new arowana

[marcustukengland]

Hi all I'm new to the MFK site and was hoping to get a little bit of help with a new fish I have just been given as the last owners tank sprung a leak and is to bad to fix. I have a 4"/4.5" silver arowana and any help would be fab.
He is in a 100uk gallon 125 us gallon tank is this a ok size?

Also what is the best tank mates to keep with him? As it stands at the moment he has only got 2x 14" plecs at the bottom a Asian sun catfish and a Asian knife tail what else can I put with him?

And what is the best food for him? Please keep in mind I am in England and feeder fish are not leagle over hear at the moment I feed him small crickets, bloodworm, pelets, fish flake and prawns. Any help would be fantastic thanks to you all msrcus.

 

[Fat Homer]

Not too familiar with Aro's feeding, but over here in Hong Kong centipedes seem to be one of the popular food items for them besides what you already listed... although why exactly this is, i have no idea?

 

[Jackyx]

The food you listed should be ok.
As for if the tank is big enough, its definately big enough for now but not for life.

 

[Bderick67]

Cover and seal all holes in your top. Silvers jump and most seem to find there way onto the floor. As it gets bigger you will also need to weight or secure the top.

 

[richardhong]

when i used to keep a silver Aro. I keep them with my peacock bass and they do really well together.. and also make sure the cover glass is cover properly or else you'll end up loosing them like me back in the days...

 

[marcustukengland]

when i used to keep a silver Aro. I keep them with my peacock bass and they do really well together.. and also make sure the cover glass is cover properly or else you'll end up loosing them like me back in the days...

Thanks for the replys I have I have done some research into my tank and have found it is a 159 us gallon tank not 125usg so its slightly bigger. I did find out about they like to jump so I've got 2x 20kg blocks on the lid to hold it down. He is eating well on crickets and prawns and he is taking well to the pelets allso so I'm kind of lucky as I've hurd they don't normaly take to dry food after Bering fed the nice taste of meat lol. Just one more question how long do people think it will be till I need to start looking to change the size of his tank to a 250/300?? Thanks again to you all

 

[Bderick67]

Tank volume isn't really the proper guide for housing arowana. Your better of going by the dimensions, length(L) x Width/depth(W) x height(H). Silver arowana is going to need a minimum tank that is at least 3x it's own length with a tank width at least equal to it's own length. So as an example a tank that is 6' x 2' x 2' would be good for a silver aro up to two foot long. What are the dimensions of your tank?

Silver aros grow quite fast, about 1-1.5 inches per month. Growth spurts of upto 3 inches per month are not uncommon. This rapid growth rate is for the first 18 to 24 months until they get up to around the 24 inch mark. After that their growth in length slows to a couple inches or less per year. So in a year your going to have a 17-23" aro and by that time it should probably be in a new tank if not sooner.