Arowana frustration

[Gourami Swami]

You can quarantine your feeder fish for a month or so and proactively treat for disease. You may be better off not offering him live, if he is a picky eater he may develop a habit of only eating live, which is tough to keep up with if you are QTing the fish.
Can you post a picture of your tank? He may just not be comfortable, a smaller fish in a large tank like 250 may feel like a target, also if the tank is bright and doesn't have much cover that may be contributing

 

[Nyrkorey]

Well good news, I can tell he is getting more comfortable. He is eating pellets. Swimming around more. When he is hungry I see he tends to swim to the front of the tank and stare at me when I come over. He still doesnt takr talapia or anything but takes his floating sticks just fine! So thank you for the help!.

My second question is. What would be appropriate tank mates for him. I've always loved clown loaches/green terrors/parrot chiclids. But wasn't sure what cab really go with him. Or when to get him tank mates. I don't want to add any fish in yet and he gets nervous again. I wanna wait till he is comfortable in the tank. But if he gets too big then I add fish I don't want him eating them. So kinda looking for advice on this, on what would work in the tank and how long I should wait.

 

[tlindsey]

What would be appropriate tank mates for him.

Wait until Arowana gets larger because it is very fragile until 8 inches or larger imo.
I personally would add highly aggressive cichlids. Geophagus would be my choice.
Great to hear the little Arowana is eating.
They grow extremely fast ?

 

[Nyrkorey]

Wait until Arowana gets larger because it is very fragile until 8 inches or larger imo.
I personally would add highly aggressive cichlids. Geophagus would be my choice.
Great to hear the little Arowana is eating.
They grow extremely fast ?

Ok. Yeah I was going to wait anyway since he is finally settling in and he seems to be so much more active and happy so I'm going to ride that train haha the Geophagus cichlids work better in a group?

 

[tlindsey]

Geophagus cichlids work better in a group?

Yes

 

[jjohnwm]

Wait until Arowana gets larger because it is very fragile until 8 inches or larger imo.
I personally would add highly aggressive cichlids. Geophagus would be my choice.
Great to hear the little Arowana is eating.
They grow extremely fast ?

Did you mean to type "would not add highly aggressive cichlids"? Silver or Black Arowanas aren't really very aggressive and won't stand up well to tough guys like Jaguars, Red Devils or others; and Geophagus generally aren't very aggressive as cichlids go.

For reasons I can't explain, it has always seemed to me that Arowanas tend not to be pestered by bullies...but when it unfortunately does happen, they do nothing to defend themselves, so I like to avoid potential problems.

I think that non-aggressive catfish are the perfect tankmate for Arowanas, if you must have other fish. They occupy different areas of the tank and have very little interaction with each other...which is the best kind of interaction...

 

[tlindsey]

Did you mean to type "would not add highly aggressive cichlids"?

Yes that's what I meant.

 

[yellowfinfmb]

I have a 670 gallon tank and I had a arowana in 240 gallon tank with a bass and tiger shovelnose and the bass would attack them all so I put the bass in a small tank until I got the 670 set up and all get along now you just have to watch your fish and move some out or the way oe
r get rid of some if you can't get a bigger tank

 

[jjohnwm]

Yes that's what I meant.

Am I the only person who thinks that the 15-minute limit for editing a post is nothing but a PITA that serves no useful purpose? You make a simple mistake, typo, mis-spelling, whatever...and the odds are that you won't notice it fast enough to correct it...and then it just sits there forever. What is the idea behind that rule?

 

[tlindsey]

Am I the only person who thinks that the 15-minute limit for editing a post is nothing but a PITA that serves no useful purpose? You make a simple mistake, typo, mis-spelling, whatever...and the odds are that you won't notice it fast enough to correct it...and then it just sits there forever. What is the idea behind that rule?

Yeah I know what you mean. We're human so mistakes will be made ?