New Arowana Dad...advice appreciated.

[Merknight79]

Greetings all!

Brand new Arowana dad (proudly so)!

Silver Aro about 6.5 inches

Wasn't really planning on picking one up, but felt I needed to rescue him from a pet shop that had him in a tank with a rather boisterous mang cichlid.


He is currently housed in a 500 gallon acylic outside on my patio. The system is connected to 3 water garden style amazon biotopes ( each 125 gallons of Lillie's, water lylacs, floating hydro and various other plants). Lots of tetras and angels happily mooching off me

Honestly, I am a saltwater guy with a 250 gallon pred tank in my home which replaced the 500 ( got to be too big on water changes). I couldn't, however, just let that big tank go to waste so, its set up South American style with smaller cichlids and catfish.

I guess the questions I have are, what could go wrong? What do I absolutely need to do to make him happy? What are the biggest mistakes Aro newbies make? Is there a step by step for success?

Any and all help is appreciated!

Glad to be here!
Very respectfully,
Randy

 

[Aquanero]

Welcome to MFK. Make sure the tank is covered. My silver jumped out of a small space between the glass cover and the back of the tank.

 

[Evz jardini]

Welcome to mfk
As toms already mentioned keep a tight lid on things aros do jump and do knock lids off/open
What catfish cichlids is it housed with and how big are they ?
What temp is your setup as its outdoors ?
Anything small will become a ditherer fish or a snack as your aro grows but untill them it will be very vulnerable and prone to attacks from tankmates so be sure to keep an eye on things daily
Sounds like your on the right track with floating plants they love a bit of cover and the fact that it's got a massive setup to live in it'll grow very quickly once it's a confident feeder

 

[Merknight79]

Current stock, other than the Aro, are 2 Pictus Cats about 3", 4 Corydoras Cats about 1 inch, 3 Firemouth Cichlids about 2.5 inches, 2 Convict Cichlids about 2 inches and 2 Bolivian rams about 2"...I fully expect some of them to be food, but that happens. I actually use the Convicts to breed feeders for my saltwater predator tank.

At the moment, the Aro cruises the top water column with the 2 dozen or so feeders that reside in the tank. These feeders are wild caught and tub bred guppy/killfish like minnows. There has been no aggression towards the Aro from the Cichlids and no notice by the Aro of the smaller non-feeders.

The tank is in a fairly shaded area, and it maintains 80 degrees as I have a chiller and heater setup on it.

Something I am a little worried about early on, is that I have not "seen" the Aro actually catch any of the minnows. I know he has made a pass a couple times, but I have not witnessed an actual feeding.

Another thing I am a little concerned about is the coloration of the Aro. I understand Silvers are supposed to be just that, silver. This one has a slight Pinkish tinge along its back towards the tail. Not being too experienced, I am a little worried that something may be wrong.

So many concerns and so much to do

Thanks for the help!
Very Respectfully,
Randy

 

[Merknight79]

 

[Merknight79]

 

[Aquanero]

He looks OK. Give it's few days to settle in, the feeders will start disappearing and he'll start growing.

 

[Merknight79]

He is very active and seems to enjoy swimming against the current of the wavemaker. He definitely likes the floating plants and drift wood cover as well.

I have an auto refill system and I also conduct a 80 gallon water change a day (excess water irrigates my lawn and garden).

I can honestly say, that fresh water is daunting since I have been working with Marine tanks for so long. Don't want to mess it up!

I will post more pics in the days to come.

Very Respectfully,
Randy

 

[Evz jardini]

It's probably worth testing your water to make sure everything's in order , I could be totally wrong but your aro does look very red/pink along its back and could be due to ammonia in your water causing burns , if the aros a new addition to the current stock then your other fish won't get effected by this as much as they've had chance to acclimitze to your water