Thinking of getting an Aro, need a few questions answered

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Rafini

Rafini

Piranha
MFK Member
Jun 28, 2012
1,930
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Calgary, Canada
Hello everyone I am thinking of getting an arowana soon and I just wanted to know if there is any real benefit to getting them at a small size as apposed to getting a larger one?
I have seen both 1'+ specimens as well as smaller ones around the 4-6" mark. Is there any benefit to getting a larger one? Personally I would like to get a small one and watch it grow. The fish will grow out in a 120 4x2x2 aquarium.

So here are my main questions

1. Is there any drawbacks to having a smaller arowana over a larger one?
2. anything I should be extra careful of? as I do not want a hundred dollar fish dying on my mysteriously.

If I get the fish I want it to be healthy and live long and prosper.

thanks in advance, rafini
 
You would need to upgrade eventually. the 2 ft width would be good for quite some time, but imagine a 2ft fish that isn't do e growing swimming around in a 4ft long tank. he would hardly have room to move. my opinion though, others might say otherwise.

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IMO and experience
1. Smaller arowanas tend to be more prone to diseases than larger ones and more susceptible to water parameters and temperature.
2. Care for the water parameters and temperature, Tank must be completely covered. If you're using some chemicals, just use the required dose, but the safest way IME is to only use a dechlorinator and if your tank is not yet cycled let the tank cycle naturally.

Your grow out tank dimensions will be just fine for the aro to grow in as they preferred wider tanks to avoid being too jumpy according to other members.
 
In my experience little tiny baby arowanas are very delicate, my baby jar got killed by my clown loach three days after I bought it, cost a pretty penny too...........
 
what type are you looking at getting?
 
letstalkfish said:
You would need to upgrade eventually. the 2 ft width would be good for quite some time, but imagine a 2ft fish that isn't do e growing swimming around in a 4ft long tank. he would hardly have room to move. my opinion though, others might say otherwise.
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You're not wrong, 2' width is good but with the 4' length you'd want to upgrade by the time the fish gets to about 14-16" IMO. (yes you could leave it longer, but you did say you wanted it to prosper!)

As for your questions,
1. It depends how small "small" is. A 6" aro is a bit more delicate than a 12" one, but much smaller than that and they start getting more difficult to care for (especially if they have their egg sac still). You will get a couple more months out of your 4x2x2' tank with a smaller aro though.

2. Biggest concerns are jumping, it pains me to still regularly see threads about arowana jumping out of tanks and dying. Cover every single opening securely!
 
hey guys thanks for all of the replies! I am looking at getting a silver, and I have a 3' wide tank to put him into after he outgrows the 120 so its all good.

The tank is cycled and the only things in it right now are 3 archer fish between 2"-3" I was thinking of removing them to give the aro the surface all to himself with no competition. Therefore he would probably be the only fish in the tank, thinking of growing out a peaceful catfish with him, maybe a giraffe?

So a 5"ish silver aro with no egg sack in a 4x2x2 by himself would be safe? the tank is fully covered. I probably won't get the fish for a month or two so I have time to read up all about them, is there any particularly challenging aspects of raising a younger aro?
 
Feeding pellets at a young age is a challenging aspect since most farm bred arowanas are only given live feeders. During those times, it is hard to risk starving the arowana so you might have to wait for a while before you can try training it to do so.
 
Oh yeah I would just feed it smelt or mealworms, worked for my snakehead. possibly blood worm
 
Rafini said:
hey guys thanks for all of the replies! I am looking at getting a silver, and I have a 3' wide tank to put him into after he outgrows the 120 so its all good.

The tank is cycled and the only things in it right now are 3 archer fish between 2"-3" I was thinking of removing them to give the aro the surface all to himself with no competition. Therefore he would probably be the only fish in the tank, thinking of growing out a peaceful catfish with him, maybe a giraffe?

So a 5"ish silver aro with no egg sack in a 4x2x2 by himself would be safe? the tank is fully covered. I probably won't get the fish for a month or two so I have time to read up all about them, is there any particularly challenging aspects of raising a younger aro?
Click to expand...

Silver aro would be fine in your 120g up to 16". They grow rather quickly at 1-1.5" per month with 3" monthly growth spurts not being all that uncommon. Realistcally you looking at a 5" silver hitting 16" in 6-10 months.

At 5-6" they aren't as fragile as the smaller. Not that hard to rasie in a well maintained tank, securely covered tank. I would get it onto pellets as soon as possible. With these fish research is your friend.
 
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