New Silver Arrowana owner with some questions

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Rbacchiega

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 12, 2008
204
0
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Canada
Hello All!

I work for a company here in the city that maintains tanks for buisnesses and one of my clients is Mr Walter Chan, who's the owner of the Smitty's restaurants and a few other buisnesses. Long story short, for Chineese newyear he gave me a baby silver arowana because he knows I love his fish and had been wanting one for sometime.

Anyways, the fish is about 3.5 inches long and currently in a 25 gallon long tank, shallow gravel bottom, a 30 gallon filter and kept at a steady 77*F. All readings are where they should be.

This is what I was told to feed it:
-Freeze dried or frozen blood worms
-Crickets of appropriate size
-Floating carnivore pellets
-Feeder guppies

He hasn't eaten a whole lot, maybe 6 crickets and some bloodworms, and I've had him for just over a week. Today I added 10 feeder guppies after keeping them in a seperate tank for a week. He hasn't really touched those, but his belly seems to be nice and full:
Arowana002.jpg


Today I noticed him just kinda doping around with his back end lower than the rest of him....is this a good thing or a bad thing? Is his diet to blame?
Arowana001.jpg


thanks in advance, and sorry for the poor pictures
Randi
 
hey there randi, nice to have you here on MFK!!! Don't worry about your arowana not eating much. In fact, you are pretty lucky. New arowanas normally don't eat for over a week. I wouldn't worry about the back drooping, mine does that when he feels uncomfortable or stressed.
Now, I know nobody likes hearing this, but there is one thing to worry about: tank size. That little guy will reach 2 feet in lenght in 1 years time, and will need at least a 240 gallon tank (even bigger is recommended) for life. I hope your experience with him isn't short lived, as they are very awesome fish to have. Ready the stickies in the arowana forum for more great information!
 
I already have a 125 discus tank and a 180 reef, so large tanks are no problem LOL. My uncle works with glass and is usually the one who makes the tanks to my specifications.
So have no worry, Worm (as I've taken to calling him) will be in a 300 gallon when he grows up.
 
Nice with the guppies being ever present, you may have a hard time getting him to eat other foods. At this size I would hold off on the pellets and offer a good quality flake food.
 
I've got some Omega One Chichlid flake for another one of my tanks, would that work?
 
Rbacchiega;1508907; said:
I've got some Omega One Chichlid flake for another one of my tanks, would that work?

Yes omega one are good flakes. I would feed the freeze dried blood worms or flakes 3 times daily, treating with baby crickets once or twice a week.
 
how about frozen brine shrimp?
 
Bderick67;1508897; said:
Nice with the guppies being ever present, you may have a hard time getting him to eat other foods. At this size I would hold off on the pellets and offer a good quality flake food.
:iagree: Personally I think it would be best if you don't feed it feeder fish until it gets bigger, much bigger. Reason? He's still young and is very lenient with his diet atm. However, if you keep giving him feeders as a big part of his diet, he might not accept other prepared foods when he gets older and feeder fish aren't exactly the best food in the world for it. For now, flakes should be his main diet and slowly work him up to floating carnivore pellets as he gets bigger. These foods are more nutritious for him and will help his growth. Then when he's big enough, you can work the crickets and worms into his diet as well. Also at this stage, be VERY careful of what you feed him. Food that is hard to digest, mainly shelled food like shrimp, may damage his intestines and might cause internal injuries. Good luck with your new Arowana and hope to see some more pictures of him in the future!
 
hey good luck and nice aro welcome to MFk
try small pieces of krill i got my aro eating that in 2 days
 
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