Hi i have a baby arapaima in a 120gal growout tank all by himself. I got him at 5 inch 2months back and he is now 13inch. Ever since i bought the fish he has always been very very scared. He swims left to right nearly banging his head against the glass with fright. Moment i walk by he will just dash against the aquarium. He eats perfectly only at night with lights out where he cannot see me. Can some help me out and what should i do. There is nothing in the aquarium only 2 panels of the aquarium are painted black i thought that would help but its not helping.
Baby arapaima scared
- Thread starter Poseidonfernandes
- Start date
Hi i know this is the wrong place for this post but i was not getting any response so i thought of posting it here. I had posted it in arowanas. I have a baby arapaima in a 120gal growout tank all by himself. I got him at 5 inch 2months back and he is now 14inch. Ever since i bought the fish he has always been very very scared. He swims left to right nearly banging his head against the glass with fright. Moment i walk by he will just dash against the aquarium. He eats perfectly only at night with lights out where he cannot see me. Can some help me out and what should i do. There is nothing in the aquarium only 2 panels of the aquarium are painted black i thought that would help but its not helping. Thanks
I suggest you spend time near the aquarium with the room lights on but the aquarium light off. Hopefully the Arapaima will learn that you are not a threat. I personally would set a chair near the aquarium during feeding time. Also approach the aquarium slowly.
14" Arapaima is probably already too much for that 120......Give it an 8 foot temporary tank or large pond!!
Floating plants may help Arapaima feel more secure.
I had put some huge pebbles as cover but he started getting wounds dashing against it so i removed the pebbles. I will try adding some plants and see.
I have two 1600gal ponds but each has 2.5ft and 3ft redtail and gar which might end up killing him.
When I had a pair, one was markedly more skittish than the other. Perhaps this is just personality or a gender difference. I've never known. It's a tough problem for you. At the moment, I don't know what to offer other than perhaps transferring it into a plastic tub or some such vessel with non-transparent walls instead of keeping it in a tank.
This is not a reason to break the rules. I will move your thread back to arowana / arapaima. If you want attention, bump your thread, use PMs, include visuals - entice people to look at your thread, do some work at it. Even if there is still no response, this is still no reason for posting in the catfish forum. Maybe in the General Aquaria discussion.
This is not a reason to break the rules. I will move your thread back to arowana / arapaima. If you want attention, bump your thread, use PMs, include visuals - entice people to look at your thread, do some work at it. Even if there is still no response, this is still no reason for posting in the catfish forum. Maybe in the General Aquaria discussion.
Perhaps blocking all tank sides temporarily can be tried to see if the fish would calm down, if you don't have a pond, or a stock pond, or some such.