Mine is 3.5 years old. His pic was taken in a 360 but, he usually lives in the 650. He never showed any aggression towards tankmates (dats, polys, IR sharks, AUL). He was aggressive towards other afaros when he was below a foot. That's normal for the species. They tolerate each other again once they reach subadulthood.
African Arowana
- Thread starter Toxic Fish 9999
- Start date
They run anywhere from $10-$45 as 2-3" fry. The trick is getting them to the magic 8" size. Most young ae lost due to starvation since juvies don't start building a fat reserve until around 8". Until then, they have to have food available constantly. Here's a post I wrote a while back on raising this species:
Young ones don't require live food constantly. They require constant access to food. I raised them on dense culture crumbles, frozen bloodworms, and daphnia. Leftover foods made up the "constant" part of their feeding regimen. I raised them in bare tanks with sponge filters. The excess leftovers coated the surface of the sponge where the aro grazed until the next feeding. The sponges were cleaned out every other day to remove remaining leftovers before they could spoil.
This was the regimen until the aros reached about 8" and I was confident they'd begun to build sufficient fat reserves to go onto a regular feeding schedule.
The african arowana, Heterotis niloticus, is extremely time-consuming to keep alive as juvies in aquaria. They basically have to have access to food constantly until they reach about 8" and their bodies start holding reserve fat. These are filter feeding fish that can reach 3ft in length.
I kept mine going by keeping them in bare tanks with sponge filters. The sponge filters were beneficial in that they attracted food to their surface which the aros grazed on between feedings. Water chemistry is hard and alkaline with rift lake salts added to the tank. Water changes are every other day and sponge filters each are rinsed off on alternating days to keep spoiled food off the aros grazing areas. The tank receives direct sunlight to 1 side for an hour or 2 a day. The water is pretty green (to match their native waters).
Once the afaros reach a foot long, I'll probably move them from the 120s to the 360 and stop the sunlight/algae routine. Young can be kept together for only a short time before they become intolerant of each other and begin fighting. As sub-adults, they're tolerant of conspecifics again. I have other small growout species in with my young aros and they've never bothered them. These fish are active in all areas of the tank and are always on the move.
Foods consist of frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp plus, daphnia, cyclop-eeze, commercial dense culture crumbles, and mosquito larvae.
This is an awesome species if you can resolve yourself to being extremely busy on their maintenance for the first 6-8 months or so.
Young ones don't require live food constantly. They require constant access to food. I raised them on dense culture crumbles, frozen bloodworms, and daphnia. Leftover foods made up the "constant" part of their feeding regimen. I raised them in bare tanks with sponge filters. The excess leftovers coated the surface of the sponge where the aro grazed until the next feeding. The sponges were cleaned out every other day to remove remaining leftovers before they could spoil.
This was the regimen until the aros reached about 8" and I was confident they'd begun to build sufficient fat reserves to go onto a regular feeding schedule.
The african arowana, Heterotis niloticus, is extremely time-consuming to keep alive as juvies in aquaria. They basically have to have access to food constantly until they reach about 8" and their bodies start holding reserve fat. These are filter feeding fish that can reach 3ft in length.
I kept mine going by keeping them in bare tanks with sponge filters. The sponge filters were beneficial in that they attracted food to their surface which the aros grazed on between feedings. Water chemistry is hard and alkaline with rift lake salts added to the tank. Water changes are every other day and sponge filters each are rinsed off on alternating days to keep spoiled food off the aros grazing areas. The tank receives direct sunlight to 1 side for an hour or 2 a day. The water is pretty green (to match their native waters).
Once the afaros reach a foot long, I'll probably move them from the 120s to the 360 and stop the sunlight/algae routine. Young can be kept together for only a short time before they become intolerant of each other and begin fighting. As sub-adults, they're tolerant of conspecifics again. I have other small growout species in with my young aros and they've never bothered them. These fish are active in all areas of the tank and are always on the move.
Foods consist of frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp plus, daphnia, cyclop-eeze, commercial dense culture crumbles, and mosquito larvae.
This is an awesome species if you can resolve yourself to being extremely busy on their maintenance for the first 6-8 months or so.
