I thought Alf (alpha male) was mouthbrooding babies but it turned out he wasn't eating for the last 5 weeks due to illness or old age or something else:
My silver arowana in 4500 gal
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
As in 90% cases, IDK. In 2020 we lost 3 arowana. Overeating was suggested by peers in YouTube comments as the cause.
As I posted above, the lifespan seems to be 10-20 years in captivity. So Alf being 8-9 years old is getting close to the low threshold, so it might not be an illness after all. Hate the guessing but nothing better to do. I am not paying hundreds of $ for pathology lab. Not only the cost thing, but the results may easily be inconclusive, especially if it is an internal problem (not intestinal as poop analysis would show something; nor external as a gill smear would show something).
Something like a fatty liver disease, vascular problems, brain worms, etc. would only be known upon a thorough professional necroscopy, which is out of my league too.
As I posted above, the lifespan seems to be 10-20 years in captivity. So Alf being 8-9 years old is getting close to the low threshold, so it might not be an illness after all. Hate the guessing but nothing better to do. I am not paying hundreds of $ for pathology lab. Not only the cost thing, but the results may easily be inconclusive, especially if it is an internal problem (not intestinal as poop analysis would show something; nor external as a gill smear would show something).
Something like a fatty liver disease, vascular problems, brain worms, etc. would only be known upon a thorough professional necroscopy, which is out of my league too.
he doesn't seem to have lost condition, at least.
Our 9 years old, 3.5ft, 30-35lb alpha male Alf has passed. I am inclined to say from old age but perhaps the shortcomings of our "care" played a role because 9 years seems short vs the expected 10-20 years.
It was definitely involved in courtship with Hsieha, a 9 yo female. Since last spring over the following 4 months we have observed them "playing" with each other numerous times. I'll never be certain it led to any egg laying and actual fertilization and even mouthbrooding by Alf, but if it did, it'd be highly strenuous on him and could have caused his demise as well. Who knows.
Alf stopped feeding 6 weeks ago, hence I thought he was mouthbrooding. We checked at 5 weeks per prior video and found that he wasn't mouthbrooding at all or at that point, and he barely bounced back just from getting netted and handled. Lived one week after, seemingly normal except still not feeding. Six-week fast is nothing for a healthy large arowana. In our experience, they easily go for a couple of months, one, two small feedings, and another couple months of fast without significant consequences, except a bit of weight loss. This is how Alf normally bred for us, two times a summer, with Kinky, our prior female, with who Alf had 6-7 clutches of babies... of which we harvested 3, if memory serves.
Ron's Beakerina has now gone from 1800 gal into the 4500 gal while the three remaining arowanas were confused by Alf's sudden absence. It seemed like a good opportunity for Beakerina.
Thus we have 4 arowana left:
Flap, male 3ft, 7-8 yo
Hsieha, female, 2.5ft, 9 yo
Ylana, female, 2.5ft, 2 yo
Beakerina, female 2ft, 1.5 yo
It was definitely involved in courtship with Hsieha, a 9 yo female. Since last spring over the following 4 months we have observed them "playing" with each other numerous times. I'll never be certain it led to any egg laying and actual fertilization and even mouthbrooding by Alf, but if it did, it'd be highly strenuous on him and could have caused his demise as well. Who knows.
Alf stopped feeding 6 weeks ago, hence I thought he was mouthbrooding. We checked at 5 weeks per prior video and found that he wasn't mouthbrooding at all or at that point, and he barely bounced back just from getting netted and handled. Lived one week after, seemingly normal except still not feeding. Six-week fast is nothing for a healthy large arowana. In our experience, they easily go for a couple of months, one, two small feedings, and another couple months of fast without significant consequences, except a bit of weight loss. This is how Alf normally bred for us, two times a summer, with Kinky, our prior female, with who Alf had 6-7 clutches of babies... of which we harvested 3, if memory serves.
Ron's Beakerina has now gone from 1800 gal into the 4500 gal while the three remaining arowanas were confused by Alf's sudden absence. It seemed like a good opportunity for Beakerina.
Thus we have 4 arowana left:
Flap, male 3ft, 7-8 yo
Hsieha, female, 2.5ft, 9 yo
Ylana, female, 2.5ft, 2 yo
Beakerina, female 2ft, 1.5 yo
Possible silver arowana breeding in a 180 gal: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/i-just-bred-arowana-in-my-tank.743032/
Victoria's arowana, rescued in May-June 2020, named Hsieha, the silver arowana, comparison: 8 years in 100 gal on Hikari sticks & feeder goldfish VERSUS 1 year in 4500 gal on New Life Spectrum pellets & VitaChem presoaked herring.
Put on 6 more inches to reach 30" and 10x the weight:
Put on 6 more inches to reach 30" and 10x the weight:
thebiggerthebetter
ji, do you find males to be more aggressive, particularly in feeding? As noted elsewhere, I foolishly bought two juveniles over the summer. One has lovely red tones including the eyes, is smaller & quite timid, erring to difficult to feed. The other is quite light/white coloured (white eyes, even from dark/blackwater tank) and eats with... gusto, vigour, rage even. Same diets, though different tanks/systems. Watching ventral fins with maturation; assuming manic feeding aggression is another trait, then other tells/patterns would seem to be holding. Let's see...
