Flash my Super Red Arowana

[MariaS]

Hi Everyone

Have been on the Forum for some time but... done more reading than posting....
The amount of available knowledge is just amazing..

I thought I would now share my baby with everyone and would love to know what you think

Asian Arowanas although legal are not freely available in SA.
Banjars we see every now and then and Red Tail Golds are easier to source but not Super Reds etc so..... it took a long time to manage to get someone to source and bring one in for me but finaly at the end of June last year I received a call saying my arowana would arrive in the next weeks shipment....

I never thought it would but to my surprise... it did....
I am not sure exactly how old she is but she was chiped in March 2016

Here are some pictures a few days after 'she' arrived..... Already the boss in the tank.

 

[MariaS]

These were taken in November/December, 6 months after arriving

 

[Chaos32]

Good job. Keep it up

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Very nice! How big is it in the first pics and the second pics? What do you feed it? It looks like the redness subsided with age. Do you give it enough red, yellow, and orange pigment with its food? I wonder if it is natural.

It'd be nice to see a full tank shot and its tank mates. How is it with them?

What tickles it and what ticks it off?

 

[narayanang76]

Nice Red! Congrats of your ownership. understand the anxious wait part, have been there through that for my Aro as well. Mine is a gold Aro and I like to believe that he is a HE.

Assumption: The first set of pics are with red light on, around 7-8 inches size, and the recent pics are more or less its natural colors, may be 13-14 inches in size?

If I understand correctly, it will take some more time (few more years, 4-8 years sometimes) to get the complete RED coloration for Red Aros, till then it goes through the transition of Yellow to Orange, then RED. Its on its way to become one RED.

If it helps, sharing some of my understanding through reading about RED aros in this post: here

 

[Chaos32]

Nice Red! Congrats of your ownership. understand the anxious wait part, have been there through that for my Aro as well. Mine is a gold Aro and I like to believe that he is a HE.

Assumption: The first set of pics are with red light on, around 7-8 inches size, and the recent pics are more or less its natural colors, may be 13-14 inches in size?

If I understand correctly, it will take some more time (few more years, 4-8 years sometimes) to get the complete RED coloration for Red Aros, till then it goes through the transition of Yellow to Orange, then RED. Its on its way to become one RED.

If it helps, sharing some of my understanding through reading about RED aros in this post: here

The info about reds taking time to fully reach their potential is true albeit the reds nowadays have come along way. Selective breeding means if you are sourcing from the right farms, lots of reds can achieve their full potential in as little as 2 to 3 years and they do. Use to be buying reds was like buying the lottery but the chances of winning nowadays is a lot better. It does not mean paying a arm and leg for reds either. With the downturn in economy, mass breeding, huge drop in Aro prices coupled with savvy internet searches, it is now possible to get very high quality reds.

Same goes for gold Aros. Use to be Xbacks does not guarantee crossing but now it would be unusual for one not to cross. Even gold heads are common and low prices. The genes are no longer pure even though many breeders still make those claims but the quality overall has improved dramatically.

The red pictured in this thread could potentially attain a very high degree of redness especially given the right lighting environment and I am not referring to tanning per se so there is hope. Even if it doesn't attain the redness all of us desire, the body shape and features is very good. Nice mass and big tail.

 

[MariaS]

Good job. Keep it up

Thank you...

 

[MariaS]

Very nice! How big is it in the first pics and the second pics? What do you feed it? It looks like the redness subsided with age. Do you give it enough red, yellow, and orange pigment with its food? I wonder if it is natural.

It'd be nice to see a full tank shot and its tank mates. How is it with them?

What tickles it and what ticks it off?

She was about 18cm when she arrived but very narrow she is now about.... just under 30cm but he has grown tremendously in girth, I would say between 10 and 12cm.

Yes, she did lighten in colour after she arrived but is now darkening again.
I have not done any tanning at all as I am actually not sure if I want to do it or not...
Will post some pictures taken this week
She gets shrimp/prawn tails, earthworms, mealworms, fish and crickets.,
Have been trying pellets but she spits them out... tried stuffing them in the prawns.. same thing... but I will keep trying

I will post a full tank shot up until last weekend....
Last weekend we rescaped the tank and took out my acaras and my two small oscars and we moved my son's male stingray in with her as we dont want him with the famales right now but also because Flash has now started getting a bit of a bully towards the smaller fish

 

[MariaS]

Nice Red! Congrats of your ownership. understand the anxious wait part, have been there through that for my Aro as well. Mine is a gold Aro and I like to believe that he is a HE.

Assumption: The first set of pics are with red light on, around 7-8 inches size, and the recent pics are more or less its natural colors, may be 13-14 inches in size?

If I understand correctly, it will take some more time (few more years, 4-8 years sometimes) to get the complete RED coloration for Red Aros, till then it goes through the transition of Yellow to Orange, then RED. Its on its way to become one RED.

If it helps, sharing some of my understanding through reading about RED aros in this post: here

Thank you.... hahaa I believe mine is a she because its full of nonsense!!
Your assumptions are pretty accurate, as I said in my previous post, I havent done any tanning at all, all the recent pictures are under sunlight globes
She is quite red already for her age and I am assuming that being chipped in March she must be just over a year old? So I am happy with her colour so far
As long as she is a nice red colour and happy, I am happy....

 

[MariaS]

The info about reds taking time to fully reach their potential is true albeit the reds nowadays have come along way. Selective breeding means if you are sourcing from the right farms, lots of reds can achieve their full potential in as little as 2 to 3 years and they do. Use to be buying reds was like buying the lottery but the chances of winning nowadays is a lot better. It does not mean paying a arm and leg for reds either. With the downturn in economy, mass breeding, huge drop in Aro prices coupled with savvy internet searches, it is now possible to get very high quality reds.

Same goes for gold Aros. Use to be Xbacks does not guarantee crossing but now it would be unusual for one not to cross. Even gold heads are common and low prices. The genes are no longer pure even though many breeders still make those claims but the quality overall has improved dramatically.

The red pictured in this thread could potentially attain a very high degree of redness especially given the right lighting environment and I am not referring to tanning per se so there is hope. Even if it doesn't attain the redness all of us desire, the body shape and features is very good. Nice mass and big tail.

Thank you very much for your kind words....
Unfortunately in South Africa it is not so easy or cheap to purchase a red...
It took me way over a year and I still could not get anyone to bring one in for me
My son has a Red tail gold and one day after much battling i emailed the people on his certificate and that is how I eventually managed to get my red....

I am happy with her colour so far as she is very young and if she doesnt attain the redness everyone dreams of its ok.....
What do you mean by the right lighting environment without tanning? Any help or advice in this regard would be appreciated...