My silver arowana refuses to eat frozen/fresh (dead) food

[MissLynge]

I'm fairly new with arowanas and bought my first one Friday the 23rd of February. It was a 20cm long silver arowana I had been looking at for a very long time in the fish shop.
When I got him home he refused to eat anything for a couple of days, then started to eat normally - feeder fish only.
I bought fresh prawns, frozen mussels, feeder fish and live prawn. The fish is in a separate aquarium so he can't eat too much at a time. He refuses the frozen (tho I did defreeze it) and fresh meats, will only eat feeder fish, cat fish (was supposed to be a tank mate) and live prawn.
In the time I've had him, he has eaten 8 feeder fish and a few live prawns.

I don't mind him getting live food, but I would like a varied diet, with both frozen food, fresh meat, feeder fish and insects.

The tank is a 500L and the water is cleaned every weekend(twice so far) I make sure the ph, the hardness, nitrate levels and temperature is as it should be.

Any ideas of what to do to make him eat frozen food? I'm using a hook (dense) to dangle the food with and try to tempt him but he just dont care at all.

Hope to receive advise from more experienced fishkeepers

 

[sbuse]

garlic works for alot of fish. get "garlic gard" and soak the food in it.

 

[Bderick67]

First you have to stop feeding live foods. Then I recommend getting him onto a quality pellet. Once you've gotten him to eat pellets you can easily transistion to most any other foods. Most silvers will take dead food from owner's fingers, if the arowana is extremely shy you can use the veggie clips made for aquariums.

You can expect you silver to be 60cm in about a year, so you'll need to be looking for a tank that in alot more then 500 liters. Also many arowana end up dead on the floor, seal every hole and weight down you tank top. Silver arowana are extreme jumpers.

 

[MissLynge]

Sbuse: I'll try the garlic, never heard about that before.

Bderick67: I got a 300x75x75 aquarium for him, however I'm moving in two months, do dont fancy setting it up before I know it's going to stay there. The aquarium he got ATM is still 7 times his length so it should be fine till then
I'm not to sure about the pallets, my local fish said they didn't have any suited for arowanas, and I won't feed him food with not enough nutritions.

 

[Kaya]

hi misslygne.. i guess what scott(sbuse) is trying to say is prob soak the meat in garlic juice.. i've tried it before.. but never could entice them to eat it.. well they finally started eating without the garlic.. almost all pellets are same.. but yes the important thing is to look for the ingredients, the nutritional value and percentages.. as brian(bderick67) suggests.. its best to get them off live food.. you never know what they can carry.. you could prob starve the aro for a day and try feeding pellets.. best is to get them on pellets and when they gain a couple more inches you can try bite sized pieces of fish meat.. i use tilapia.. its pretty safe and is free of thiaminase (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_1/thiaminase.htm) what are the pellets available locally? the way i've got them to eat pellets is to throw in everyday a few pieces along with nightcrawlers or bloodworms.. if they take the pellets and spit it out then they think its food.. so you can be sure they will start eating in no time.. all the best.. cheers.. pls post pics of your setup if you can..

 

[Bderick67]

Sbuse: I'll try the garlic, never heard about that before.

Bderick67: I got a 300x75x75 aquarium for him, however I'm moving in two months, do dont fancy setting it up before I know it's going to stay there. The aquarium he got ATM is still 7 times his length so it should be fine till then
I'm not to sure about the pallets, my local fish said they didn't have any suited for arowanas, and I won't feed him food with not enough nutritions.

I didn't say he needed a bigger tank now I was just trying to provide info to someone who claims they are "fairly new with arowana".

You think arowana nutrient requirements are greater then those of other fish? I guarantee the nutrients even in a low quality pellet are better then what's in live food. Although getting it of live is important as nutrients go, it is even more important when trying to get it to eat something else. The arowana will just ignore all other foods as long as it gets to satisfy it's hunger with the occasional live morsel.