ever see your arowana chase its tail??? ha ha

[jclyde13]

My ~2' silver doesn't chase its tail, but I have seen it just stop for no apparent reason and bend its body until its barbels touch its tail, then snap back into its normal position and continue swimming along the surface of the water as if nothing happened. I have seen this behavior multiple times, though I don't recall seeing it recently.

 

[sbuse]

My ~2' silver doesn't chase its tail, but I have seen it just stop for no apparent reason and bend its body until its barbels touch its tail, then snap back into its normal position and continue swimming along the surface of the water as if nothing happened. I have seen this behavior multiple times, though I don't recall seeing it recently.

now mine have done this before...they also sometimes in mid bend slap their side with their peck fin in a scraping manner...perfict water perfict fish...seems almost like a twitch...my aros don't do it when larger, but they have done it when smaller...

 

[arodini]

tail chasing biting is a problem that can get very bad if not stopped soon

put lots of mid water tank mates and i do mean lots 5-10 big tinfoil barbs or silver $$$

how does this help? just wondering

 

[bheghe]

It's a weird behaviour. I never witnessed it on any of mine.

I tend to agree with parasite issues. There may be something in the tail that caused him to try to get them out

 

[PatientZero]

My silver was doing something similar when I had to temporarily keep him in a 28 gallon holding tank while I repaired a leak in his current tank....He would bite his tail and swim around in circles with the tail in his mouth......since returning him to his larger tank that behavior has stopped

 

[WeeNe858]

my aro did that for a short period, then i moved a power head around and let the venturi run strong. now he has a current to play with.

 

[Kaya]

hey keepinfish.. your aro still chasing /biting its tail? I just upped the filtration in the tanks mate and the whole process has stopped.. prob is the quality of water for me.. and the fins are healing.. give it a go mate.. cheers.. and salt.. i tried that too.. seems to really help..

 

[Koji]

Sometime tankmates is not a sure cure to this tail biting problem. So far the sure way to cure this is mixing this fish into a com tank of arowana. So far this method work hands down.

 

[moonstruckmuse]

Honestly, a lot of behaviors like tail-biting and such in dogs (not puppies), cats, and (I think I've heard of) bettas, as well as many other animals is due to lack of enrichment in the environment. It kinda makes sense. He's bored and this is the only vaguely entertaining thing to do.
My arowana used to do it back when he was in a smaller tank and he killed all his tankmates, but once we scaled up and got him some livelier, larger tankmates, this behavior went away.

I don't think it's terribly surprising. Talk to any zookeepers, and that's their worst fear - an animal that picks on itself, often plucking feathers, hair/fur, biting nails or fingers, etc. Most of the time it goes away with more engagement.
More tank decor, driftwood, plastic or live plants, tank mates, different foods (live insects every so often seem extremely "fun" for them) are all things to incorporate.

 

[goestonemoa]

yes my jardini was doing a similar thing and at first i thought it was my knife fish, but i witnessed him doing this and did a quik water change and salting, and me being paranoid added an extra fx 5 to my setup and havnt witnessed this behavior again.
and i also had to get rid of a chocolate cichlid from the tank as i suspected him of harbouring some bacteria.....not sure wich one did the trick but my water is crystal clear and all my fish are happy