Need Help With Arawanas

[danny272]

I have had 3 arawanas and they have all lived about 12 to 13 days then they die. The first one was a silver he was about 6 in. long lived in a 45 gallon. He ate real good was feeding gold fish crickets and cut earthworms. Turned off the light and went down the next morning and he was dead.He was also the only fish in the tank.

The second one was an Aurtrailian 6in. long his tank mate was a pleco.He also ate very good for a while then he also died. The pleco is still alive and healthy.

The third one was another silver 7in. long tankmates were pleco, 2 cory cats, a pictus cat, and a ghost knife about 1.5 in. long. He also ate very well for a while then he died. The other fish I listed ar alive and doing well still.

Tank specs.
77-81 temp
7.5 ph
1 emperor 400 bio filter
a good size air pump
2 air stones
1 200 watt heater
running ammo chips in the filter instead of charcoal
always dechlorinated the new water when changing

If anybody has any ideas please help me.

 

[Gourami Swami]

IMO you need at very least a 6 footer to do arowanas, your tank is much too small. Thats is probably why they died. That tank Isnt even big enough for the ghost knife.

You know about cycling? I would test your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate epecially)

Big fish need big tanks

 

[davo]

yes more info needed on water params front.

 

[WyldFya]

IMO you need at very least a 6 footer to do arowanas, your tank is much too small. Thats is probably why they died. That tank Isnt even big enough for the ghost knife.

You know about cycling? I would test your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate epecially)

Big fish need big tanks

When they are small a 4 foot tank is fine. Up until around 8-10" they can stay in a 55 IMO.

 

[davo]

it is odd how your aros are not surviving considering you have some fish in there that are extremely sensitive towards poor water conditions

 

[WyldFya]

Are there any signs of damage to scales, or fins?

 

[hillbilly]

That is strange. I have found aros rather easy to keep. Maybe they caught something from being fed diseased goldfish?

 

[danny272]

Yes I did notice some damage to the last ones fins and tail. I watched the tank for hours and none of the other fish were messing with him or anything like that. I also have got a 150 gallon tank that I am going to setup up as soon as I get the stand built. I took a sample of the water to the lfs that I got them from and he said the water is fine. He even came over and looked at the tank setup and said it looked perfect. I am going to test the water myself later today after work and post the results. We put the other fish in there because he said they were sensitive to water conditions and wanted to see if they had any problems living. I will put up my results later this afternoon. I am also looking for a good book on these fish does anybody know of any.

 

[Gourami Swami]

they can get 3 feet long and up, i dont think it would be advised to keep them in anything less than a 6 to 8 fot tank for life.

 

[Red Devil]

definitly need a bigger tank but i would think maybe these arows had a problem to begin with. Did you buy all three at the same LFS? Did you buy the feeder fish from the same LFS? There could be contamination at the LFS.. so next purchase after you check everything else .. water etc.. if you did purchase all from the same place i would buy from somewhere else next time.. just to see..