Gotcha. Haha, yeah I guess 6 inches wouldn't do much. It seems any space would be better than none though.
how can you minimize drop eye???
- Thread starter alexx-w
- Start date
here is some expanded info on Drop Eye by sodenoshirayuki
What Is Drop Eye and How Can You Prevent It?
To start off I want to state dropeye, is NOT a disease or a sickness, it will not be spread and it will not be caught. Dropeye is very self explanatory, its when an arowana's eye(s) are looking down. Some aros get very light DE where the eye is slightly angled down, while there are some very extreme cases where the eye looks as if it will fall out at any given second.
There are currently nothing that can prevent or cure DE at the moment. THe only "cure" is to put your arowana in a huge pond, but this has not been proven and may not work as wild arowanas have DE too. It has also been said that floating ping pong balls in your tank will solve DE as your arowana will look up at it. Your arowana will give it 10 seconds of interest and go back to doing what it always does. It might even be hazardous if you have a big arowana that can swallow the ping pong ball. To put it short, there are NO proven cures as of now.
Which Aro Is Most Prone?
Silver Arowana- When you say DE, the first arowana that people think of is the silver arowana. There has yet to be a picture of a silver arowana without DE over 20". DE usually starts developing after the aro hits 16".
Jardini/Leichardti Arowana- Jardinis and leichardtis are both aussie arowanas, they are NOT the same, but will be grouped the same for this. Jars/leis do not develop DE as common as silvers, but the majority of them do after hitting 16"-18".
Asian Arowana- The asian arowana has a very low chance of getting DE. Though it is not common, it does not mean they cannot get it. Usually, DE is only found on the bigger asian aros (24"), and rarely, if ever, found on a smaller aro.
African Arowana- The african arowana is not a true arowana but will be included into this. African arowanas cannot or will rarely ever get DE. There has yet to be a photograph of an african arowana with DE (on mfk and google of course).
Black Arowanas- Like the african arowana, the black arowana cannot or will rarely ever get DE. There is also no photographs of black arowanas with DE.
*May not be relevant with DE, but it is still worth mentioning. Arowanas slow their growth rate when they reach the 16"-18" mark, this is exactly the same time that DE starts to develop in most arowanas. Are these 2 events connected somehow?*
What Causes DE?
So heres the important question, if there are no cures for it, then what causes it? There is no definite proof yet to answer this question. We still have no idea what cuases DE but we do have many theories. Below is a list of the most common myths and beliefs on how DE is formed. There is probably many more, but there are too many, thus only the most common ones will be listed.
(I will refer to each belief by number after listing them)
Beliefs:
1. DE caused from excess fat
2. DE caused from head trauma*
3. DE from tank reflection
4. DE from strong light
5. DE from looking down
6. DE from genetics
Meaning:
1. DE is caused by an arowana eating too many fatty foods like feeder goldfish. The fat builds up behind the eye and pushes it down, causing DE.
2. DE is caused by an arowana hitting the tank sides too hard. The trauma or shock from it losens the eye from its socket and the aro develops DE.
3. DE is caused by the tank reflecting light. The light reflects into the arowana's eyes and cuases DE.
4. DE is caused by strong lights. The arowana is bothered by the light, thus it has to look in a different direction and the eyes look down and DE develops.
5. DE is caused by an arowana looking down. No matter the cause, whether it be becuase of light or becuase it is looking for food, when it looks down, it starts to get used to it and eventually becomes permanent thus having DE.
6. DE is caused by genetics.
What Doesn't Makes Sense?
1. If DE is caused by fatty foods, then why do only some aros get it? Why can't we prevent DE by feeding lean foods if it is caused by excess fat buildup? Why don't blacks or africans get DE even if you gutload them with feeders?
2. If DE is caused by head trauma, why would asian aros be less prone to get it than silvers? Why would they have DE in the wild if there is really nothing for them to ram their head into in the wild?
3. If DE is caused by light reflections going into the eye, then why can't it be cured by simply turning off all the lights and not letting any light get to the arowana?
4. If DE is caused by the arowana looking in a different direction due to lights, why can't we just cure it by turn off all lights and wrapping the tank in black?
5. If an arowana gets DE by looking down, why can't we just take away all factors that make it look down?
6. If DE is caused by genetics, what makes almost all, if not all, silvers get DE while only a selected number of asian arowanas able to get DE?
What Makes Sense?
1. When you think about it, when humans gain weight, they get bigger and bulkier. If an arowana worked the same way, there could be fat build up behind the eyes thus pushing it out.
2. We always see it in the movies, someone gets hit in the back of the head, and their eyes come popping out, this can also apply with an arowana when the arowana rams into the tank glass. This would also explain why silvers and aussies are more prone to get it than asian arowanas. Silvers and aussies are very jumpy and skittish arowanas, they will dart when they get scared (which is very often) and is not surprising if it hits the tank glass while asian arowanas are more calm and will not be scared as easily, thus explaining while asian arowanas are less prone to DE. African arowanas are also the calmest out of all arowanas, which would mean it would rarely dart into the glass, thus, rarely ever having head trauma.
3. Lights are harmful, especially to the naked eye. If human eyes can be hurt by light, arowanas might also be the same.
4. It is basic reaction that when something is shot at your eye, you either block your eyes from it, or you move your eyes elsewhere. Arowanas have nothing that can shield their eyes, thus they would need to look elsewhere.
5. Humans have habits, so do fish. If we start to slouch for a long period of time, we will be accustommed to it, same can be said for an arowana looking down.
6. Genetics would explain why silvers are very prone to DE while blacks are virtually immune to it even though they are both very similar. This would also prove why you cannot prevent or cure it.
What Is Drop Eye and How Can You Prevent It?
To start off I want to state dropeye, is NOT a disease or a sickness, it will not be spread and it will not be caught. Dropeye is very self explanatory, its when an arowana's eye(s) are looking down. Some aros get very light DE where the eye is slightly angled down, while there are some very extreme cases where the eye looks as if it will fall out at any given second.
There are currently nothing that can prevent or cure DE at the moment. THe only "cure" is to put your arowana in a huge pond, but this has not been proven and may not work as wild arowanas have DE too. It has also been said that floating ping pong balls in your tank will solve DE as your arowana will look up at it. Your arowana will give it 10 seconds of interest and go back to doing what it always does. It might even be hazardous if you have a big arowana that can swallow the ping pong ball. To put it short, there are NO proven cures as of now.
Which Aro Is Most Prone?
Silver Arowana- When you say DE, the first arowana that people think of is the silver arowana. There has yet to be a picture of a silver arowana without DE over 20". DE usually starts developing after the aro hits 16".
Jardini/Leichardti Arowana- Jardinis and leichardtis are both aussie arowanas, they are NOT the same, but will be grouped the same for this. Jars/leis do not develop DE as common as silvers, but the majority of them do after hitting 16"-18".
Asian Arowana- The asian arowana has a very low chance of getting DE. Though it is not common, it does not mean they cannot get it. Usually, DE is only found on the bigger asian aros (24"), and rarely, if ever, found on a smaller aro.
African Arowana- The african arowana is not a true arowana but will be included into this. African arowanas cannot or will rarely ever get DE. There has yet to be a photograph of an african arowana with DE (on mfk and google of course).
Black Arowanas- Like the african arowana, the black arowana cannot or will rarely ever get DE. There is also no photographs of black arowanas with DE.
*May not be relevant with DE, but it is still worth mentioning. Arowanas slow their growth rate when they reach the 16"-18" mark, this is exactly the same time that DE starts to develop in most arowanas. Are these 2 events connected somehow?*
What Causes DE?
So heres the important question, if there are no cures for it, then what causes it? There is no definite proof yet to answer this question. We still have no idea what cuases DE but we do have many theories. Below is a list of the most common myths and beliefs on how DE is formed. There is probably many more, but there are too many, thus only the most common ones will be listed.
(I will refer to each belief by number after listing them)
Beliefs:
1. DE caused from excess fat
2. DE caused from head trauma*
3. DE from tank reflection
4. DE from strong light
5. DE from looking down
6. DE from genetics
Meaning:
1. DE is caused by an arowana eating too many fatty foods like feeder goldfish. The fat builds up behind the eye and pushes it down, causing DE.
2. DE is caused by an arowana hitting the tank sides too hard. The trauma or shock from it losens the eye from its socket and the aro develops DE.
3. DE is caused by the tank reflecting light. The light reflects into the arowana's eyes and cuases DE.
4. DE is caused by strong lights. The arowana is bothered by the light, thus it has to look in a different direction and the eyes look down and DE develops.
5. DE is caused by an arowana looking down. No matter the cause, whether it be becuase of light or becuase it is looking for food, when it looks down, it starts to get used to it and eventually becomes permanent thus having DE.
6. DE is caused by genetics.
What Doesn't Makes Sense?
1. If DE is caused by fatty foods, then why do only some aros get it? Why can't we prevent DE by feeding lean foods if it is caused by excess fat buildup? Why don't blacks or africans get DE even if you gutload them with feeders?
2. If DE is caused by head trauma, why would asian aros be less prone to get it than silvers? Why would they have DE in the wild if there is really nothing for them to ram their head into in the wild?
3. If DE is caused by light reflections going into the eye, then why can't it be cured by simply turning off all the lights and not letting any light get to the arowana?
4. If DE is caused by the arowana looking in a different direction due to lights, why can't we just cure it by turn off all lights and wrapping the tank in black?
5. If an arowana gets DE by looking down, why can't we just take away all factors that make it look down?
6. If DE is caused by genetics, what makes almost all, if not all, silvers get DE while only a selected number of asian arowanas able to get DE?
What Makes Sense?
1. When you think about it, when humans gain weight, they get bigger and bulkier. If an arowana worked the same way, there could be fat build up behind the eyes thus pushing it out.
2. We always see it in the movies, someone gets hit in the back of the head, and their eyes come popping out, this can also apply with an arowana when the arowana rams into the tank glass. This would also explain why silvers and aussies are more prone to get it than asian arowanas. Silvers and aussies are very jumpy and skittish arowanas, they will dart when they get scared (which is very often) and is not surprising if it hits the tank glass while asian arowanas are more calm and will not be scared as easily, thus explaining while asian arowanas are less prone to DE. African arowanas are also the calmest out of all arowanas, which would mean it would rarely dart into the glass, thus, rarely ever having head trauma.
3. Lights are harmful, especially to the naked eye. If human eyes can be hurt by light, arowanas might also be the same.
4. It is basic reaction that when something is shot at your eye, you either block your eyes from it, or you move your eyes elsewhere. Arowanas have nothing that can shield their eyes, thus they would need to look elsewhere.
5. Humans have habits, so do fish. If we start to slouch for a long period of time, we will be accustommed to it, same can be said for an arowana looking down.
6. Genetics would explain why silvers are very prone to DE while blacks are virtually immune to it even though they are both very similar. This would also prove why you cannot prevent or cure it.
H]-[H;4192027; said:Just thought I'd bring this up..
Originally Posted by sbuse
A very common deformity that is striking more and more Silver Arowanas kept in captivity today is drop eye, a condition where the eye(s) constantly look down. It is of great debate of what actually causes this conditioned, but a few of the theory can be ruled out or severely questioned, such as a fatty diet. A majority of owners have raised there fish on a low fat diet and consequently
they still acquire it. The genetics theory has flaws of its own, Some hobbyist claim that its the captive bred silvers that acquire the drop eye due to inbreeding causing a weak gene pool, but how can this be when the majority of the countrys silvers are coming out of wild from south America? According to some (consider them semi-unreliable sources) that it is the captive bred silver arowana that are less prone to drop eye, if this is in fact true then is inbreeding really responsible for causing weak genes in fish in general or is it the wild strains of fish that are less hardy than there captive bred counterparts??? .
Getting back on topic, some say that reflection from the bottom of the tank causes the fish to look down.To answer this I did a lil investigation. and this is done on an acrylic tank bottom, not a glass one but I think the result on the glass would be the same. (feel free to question this experiment)
See the reflections??? Thats from our point of view..
[URL="http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/6797/31003569.png"][/URL]
Now I took some saran wrap, wrapped up my carema in it, tied it off and made it water proof. The second time, well ..now my camera is drying in front of a fan..lol.. Lets take a look under water from a fishes point of view (I zoomed out as far as I could, the figure at the top of the pic is my aros head)
[URL="http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/3290/68253794.png"][/URL]
its the wooden bottom, but Wheres the reflection????? If theres is no reflection then what are they looking down at/for??? You might be thinking that the fish would probably be looking down at the tankmates swimming at the bottom level of the tank, but wait .. what if the arowana has no tankmates???...and theres No reflection????Then what the heck would the fish looking down for???? Until science (or some hobbiyst with a pay load of cash) steps up, the true cause(s) may remain unknown leaving us to dwell on theorys.
Credit for this info goes Delgado
good info there brian. although.......i gotta call BS on part of it
"Silver Arowana- When you say DE, the first arowana that people think of is the silver arowana. There has yet to be a picture of a silver arowana without DE over 20". DE usually starts developing after the aro hits 16"."
mine is a bit over 2 foot, no signs of DE(hoping to keep it that way).
started this fish out in a 75g feeding krill and crawlers. got it onto smelt, shrimp, and cut fish filets in very short order. always had a night light of some sorts. never relied on overly bright lights. when the fish was about a foot i moved him from the 75 into the 6'x3' 225g. always had tankmates.
not sure if ther eis any more info needed here, but that has been my experience
"Silver Arowana- When you say DE, the first arowana that people think of is the silver arowana. There has yet to be a picture of a silver arowana without DE over 20". DE usually starts developing after the aro hits 16"."
mine is a bit over 2 foot, no signs of DE(hoping to keep it that way).
started this fish out in a 75g feeding krill and crawlers. got it onto smelt, shrimp, and cut fish filets in very short order. always had a night light of some sorts. never relied on overly bright lights. when the fish was about a foot i moved him from the 75 into the 6'x3' 225g. always had tankmates.
not sure if ther eis any more info needed here, but that has been my experience
Bderick67;4192550; said:
i credited Delgado in the redoing of the sticky, but it may have just automatically put it as a quote from me as it was taken from the new sticky
Bderick67;4192645; said:Not my info just reposting from another thread. If you are so proud of this silver of your's why not post some pics and show him off?
i know right...i see alot of people 'talking' there fish up as it is the sh^t yet never anything more then the talk...nothing is more time wasting then reading posts over and over about how 'my fish is this' or 'my fish is that', but with no pics ever to back it...for all we know it could be that aro in the 55gal for 6yrs and they are just talking out their ***...i can't recall any pics of larger silvers in tanks without DE in atleast one eye, even if it is slight it is there...
![H]-[H](/forums/data/avatars/s/44/44128.jpg?1463640742){kind=avatar}
mine is about 10" now and started developing it around 8"...im bummed but he has beautiful reds and oranges to more than make up for giving me the stink eye!
My 6" silver just started getting it in his left eye this week. I'm bummed about it, but expected it.
My friend lived in the philippines. Hes owned asian aros. He says out there they put large ping pong balls in the tanks to keep their eyes focus on something. You can also put a peice of colored tape on all sides of your tank. Different colors on each sides.
