African Arowana Care

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Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 4, 2011
106
1
16
Singapore
Hey there, this is my first thread and its about my african arowana. i got it a couple of days ago and realized its really tough to feed. i've done plenty of research on it before and know its a filter feeder and right now at its age (about 3-4 inches) it can only process really small food like brine shrimp and worms. i've fed it frozen blood worms, its sucks it in and spits it out if not comes out thru its gills. so i'm not sure if it is actually taking in anything at all. i even tried frozen brine shrimp, it doesn't even bother with that. I'm hatching my own brine shrimp right now even, hoping i'd get some feed interest from the aro. i'll try it once its hatched later today. he's in a tank with a couple of my bichirs that are only about 5-6 inches in length and are perfectly harmless towards to aro. read a lot of fishkeepers failing with raising these guys up. really hope i don't suffer the same fate with my aro. please leave some tips for me that'll help me raise him up well. here are some photos of him, Precious, my african arowana. THANKS!

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Moved =)
 
I wouldn't really bother with the brine shrimps actually. I suppose you got this beauty from C328 but correct me if i'm mistaken. I got myself one on the 13th of March at 2". It's been on a strict diet of FBW and it's now pushing past 6". They have phenomenal growth rates when they're young. Here's my feeding regime.

3 cubes of FBW in the morning.
3 in the afternoon.
3 at night before i go to sleep.

As you have bichirs in the tank like i do(I've got two Palmas Pollis), i suggest 3 or more cubes per feeding. They need to eat constantly rather than one shot. This will result in a significant amount of waste build up so you have to change your water quite often. I do a 50% WC every 3-4 days. I keep mine in a 2ft tank at the moment where she can easily find the FBW without having to swim around. How big is your tank? I wouldn't worry about her not eating cos' i also noticed that when mine was younger, she would eat the worms and then spit it out but they still consume the worms. As she gets older her mouth passage will also get bigger so she'll stop doing that.

Make sure you have the tank covered cos' they're pretty powerful jumpers! Feel free to ask me if you have any questions yea!
 
Cheesetian;5063976; said:
I wouldn't really bother with the brine shrimps actually. I suppose you got this beauty from C328 but correct me if i'm mistaken. I got myself one on the 13th of March at 2". It's been on a strict diet of FBW and it's now pushing past 6". They have phenomenal growth rates when they're young. Here's my feeding regime.

3 cubes of FBW in the morning.
3 in the afternoon.
3 at night before i go to sleep.

As you have bichirs in the tank like i do(I've got two Palmas Pollis), i suggest 3 or more cubes per feeding. They need to eat constantly rather than one shot. This will result in a significant amount of waste build up so you have to change your water quite often. I do a 50% WC every 3-4 days. I keep mine in a 2ft tank at the moment where she can easily find the FBW without having to swim around. How big is your tank? I wouldn't worry about her not eating cos' i also noticed that when mine was younger, she would eat the worms and then spit it out but they still consume the worms. As she gets older her mouth passage will also get bigger so she'll stop doing that.

Make sure you have the tank covered cos' they're pretty powerful jumpers! Feel free to ask me if you have any questions yea!
Click to expand...
x2 If you have any questions, ask me too. :) If you haven't, type in African Arowana in the search box. You should find few thread with info.
 
Oh and by the way. You don't have to stick strictly to the feeding regime i stated. Go with your gut, feed whenever you think the tank is empty of food. Like i said, Heterotis Niloticus prefers to feed continuously rather than large amounts at one go. I feed anything from 9-15 cubes per day. As long as you're diligent with your WCs and your filtration system is adequate enough, you won't have to worry too much about ammonia build ups or bad water. But always be sure to use either aged water or things like Seachem Prime cos' these fishes are pretty sensitive to the "Sudden Death Syndrome".

And! Don't go getting another one because yours looks lonely. Believe me, i know. They're my favourite fishes and i once bought 3 at one go. The one i have now killed the other two. Unless you have like a school of 15, comm-ing them won't work. Good luck!
 
hey, yea thanks for the advice! i did get mine at C328 haha! i was soooo excited when i saw it, it almost felt impulsive that i bought it but on a second thought i've really been reading up on these guys for ages and told myself i would be sure to get me one if i ever saw it and so i did! they're spectacular, can't wait for mine to get used to the feed. i tried tubifex yesterday, i actually thought they were better cos they'd dig well into my sand substrate and the aro would just filter them right out. i actually thought that he was eating that better than anything else i had tried feeding him. i would really rather i train him to feed on FBWs too, and will stick to that until things really turn desparate, then i'd run down to my LFS and get some live tubifex. what's their growth rate like?
 
but 3 cubes is a lot isnt it? for just a single aro? my bichirs prefer hikari sinking pellets over FBWs...and also, do you just toss your blood worm cube into the tank or do you let it 'thaw' in water and then pick the worms out and feed them? cos i do the latter, i'm worried that the cube might cloud the water or something. so its fine to just let the cube in the tank?
 
wow thery are nice i want to have one !!!! but its very rare here by the way what that in last pic
 
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