Can cardinal tetra be kept with Arowana

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tiger15

tiger15

Goliath Tigerfish
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Oct 1, 2012
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It may sound crazy, right? But I captured these pics and a video of a show tank in the Dallas Worldwide Aquarium in which an asian red arowana was kept with hundreds of cardinal tetra, a few plecos, and a pair of Thorichthys elioti guarding a brood of fry. I do not know how big the tank was, but judging from the size of the arowana in comparison to the tank, it must be over 800 gal. The arowana was gliding gracefully among the cardinals, and I did not observe any predation. I can't imagine the craziness of mixing fish like this, particularly in a public aquarium. The pics and video were taken many years ago when I visited Dallas, but still puzzled me so I made a youtube for sharing. I wonder if the tank is still there. It was located in the auditorium, not the main display tanks area.



[video=youtube;6AK9WfyTffk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6AK9WfyTffk[/video]

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I doubt that it can't be predated, they must have made the arowana a vegetarian or they refill the lost tetras.
 
David R said:
Predator vs prey size, do lions bother to chase mice? It isn't the first time I've seen a large arowana kept with tiny tetras fairly successfully. The larger the aro the better chance of it working, strangely enough.
Click to expand...

+1 , you can keep small tetras in with large enough fish it isn't worth the effort to the arowana to chase the tetras as it would take more energy to catch one then the meal would provide. ive even seen a huge black piranha kept with convicts.
 
Another factor is that the tank is large, and the fish density is low. Other than hundreds of tiny cardinals, there were only a few large fish that included a pair of Thorichthys, a few large plecos, and a single arrow. It won't work if the tank is small, or the density of fish is high. Just look at the Thorichthys pair. They were able to guard their brood successfully against a much bigger predator, and hundred of cardinals that will not hesitate to prey on their fry.



[video=youtube;RFgUA2ypqjI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RFgUA2ypqjI[/video]
 
i've actually seen this work with large piranhas, provided a very large tank, very large piranhas (over 12 inches) and frequent feeding. Every now and then a few would go missing but overall it's nothing that a quick pet store visit cannot top up once noticed and the affect is amazing to view
 
At the baltimore aquarium there is a 4.5 foot RTC and 3 foot arowana in eith 500 cardinal tetras.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
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