At what point does it become cruel to keep a silver in a 180 gallon?

[Miguel]

New wife is not worth the bother. They all turn equal and the same after the initial flash.

Worst investment there is.

 

[Vanimal]

I have a 26" jardini in a 180. He seems content in there. Eats good swims back and forth all day. I would love to put him in my 750 but he is too nasty and I have another aro who claims the big tank. I don't plan on getting rid of him so he will continue to stay put until I can run dual 750s . Don't feel bad take a look on arofanatics. See how many are jammed into a 120g

Pics?? That's huge for a Jar.


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[Vanimal]

Typically silver's growth slows around the 24-25" mark to just 1 or 2" per year, though they do get more bulky from that point on. More or less, it boils down to how comfortable you are with keeping the silver in that sized tank. Over the next year or so your silver really isn't going to notice much difference. Their are many who keep and plan on keeping their silver aros in 180g type tanks for life, even though these silvers are near or longer then 30".

Personally I believe a silver aro should be in a tank at least 3x it's length, that being said I kept my two silvers in a 180g for 18 months after they hit the 24" mark. I'm sure I was more miserable about that then they were. Now lately have been getting the same feeling about their current tank. Though not too small for any one of them I do feel it is getting to cramped for the group.

Yeah the 4 of them do make that tank look a little small but they all seem happy and as healthy as can be from what I've seen in videos of your tank.


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[calibigrob]

Well I have 2 arowana in 180 long 19in n 14in they have lots room to swim ,


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[calibigrob]

Well I have 2 arowana in 180 long 19in n 14in they have lots room to swim ,


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[Bderick67]

Well I have 2 arowana in 180 long 19in n 14in they have lots room to swim ,

That may be the case now, you do realize that these fish are nowhere near done growing.

 

[Bderick67]

Yeah the 4 of them do make that tank look a little small but they all seem happy and as healthy as can be from what I've seen in videos of your tank.

Yeah they are probably fine for now but still growing. Hoping to have the two silvers in a different tank/pond by the end of the summer. Looking at the possibility of a 10x4 pond in the basement.

 

[Vanimal]

Yeah they are probably fine for now but still growing. Hoping to have the two silvers in a different tank/pond by the end of the summer. Looking at the possibility of a 10x4 pond in the basement.

Sweet! Once I get my Silver and it outgrows my 220 Im building an 8 x 4 x 2 or something similar to that in my basement for it.


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[David R]

IMO if you have no plans in the foreseeable future to upgrade to a bigger tank more suitable to housing an arowana then you should probably start looking for a new home for it now so that you have plenty of time to find somewhere suitable. To me it seems selfish to wait until the fish is cramped and unhappy in its current tank before upgrading. Yes the growth rate will slow at ~24", but you must ask how much of that has to do with tank size. Would it still slow dramatically in a 300g, or a 600g, or a 10Kg pond, or a river? You can probably get away with keeping it in there for another 12-18 months as other have said, but there are downsides. Big aros in small tanks are usually more skittish and prone to jumping and damaging themselves. Also if you wait until the fish is really maxed out in the tank what happens if it takes another 6 months to find a suitable tank? There usually isn't a shortage of big silvers looking for homes, it may not be as simple as turning up to your LFS or local public aquarium and saying "here, take this".

I understand the predicament you're in, I had to make the same call with my old black aro ~10 years ago, but I knew I wasn't in a position to provide it with a suitable sized aquarium and despite the fact I though I may never see them for sale again here (took me 8 years before I could find another!) I had to do the right thing...