weylin,
hey there.... i also have an aro...its an asian green. I have him for a month or so. his around 8-9" right now. his main diet is SW,MP and now im trying to introduce chicken heart (less fat than beef heart). i tried to feed him pellets too, normally he'll just look at it sometimes take it then spit it back out...
for me it would be best to train it to eat pellets at an early stage. coz when it grows he will be acustomed with the food that you give him... so introducing pellets latter would be much harder.... just like us.... some of us dont like to eat veggies or fish.... as we get older we are more used to eat meat... now when the time comes when we need to avoid fatty foods (heart problems etc) we are forced to eat steamed fish, veggies etc.... and its very hard for us to adapt... usually we eat it but deep inside it really sucks.... you get what i mean?
also it would be a plus.... since an adult or a bigger aro like they said some fasten for almost a month or two... here in manila philippines some said that their aro went to a hunger strike and did not it for more than 2 months.... but since its just a juvi like they said it can only fasten to a limited days (but i doubt) so it would be much faster for it to starve...
heres what you do.... try not to feed it for 3-4 days.... every day just drop one pellet if its quite big or a couple if the pellet is small... then watch if he'll try to take it... if not... remove it.... the next day try to do the same... if he still dont take it remove... do this until the 4th day.... after that if ur aro still dont take it... give it a couple of his fav food... maybe a small piece of MP,SW, or beef heart... just a couple not to make ur aro full... so you know he has something inside and wont die of starvation.... after that the next day try pellets again.... until he takes it.... once he's on pellets just continue doing it for atleast 2 weeks so he will be familiar with it... after that you cycle your feeding...
dont do WC every day... atleast 2x a week will suffice... its still a juvi and it will not produce alot of bio load.... making WC everyday will just stress the fish unless your fish is ill. or just constantly monitor your water parameters....
As for me... you might say that i had given you alot of advice but my fish dont eat pellets... well for me it will be just a plus if ever he'll take one.... since my aro is feeding well w/ chicken heart,mp and sw i dont bother training him to take one.... i just usually gutload my SW with pellets and carrots....
