buy them both.
 
The lfs has given me few days to see if my arowana is adjusting in my aquarium or not, if not injured I can take it back to him. I cannot say the same for the bigger one because its more expensive than the smaller one.

I need to know 3 things before I purchase the bigger one. Sexes of both of them, one should be male other a female. Second, are they a breeding pair and mature to breed. And last can I breed them in a aquarium, how big should the aquarium be, I also have a pond 5 feet by 6 feet and 3 feet deep, but its out of service and will need alot of repairs before it can be filled with water let alone a breeding pair.
 
1) You will not know if they are male or female until they are mature 30"+ 4 years old+ the fish you want to buy are around 1-2 years old.
2)They are not mature they are like 4 years from maturity
3) You can't breed them in your tank nor you pond to small, the pond has to be bigger length wise in that size pond a full grown adult "pair" would be swimming in circles.

You can never know if they are male/female pair until they breed, they are docile fish so some can stay together no problem but it does not mean they are a pair.
 
What are the growth rate of silver arowana? Are there any features that tell the age and maturity.
 
I also want to add that I have seen no growth of both of these fish in 4 months. They have been the same length since I first saw them 4 months ago. The bigger one I think I first saw 7 months ago and it is still the same size. I am really confused on the growth rate because everyone here seem to have good growth rate of their silver arowana.

My arowana looks exactly like this one. The big one look likes this too but I dont think jaw is like this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Osteoglossum_bicirrhosum.JPG
 
Well they grow good for 1 year until they hit 18-24" then they really slow down to like 2-3" a year. They can take 5 years to get to 30" and by then it should be mature. Until then don't expect Arowanas to "pair" off.
 
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