Help arowana is getting down eye

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if genetics plays a part then silvers in the wild would be a comen with drop eye also

this would mean that drop eye in silver is a normal thing not abnorl

How many of us get wild caught silvers vs. Captive bred ones? I'd say the VAST majority are captive bred, thus increasing the chances of a genetic defect being passed down and being more widely spread in the species in question.
 
Really was trying to avoid getting into this as these threads always go bad. In my own personal experience DE developed in both eyes of my silver arowana on two separate incidents following severe head trauma. IMO silver arowana kept in tanks don't use their eyes to hunt, prey, find food above or below the waters surface as they would in the wild. This may lead to "weak muscles" for lack of a better term. This seams to be much more prevalent in silvers, which by coincidence are the most skittish and trend to flip out far more then other arowana. Now either the head trauma triggers the DE because of this or the arowana is unable to recover from the head trauma as in the wild. Not to mention the repeated incidents may be why the silver aro in a tank is most likely to get DE.

Just my take, so take it for what it is.

How many of us get wild caught silvers vs. Captive bred ones? I'd say the VAST majority are captive bred, thus increasing the chances of a genetic defect being passed down and being more widely spread in the species in question.

Thing is 99% of large silver arowana kept in tanks, posted on the web have DE. Considering the amount of WC offered by vendors just on this forum, looks like WC vs captive bread has no bearing.
 
Thing is 99% of large silver arowana kept in tanks, posted on the web have DE. Considering the amount of WC offered by vendors just on this forum, looks like WC vs captive bread has no bearing.

That would an interesting statistic to see, as T1KARMANN said if the wild caught ones being offered are just as prone to DE as captive bred it would certainly strengthen the case for DE being caused by environmental factors.
 
ok, so after reading through all these posts its pretty clear there is no clear cut answer to WHY but here is what I have noticed...

the previous owner of my aro, had it on a sole cricket diet for about 2 years and your occasional gold fish.

When I got her ( no idea if its a her but ya ), she had a casue of curled/flipped/tilted gills. But she had starting signs of DE.

Its now been 5 months since I have had her. The gills have recovered 95%. But the DE has gotten a lot worse.

I have her on a rotation diet of : fronzen shrimp, night crawlers, sticks and crickets. She is fed once a day ( that is only because, if I dont feed her daily... she starts splashing water all over the place ).

But what I have noticed is that when there is very low light, she is clearly looking down for something. And the DE looks pretty crazy. Its to a point where it just hurts to look at her. BUT when the lights are all one, she seems to look down less. Not sure if that make sense but thats what I have noticed so far.

She is about 16-18" in a 210g tank. The tank is bare bottom, with the back and bottom painted black.
 
I heard an intresting theory from a guy that glass tops are the cause due to them not being able to focus out of the water. The reflection of the glass tops make it so the aro cannot see up as well. Idk how true this but certainly intresting.


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im not aware for real cure to the DE, saw videos on you tube did surgery on arowana's eye..seem to work out fine.
i had wild are and captive bred..they all had DE..i came to conclusion all silver aro that kept in the tank will have DE..so i think its the environmental(tank) makes them like that
 
After silver aros Asian aro are the second most likely to get drop eye
Out of over 20 Asian aros I have had and grown all to over 24 inch not one has ever had drop eye in my care

If it is genetic then a large amount of silvers must have it to start with to pass it on as all the captive bred silvers don't come from one farm or location this would mean nearly ALL of the silver breeding stock around the world have the drop eye gene I find this very hard to believe

It could be something as simple as feeding sea food the ph being to high the affect of clear water with glass reflection or even them being kept in tanks that are to small and the aro having to keep turning rather that swimming in a straight line this may even explain the reason they get it in one eye as they keep looking into the turn

The truth is if you don't like drop eye don't buy a silver

Don't keep trying to find the reason for it as even if you get the reason for it everyone will still tell you that your wrong

I still think the reason is feeding food on the floor and sea foods so I will continue not to feed my aros sea food and will drop one insect in at a time until I get a aro with drop eye then I may look at finding a answer again


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silver has the most active eyes and true surface dweller compare to other families, asian should not get DE, but on rare occasion how it handled and treated in the tank i would not be surprise they got DE.
black aro is too boring of a fish..i love silver better but damn those DE a turn off..i opted for the other family :D
 
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