New fish, new forum, a few questions

[Joe P]

Hi Everybody,

I've noticed this site quite alot when researching and have only just got round to signing up.

I've just recently bought a little silver aro, about 4-5" and at first he/she (not sure how you tell) would dart away when i opened the lid. after only a few days he calmed down alot and instead of darting off he now just swims away.


I've only had him about a week and although he is only small he dominates the tank the way he paces back and forth my other little fish get straight out of his way.

He currently shares a tank with 3 silver sharks of a similar size, a 2" albino oscar and 7 sorry 6 zebra guppies (i know, i used tham as starter fish and they did a brilliant job). Oh i almost forgot my girlfriends siamese fighting fish which i think she is going to get her own little tank for as she doesn't want it eaten and since i got the aro it tends to hide out the way.

He is currently being fed mealworm 1 or 2 every 2 days (this is how many the aquatics store told me he would eat) but i have noticed he is eating the fish flake too! does this mean that he is hungry as i have read that aros have to be trained to accept dry food?

Anyway i look forward to learning more about this beautiful fish as time progresses. and anything you feel i should know please feel free to add

Thanks again

Joe

 

[Chaitika]

Arowanas don't typically overeat. You have to remember that silvers have explosive growth rates and appetites to match. Eating flake is good for him in the sense that a varied diet is good and you don't have to do any training. Some aros need to be trained to eat dry food, especially if they have been on live or frozen food diets for a while.

I sincerely hope you have a monstrous tank or pond to house him in a while. It won't take him long to get very big! You can count on at least 2.5cm of growth per month.

 

[Joe P]

Arowanas don't typically overeat. You have to remember that silvers have explosive growth rates and appetites to match. Eating flake is good for him in the sense that a varied diet is good and you don't have to do any training. Some aros need to be trained to eat dry food, especially if they have been on live or frozen food diets for a while.

I sincerely hope you have a monstrous tank or pond to house him in a while. It won't take him long to get very big! You can count on at least 2.5cm of growth per month.

Nice one, just yesterday i put in an extra meal worm and as soon as it hit the water he had it but he didn't eat it he just carried it around for about an hour, as i f he wasn't hungry but knew if he dropped it the oscar would have it. I didn't want to take it off him but wasn't sure what to do...

At the minute i only have a 4' tank but i will be moving out of my mams by the end of the year so i can buy something massive. The 4' is all i could fit in my room

 

[Boose1357]

Arowanas don't typically overeat. You have to remember that silvers have explosive growth rates and appetites to match. Eating flake is good for him in the sense that a varied diet is good and you don't have to do any training. Some aros need to be trained to eat dry food, especially if they have been on live or frozen food diets for a while.

I sincerely hope you have a monstrous tank or pond to house him in a while. It won't take him long to get very big! You can count on at least 2.5cm of growth per month.

definitely!

 

[goestonemoa]

my aro eats as much as he wants.....my other fish typicaly have to wait until he is full to get there share
or i have to feed him a worm and when he darts away quikly throw in a few more when he is at the other side of the tank
quite entertaining
but as stated before the bigger tank will make all of them a bit happier
have a good one and good luck with your new friend

 

[ShadowBass]

I'd be a bit worried about constipation with a diet of strictly mealworms.

There's nothing wrong with flake. The best bet is to get him on a prepared food such as flake or pellets as a staple, and add stuff like mealworms, earthworms, crickets, etc., for variance.

Allow him to eat as much as he wants daily. Silver arowanas generally aren't bad about overeating. Mine would stop as soon as he was full, and never looked fat. They're very active so they tend to burn off whatever calories they consume sufficiently. Just stay away from high fat diets.
If he likes the flake allow him to eat that. Also try him on some high protein content pellets (such as hikari cichlid pellets, or floating food sticks). Feeding a couple mealworms every couple of days does not sound like enough considering the rate at which arowanas normally grow and their activity level.

 

[Joe P]

thanks for the replies folks

hes now on 3 mealworm a day along with some prima and some flakes (for 4 days whilst im off work)

then whilst im at work he only gets fed 1 meal worm and some flakes and prima on a night

i hope this is ok, he seams to be growing pretty quickly (hes just over 5" now)

he also takes the mealworm from my hand


I LOVE THIS FISH !

il try and take a few pics...

 

[Kaya]

All the best Joe.. nice to see he takes it from your hand..

 

[Joe P]

All the best Joe.. nice to see he takes it from your hand..

i'll try and take a video but the light on my camera scares him i think

has anyone got any advice on tkaing photos as i cant seem to get a decent quality picture