New member & new aro

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8

81Pantah

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 27, 2009
5
0
0
Boston, MA
www.rsbardsley.com
Good afternoon,

I just joined this forum as I purchased my first arowana on Wednesday and have a few questions. S/he is in my 100G planted tank with 4 guppies and 6 rasboras, a large common pleco, and a larger royal pleco. The guppies and rasboras have all bred but were getting quite boring... hence the new arowana. The arowana is about 2.5" long, swimming quite well, eating, and seems to be doing O.K.

My questions are:

1) What are the best water conditions for raising an arowana?

2) What should I be feeding him? He eats the baby guppies quite regularly, has just started eating the freeze dried krill the store suggested, but I am not sure what is optimal for him or her. How do you tell anyhow?

3) Its fins still seem a bit separated in the tail. Is this just due to the stress from moving to the new tank?

Any other hints or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,

Ryan
Boston, MA
 
Welcome! For the most complete answers try posting in the Arowana section. Your little guy will get huge one day and probably have to get a bigger tank from him. I'll try my best with answering your questions but I've never owned one though.
1. I believe the most important thing in raising arowanas is having clean water. Some people to biweekly 50% water changes... not sure if you need to go this crazy
2. Try to get it started on some kind of pellet food (not exactly sure what type for arowanas). If you do want to feed feeders raise them yourself because ones you buy at fish stores can often have diseases.
3. The fins should heal on their own

As for suggestions I'd buy a water testing kit so you know exactly what your water parameters are (ie pH, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites)

Good Luck and post a pic or two so we can see what your tank looks like!
 
Do you mind losing the guppies and rasboras as the arowana will someday make feeders out of all of them.

Arowanas in the wild are insectivores mainly, and feed on the surface but most people in the forums who have arowanas usually feed them prepared foods that float.

don't try to feed your arowana gold fish feeders as they are usually kept in poor conditions, not fed well, and regular feeding of feeder gold fish can cause your arowana nutrient deficiency problems.
Keep water clean and warm 78-80F water seem to be the means temp for keeping them healthy and active.

Good luck.
 
welcome! well, the aro will eat the tankmates. and like everyone else said, it will get quite large and need a bigger tank as it grows. can you upgrade in the future? if not, i would sell the aro-

as far as the shredded tail, it could be some fin nippers in the tank, or from stress or lack of waterchanges. if i were you, id check out the aro section on this forum-those guys and gals are pros and can help you fine tune his diet-
 
Welcome to MFK.

Your Aro now puts you in the Monster class.

Beside the feeding suggestions given, I feed mine Sinking/Floating pellets, chunks of smelt and a variety of other fish bought frozen. Thaw and cut to the appropriate size for your baby. Does it still have it's egg sack? If so don't feed much till the sack is gone. Be persistent till he eats, always removing uneaten food after a couple of hours.
 
also try to upgrade to atleast 180g
the aro would outgrow the 100 soon so better prepare for a 180 at the minimum

and welcome to mfk
 
What are the dimensions of your 100g. It is likely you'll have a year before a new tank is needed. Best first food for a baby aro is freeze dried blood worms, if it is eating the krill that is fine to. Also at this size you can get it to eat a quality flake food. At 4 to 5" you can start feeding pellets.

Keep your water a s clean as possible with nitrates below 10ppm, you have a larger established tank so parameters should be fairly stable. Also the cleaner the water the sooner the fins will heal, watch closely though if they get worse then it is fin rot.
 
1) What are the best water conditions for raising an arowana?
Clean Water,Appropriate Tank Size,80-86 F
2) What should I be feeding him? He eats the baby guppies quite regularly, has just started eating the freeze dried krill the store suggested, but I am not sure what is optimal for him or her. How do you tell anyhow?
keep feeding freeze dried krills,read this thread for feeding http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218052
and you cant tell if its male or female unless 24" or bigger

3) Its fins still seem a bit separated in the tail. Is this just due to the stress from moving to the new tank?
no its maybe b/c fin rot or the other fish in da tank that nipped it

Suggestion:i suggest you put a strong top so the arowana doesnt jump out,dont overfeed,upgrade to a bigger tank when it gets bigger
 
Welcome fellow ]|[onsterfishkeeper! this site will give you all the answers you need...

aside from what has already been mentioned, 7.0 is the ideal PH for an aro, 30-40% WC(water change) once a week,nitrates below 10ppm, aros love slow current so addind a powerhead would help not only for exercise but would also prevent potential gillcurl in the future (make sure the current is not too strong though it will just give him stress)

if your new aro is between 4"-10" now would be agood time to train him to eat quality aro pellets and MP(Market Prawns) to ensure a well balanced diet and that he gets the proper nutrients needed for his quick growth (like protein & B-carotene abundant in the exoskeletons of shrimps - just make sure you remove the head and tail but if your aro is way too small for whole shrimps then peel & chop them up)

just make sure the waters clean and that no other tankmates are currently nipping on his fins and it will heal in no time... you may want to add a lil rock salt to prevent bacterial infection and speed up the healing proccess

start saving up for a bigger tank, everyone's right...you'll need that in the future

Superworms for snack in between meals for added protien

PM hao if you're not sure about something :) (he may be 12 but don't let that fool you, this guy has arowana blood coursing through his veins so he knows alot...lol)


ALWAYS make sure there's a lid on with glass cover atleast 3/4" thick(chicken wire will work too) # 1 cause of death for an aro is jumping out and drying on the floor or wherever it is they land on out of water

HAPPY ]|[ o n s t e r f i s h k e e p i n g ! ! !
 
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