for the folks with large sized aros living in a community

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evilobster

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 24, 2011
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California
I currently have 3 12-14 in silver arowanas, they eat a hefty amount of food every day, i'm currently feeding mine hikari jumbo carni sticks which is burning a hole in my pocket. just wanted to know what i have to look forward to, the folks that have lots of big arowanas... what do you feed them? do you still feed them pellets? grow your own food? buy market food ie shrimp, fish, etc from the supermarket? i'm just looking for economical options for when these bad boys grow up................ or do i just have to bite the bullet and spend the $$ on hikari fish food?

TIA guys!
 
I don't have a Arowana community nomore but with my old set up I raised 4 x Arowana's to 2ft and I would feed handfulls of Hikari Aro sticks as a staple and I know it can get costly. I would go through a 1kg bag of Hikari food sticks every 2-3 weeks and it costs $70 CAD per bag. What I did was I converted the Aros on to koi pellets as it was alot cheaper. Ran me about $20 for a 5lb bag. I forgot the brand of it but it wasn't as healthy as Hikari. Then I would feed market shrimp/lake smelts every other day. I would buy 1kg bags of frozen prawns for about $11 and 500 grams of frozen lake smelt for $4. I would buy at least $80 worth of frozen seafood per month. This cost wasn't just feeding my Aros but also it's tankmates ie RTC, Gator Gar, Pbass etc. It wasn't cheap but they had a healthy diet. Right now I only have one large Aro in a community tank and a bag of Hikari Aro sticks would last me about 3-4 months.
 
You could also try to convert to NLS extra large Aro pellets. They are much cheaper when bought in bulk compared to Hikari. A 2.2kg bucket of NLS would run $69 CAD or $50 USD. I think a 1kg bag of Hikari Aro sticks runs about $40 USD.
 
There are some cheaper alternatives but feeding a comm of 5 pound, 30" fish is going to be costly no matter what. I go through a pound and a half of market shrimp per week. I buy a 22 pound bag of hikari cichlid gold once a year(though this does feed other fish too). Not to mention the countless dollars spent on silversides, earthworms, crickets and other food sticks.
 
Bderick-- yeah, i kinda realize that as my arowana grow up... i think i've come to terms with that... i'm just dealing with the frustration of trying to look for whole sale fish food. i mean this isn't exactly stuff that you can just go to Costco and pick up by the pallet

crazyfish88- i tried NLS... my arowana flat out refused them. they went 1 week without eating they completely ignored the NLS. this was when they were already pellet trained so it's not like they're not used to pellets.

also-- where are you guys finding these 2.2 kg bags of hikari fish food? i keep searching online and the biggest i find is 17 oz bags for jumbo carni sticks... if somone could post a link up that would be greatly appreciated.

as it stands i just ordered 2x 17 oz bags of jumbo carnisticks from amazon for $60 which i know will last me about a month and a half...

and when you MFKers say "market shrimp" or "market fish" just to be clear this would be the stuff in the supermarket fish section for human consumption?? (this sounds like a dumb question i know) or should i go to my local asian market and get fish from there... and we're not talking frozen fish correct?

thanks again for all the info guys!
 
Yes there are many possible menu items at the super market. Frozen just need be thawed before serving. Look into setting up breeding colonies of either, crickets, cockroaches, mealworms, earthworms or even feeder fish. This could end up saving some money over the long haul, though initial setup may be costly.
 
Hi evilobster,

You can try feeding 'market shrimps/prawns" but you must removed the sharp torn on the head and tail. For small shrimps you can give together with the shells but prawns you have to removed the shells. Once your aro reaches 18+ in, theb you can include the shells. I also feed "market fish" which is the cheapest. Removed the fish bones and make it like a fillet or cut into small cubes...your aro loves it. Once your aro gets bigger, you can feed the whole small fish. If your aro takes pellets, i'm sure it will easily take dead meat.

Aro eats almost anything....check on you tube, house lizard, frogs, chicken meat, superworm, earthworm, crickets...etc. These are a lot lot cheaper compared to Hikari pellets.

Aro feeding frequency 12 - 24 in , once every alternate days. More than 2 ft, once every 2-3 days. Give it a try!!
 
I buy crab meat from the local grocery.. its like $3 a bag and my aro and other fish like it...Last about a week. I also use hikari cichlid gold. The aro like the crab meat so much he will take it from my hand :P Hope this helps
 
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