Skittish Asian Aro

islandmisfit

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 6, 2018
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Hi ,

Long time lurker first time poster. I recently took the plunge into asian arowana. I purchased a juvenile blood red aro about 5” when i got it just about two months ago. The fist month everything went well fish was eating mp stuffed with pellets at one point had it eating them from my hand. The fish is in a 300 gallon plywood tank i built with a wet/dry sump with a ton of bio media and a drip system. Water paramaters are spot on 0amonia, 0 nitrites, nitrate between 5 & 10 ppm, ph about 7.4 but stable. I intorduced some small bichir that were quarentined but unfortunately he ate them....thats when the skittishness started. After eating them he went on a hunger strike for nearly a week and became really spooked. I broke the hunger strike by offering him sw and crickets reluctantly. A couple of times as i approached the tank he freaked out. Now he stays in the corner and only comes out to eat but goes right back to his corner. I ordered a dozen red hooks and blue hooks to go in with him as i am hoping they will help him feel more secure. Im at a loss as it was such an outgoing fish for the first month now it seems so stressed and scared. any suggestions? Thanks
 

Dee eng

Giant Snakehead
MFK Member
Nov 1, 2015
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Looks like normal behavior. Tank is to big for the lil guy atm. I’d add some floating plants to help with the stress. As long as it’s eating and responding I’m sure he’d be ok. At that’s size he will be skittish and like most juveniles Aro they need a hiding spot/cover. Good luck!
 
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islandmisfit

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 6, 2018
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Yes its quite large for him. What i found odd was the abrupt change in behaviour from eating out of my hand to be scared of everything. I put in 6 red hooks and 6 barred silver dollars about 3” and he is definitely coming out more and more confident. Feeding him is still very challenging as it seems very particular. This week it now will not eat superworms either...seems the flavour of the week is crickets ...ha. I have kept many different species of fish over the years but this has to be the most demanding as far as keeping his interest in feed. I am curious if this is a strain trait ( blood red) or if its just individual personality at play in regards to feeding? Also anyone who has kept red hook or barred silver dollars do they mellow with age? So far it seems like the barred are more interested in scrapping with each ofher then the red hooks also the red hooks appear more high strung.
 

Galantspeedz

Potamotrygon
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Feb 28, 2017
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Feeding him is still very challenging as it seems very particular. This week it now will not eat superworms either...seems the flavour of the week is crickets ...ha. I have kept many different species of fish over the years but this has to be the most demanding as far as keeping his interest in feed. I am curious if this is a strain trait ( blood red) or if its just individual personality at play in regards to feeding?
my bbxb also very choosy, 1 week eat prawn next week prefer baby frogs then following week prefer prawns again

got to show him who's boss... either he eat what i feed or he starve.... his choice

as for hiding one corner, maybe he got spooked... mine took 1.5-2 months to go back to normal and was never afraid again... maybe he was growing some balls during that period lol
 
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islandmisfit

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 6, 2018
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Well its been a couple of weeks and the aro seems much less nervous and is out and about much more. Adding the silver dollars seemed to help his confidence and he responds to their feed response. Still a really picky eater. It will only eat crickets at this point but the good thing is he eats frozen and freeze dried crickets. I am going to begin trialing different brands of pellets and feed them at the same time as crickets so he begins to associate them with feed. He grabs hikari food sticks and spits them out so i guess its a good sign. I ordered northfin aro sticks and newline spectrum jumbo to see if he has a preference. i would really like to get it eventually on a pellet diet preferably without starving him. The silver dollars are a bit of a double edge sword. They help his confidence but are absolute pigs and very fast eaters...often eating the aros food before he has a chance to get it. hopefully they will help him get on pellets faster ...we shall see. I also added more filtration to the tank. On top of the wet/dry sump i added a eheim 2080 and so far so good. Also this aro never seems to pig out he always seems very reserved in the amount of food he will consume at a time. again a far cry from the various cichlids i have kept. I have been learning a lot from keeping this guy... definitely the most challenging fish i have kept as far as feeding goes.
 
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islandmisfit

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 6, 2018
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This morning the aro decided to eat just about everything with vigor. I thought i would try mp again and he ate it. Then i figured if he was hungry i would try some sw. Man did he like that. He was so stoked on the sw he was actually taking them from the silver dollars ...ha. I gut loaded a few hundred sw with carrot and froze them and glad i did. I hope this trend keeps up as i really want to put some size on it. Once again this little dude surprised me. Interesting fish to keep for sure. The thing im trying to sort out now in this tank is flow. Originally it was built with an overflow box and a wet/dry sump and while bio was adequate i wasnt happy with the waste sitting on bottom (bare bottom). I added a wavemaker to try and move waste up into overflow box but it wasnt successful. I added an eheim 2080 and extended intakes to bottom of tank . I still need to adjust flow to send waste to intakes. I also have a drip system running on the tank and have been playing with that also. So far i never am seeing nitrates above 5 so it appears to be working. I also change 50% of water twice a week. I may not need to change that much water but my habits from keeping discus are hard to break. I am of the belief that you simply cannot change enough water likely the best lesson i learned from keeping discus. Clean stable water quality goes a long way. Anyways the learning continues!
 

Galantspeedz

Potamotrygon
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Feb 28, 2017
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Unless you don't mind feeding him sw long term, I would advise to stick to mp and use sw as a once in a blue moon treat
 

islandmisfit

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 6, 2018
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I have read that they will get hooked on sw. However after about a week or two of sw he stopped taking them. Then decided he would exclusively eat crickets and would not even look at sw. To be honest it is such a picky eater im happy to see it eat. Sw im ok with gut load then freeze not so bad. In all honesty id prefer it ate pellets but i think thats a long shot with this guy and at this point i feel like hes too small to have a battle of the wills and starve him.
 

bigdaddycool

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 8, 2009
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Give it time - one thing I have learned over the years is to not over do the analysis of behavior (easier said than done!) if you are sure the water, feed, and fish are healthy.

Prolly needs to get used to enviro as many have said.
 
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