Did he eat my dojo loach?

[flukeone]

Tl/dr: can a 30cm silver aro eat a 10cm dojo loach?

The story goes like this: my arowana is nearing 30cm. A few weeks ago i surprised him (or rather he suprised me) by gobling up a 7cm balashark so I know he'll eat tank mates if he can (which is normal)

So fast forward to last week, my 7cm asian algae eater died. No signs of illness. Was just upside-down in the morning. A day later in the hospital tank he was a goner. Thought it was strange. Did a wc for good mesure and all seemed fine even though the aro would spend more time at the bottom of the tank. Not resting, just swimming. Made me think of a predator on the hunt

This morning; woke up and as always I walked to the tank and saw an arowana scale. And my dojo loach floating upside down but still alive. I had to go to work so i removed a big chunk of the decor as it might be the cause of the dropped scale. I left the loach in the tank.

Came back from work and the loach was still alive but upside-down (but trying to swim). Went to do some house chores and when I came back indoors the loach was no where to be found. Went ahead to feed the fish and the aro did not eat even 1 pellet. Which makes me suspect that the loach ended up as diner

So questions:
Can a 30cm silver aro eat a 10cm dojo loach?
Do you think the algae eater and the loach was victim of an attack? I actually think the aro was in hunting mode when swimming on the bottom of the tank. This would also explain the dropped scale.

Lastly at what point do you start feeding every other day?

 

[flukeone]

Update :an albino algae eater is also missing...

 

[narayanang76]

Yes you can most probably fix it it must be the Silver Aro. Unless proven otherwise..

 

[flukeone]

I'm baffled he could fit something that long in the stomach...

But I'm now wondering... Do they digest bones or will he vomit it out at some point?

 

[islandguy11]

Would have to know complete tank stocking but it does appear that your Silver is the culprit. And yes it's pretty normal: if it can fit in an Aro's mouth then it's possible food. Therefore you need to answer the question if you're ok with it to continue gobbling up its tank mates? If so then I guess no worries (except the more live food it eats the higher chance it will go off pellets/frozen); if not then I would seriously consider to either keep it solo or with fish of equal or bigger size.

 

[flukeone]

His latest victim... Just heard a commotion and the guy is upside down and he's pretty big. Maybe he knocked himself out but anyway going the solo route for now and later maybe a large pleco...

My only issue now is that my 15g is pretty much overstocked now.

 

[twentyleagues]

Is there any damage to the fish? You'd think there would be damage if it was attacked. It looks pretty well intact in that pic.

 

[flukeone]

Is there any damage to the fish? You'd think there would be damage if it was attacked. It looks pretty well intact in that pic.

Can't really see damage. But as i said i did hear a huge splash when it happened. First time a fish went upside-down a month ago i was worried about water quality but since then i had at least 2 waterchanges and afaik water quality is good. Only damage i can see is on the aro (missing 3 scales, 2 from a month ago and one yesterday morning).

 

[flukeone]

Oh and it did seem like the aro was getting close and "sniffing" the barb while i was fetching a net. Maybe i caught him mid meal...

 

[twentyleagues]

It may just not want room mates. Or it may want live fish for food. Ive not had arowana but have looked hard into getting one. So in that regard I dont know how they attack other fish. I can only go from other large predatory fish ive owned and most other attacks leave some evidence on the body.