African Arowana - Do NOT eat, Internal parasites ?

[michalm]

Hello,

Two weeks ago I finally got my African Arowana. Fish have something 7-8in. Arowana is skinny with big head.

I'm trying almost all kind of food that I could find: red worms, chopped night crawlers and shrimp, algae wafers, hikari carnivore and massivore, all frozen food like: blood worms, mysic shrimp, brine shrimp, plankton, krill...

I overfeeding all fish in the tank to make sure that she will have time to eat something.

I see that arowana sometimes is eating, but very, very little. I saw couple times that she search food in the substrate.

Very often she is changing color, from light gray/silver to very dark gray.

Temp is 89F, NO2 - 0ppm, NO3 - 30ppm.

In tank I have Hystrix Stingrays and FlagTail.

I'm thinking that he can have internal parasites... with medication what I have right now at home is PraziPro and MetroPlex Seachem.

First 2 pictures are when I got fish. Last 3 from today.

Thank you for any help !

Mike

 

[Oddball]

You don't say how often you're trying to feed it. Young afaros require constant access to food. Best bet is to isolate the afaro into another tank, lower the temp to no more than 82-84F since increased temp=increased metabolism, and force feed the aro with a constant supply of food. Use sponge filters so the aro can graze throughout the day. Simply plan on cleaning the sponge filters every other day. The species is a filter feeder so, offering growth formula crumbles, cyclop-eeze, FD shrimps, and daphnia will work great to bulk him back up.

 

[michalm]

I feed them 3 times per day.

Do you think that it can be a internal parasite ?

 

[Oddball]

3 times a day isn't enough. Every 2 hours would be minimal. Like I stated, this species requires constant access to food. And, with no competition. Place it in another tank by itself and concentrate the feeding. Here's a care sheet on this species:

The only real success seems to be in providing a constant source of food until the aros reach about 8" and develop some fat storage to allow them to receive scheduled feedings like most other fish.
I raised the young in bare tanks with sponge filters. The sponge filters allow the fish to "graze" on previously missed food until the next feeding. Be sure to rinse of the sponges every other day to keep spoiled food off of them. Keep the water on the alkaline side and at 80 degrees. Also keep a good lid on their tank. They're jumpers from the get-go. They also need a cover to provide matching air and water temps while the young's air-breathing architecture is developing.
Feed them on a variety of small foods. Frozen bloodworms, daphnia, brine shrimp, crumble food, sinking food, cyclop-eeze, flakes, and micro-pellets are all taken. Feed high protein foods since they have high metabolic rates (no cheap generic foods). Water changes of 30-50% need to be done every 2-3 days.
Af aros need to be housed either as 1 to a tank or 4 and up to a tank. With 2 or 3 you'll wind up with only one in a short time as their aggression towards each other is high.
Note: my best success was in following the above and allowing my rearing tanks to go green with algae. These are a filter-feeding species, after all, and I think they benefitted from some algae consumption in their diets.

Good luck!!

I'm not convinced it may have a parasite. It's feeding regimen, competition for food, and high temp is the likely source of his current state.

 

[michalm]

OK, I understand

Thank you

 

[#1StuNNA]

Right on Oddball! I've bough 2 baby aros about a month back, both of them grew from 2.5" to a lil over 6" in that period of time. What I did was, I housed them in a separate tank with no one else. That way, there's no one to compete with them for food. The tank is bare bottom, so usually i'll throw in a bunch of live black worms twice a day, so they can graze on it whenever they're hungry. Once in awhile i would throw in a little bit of flake food or tetra color pellets for them, not a lot, just a little so they get familiar with it. At the end, i've got one trained to eat dry at around 6" size. These guys are beautiful fish, but a pain to feed, just give it some time and be patient. I'm sure yours will turn out to be a stunner at the end.

Best of luck!!

 

[michalm]

Thanks

 

[michalm]

Thank you one more time. It helped !

My African Arowana now is eating like a pig !

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

oh gosh how I want that fish!!!