Silver Arowana-growth rates, feeding and tankmates

[balton777]

This is my first thread in the Arowana section. About 2 months ago I got a baby 5" Silver and didn't say anything because I thought my tank is too small and didn't want to take a bunch of insults lol. I've never had an Arowana and just wanted the experience and figured I can always sell him if he's outgrows my 253 gallon tank. It seems that there's a number of people that keep their's in smaller tanks though.

I got this Silver about 2 months ago and it was a 5" baby. In 2 months, it's now 11" (about 3" per month) and I'm amazed at it's growth rate. I hope I'm not feeding him too much. He eats the heck out of Hikari Food Sticks but won't touch any other dry foods. I also supplement with frozen krill, market shrimp, brine shrimp and mysis shrimp and live nightcrawlers. I can thaw out a cup of mysis shrimp and he'll eat spoonfuls handfed right from a spoon. He takes krill and nightcrawlers from my hand too...pretty cool.

He's in a 253 gallon tank (84" x 24" x 29") with a bunch of cichlids and a few Bichirs who all completely ignore him for now. I've sealed up every last little hole and crevice on the tank. Hopefully it will work out in the longrun. My wife hates the Aro, she thinks he's ugly and scary looking and wants me to sell him now. Personally, I like him a lot.

What do yall think? Does everything sound ok? Will I be able to keep him long term in this setup?

 

[deR]

Yea i say you got another 6-7 years give or take, it is really on you when he does reach 3ft+ and all that you either ignore it and tell yourself the fish can live in there or do something and upgrade. Seems like a good diet, good growth no problems at all.

 

[Bderick67]

Well then, I'm gonna give you two months worth of flaming right here;

You've had this silver for two months, yet no pics

This is exactly the kind of thing we don't need here on MFK


Now that the flaming is outa the way, 6 inches in two months is not unheard of, but a growth rate of 1-1.5" per month is more the average. I'm sure the conditions the aro is kept and the varied high quality diet has definetly had an effect on it's growth.

 

[balton777]

Thanks you guys. Me and my daughter are in awe at how fast he grew. We were talking about this just yesterday when she remarked "Wow Dad, the Arowana has over doubled in size! When did we get him again?".

I've never experienced growth like that with my cichlids lol. I'll try to get some pics of him later.

 

[Arowanakeeper95]

dude a 253gal is more than adiquite i have 90gal dimensions are 4ftx2ftx18.5inch. i have a silver arowana, a aligator gar and a 18inch pleco, the fish in my tank r more than happy. you also might want to feed your aro some crickets every once and a while its a good sorce of protien and will give youe fish a wonderful blue and red tint (then maybe your wife wont hate him as much) any questions email me at tylergbl95@aol.com

 

[Bderick67]

...in so many different ways

 

[polish]

This... ^

The thread is over 2 years old for starters.

 

[GhostShrimpMan]

Yea

 

[jclyde13]

dude a 253gal is more than adiquite i have 90gal dimensions are 4ftx2ftx18.5inch. i have a silver arowana, a aligator gar and a 18inch pleco, the fish in my tank r more than happy. you also might want to feed your aro some crickets every once and a while its a good sorce of protien and will give youe fish a wonderful blue and red tint (then maybe your wife wont hate him as much) any questions email me at tylergbl95@aol.com

Okay I'm going to sound stupid even replying to this post, but man you seriously need to get a bigger tank. With that stock, you're looking at at least a 360 gallon as a final tank to properly house those fish, but probably more depending on how big the gar gets.

 

[Bderick67]

Okay I'm going to sound stupid even replying to this post, but man you seriously need to get a bigger tank. With that stock, you're looking at at least a 360 gallon as a final tank to properly house those fish, but probably more depending on how big the gar gets.

but his fish "r more than happy"