black arowana in a community 55g tank

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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seandailey

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 17, 2017
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now before everyone freaks, ill explain

theres a black arowana at the LFS ive been looking at for awhile and i havent kept an arowana yet

i have a 220 gallon aquarium yet to be set up but it will be within a month

can i keep a small arowana (6 inches) in a 55g community tank without it going after my other fish ( tetras, barbs, mollies, etc) if not at what size will the arowana go after them at
 
most people would recommend much larger than a 220 for a black arowana. no sense keeping a potentially 3 foot fish in a 2 foot wide tank.

it would certainly hold him for awhile until he got that large though.
 
If you're definitely set on the 220g being up and running in a month I don't see why not. But set backs do happen because such is life....and aro's grow so fast that your 55g won't last him long at all. Why not get the 220g up and running and then buy your aro? If you've been looking at it for a while it probably won't be gone in a month.
 
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very fair as set back do happen, i could wait and if they sell the aro they can always order another

whats the recommended tank size for a full aro ( everyone has a different opinion) and at 2 feet would it outgrow the 220?
 
220 is a better sized tank than most Aro's will end up in unfortunately, but it is definitely still on the small size for a black or silver. Would probably be big enough for a jardini for life, but they are really brutal, and I don't know if you want to keep the fish alone. Asians also stay smaller but are illegal in the states and expensive.
3' wide tank minimum would be much better for the larger species when they are full grown. Pond setups work well for arowana as well. As stated before it will take a good amount of time for the aro to outgrow your 220, so you could plan an upgrade while your fish grows. But if you think the 220 is as big as you will ever want to go, I wouldn't recommend an arowana.
 
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a lot of great advice and information i appreciate, i do plan to upgrade in the future, but how would it affect my 55g
 
Fish (predatory fish in particular) will eat anything that can fit in their mouths. A 6" arowana will likely eat small tatras, barbs, mollies. I would wait to buy it, or keep it with only fish that are much larger than it's mouth.
 
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As already mentioned earlier in the thread things happen in life. You may find in a few months that your 220g just isn't going to happen after all. If you've already purchased the aro for your 55g you've got problems.

Leave the aro in the shop, why give yourself a load of grief in your 55g. Get your big tank up and running, then go and get the aro. If said aro has been sold, order another one. If they can get one i'm sure they can get another.
 
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