why the droop eye?
- Thread starter Retuks
- Start date
David R beat me to what I was going to say. =)
If you want to be a purist and mimic the arowana's natural diet, you're also going to have to mimic it's natural habitat, natural temperature fluctuations, natural rises and drops in nutrient abundance in the water (which affects algae population, which affects algae-eating fish population, which affects predator population), which also means part of the year you're gonna only feed fish and amphibians, while for the other part of the year you're gonna feed only insects and baby birds (which make up >>>1% of the diet, probably). You're also gonna have to introduce predators, such as much bigger fish or wild cats or something. Don't want your arowana to lose its quickness in its "natural habitat", right?
If we're going to keep them in glass cages then we should also modify what they eat for the sake of their wellbeing. A stray bird claw can very well damage their insides. Feeding them fish can make them fat because they don't have to work as hard to catch them. More fish + less work catching fish = fat, unhealthy pet.
If you want to be a purist and mimic the arowana's natural diet, you're also going to have to mimic it's natural habitat, natural temperature fluctuations, natural rises and drops in nutrient abundance in the water (which affects algae population, which affects algae-eating fish population, which affects predator population), which also means part of the year you're gonna only feed fish and amphibians, while for the other part of the year you're gonna feed only insects and baby birds (which make up >>>1% of the diet, probably). You're also gonna have to introduce predators, such as much bigger fish or wild cats or something. Don't want your arowana to lose its quickness in its "natural habitat", right?
If we're going to keep them in glass cages then we should also modify what they eat for the sake of their wellbeing. A stray bird claw can very well damage their insides. Feeding them fish can make them fat because they don't have to work as hard to catch them. More fish + less work catching fish = fat, unhealthy pet.
rallysman;2996997; said:You said what I was going to say. It a lot more words. Probably a bit more friendly too. Thanks
I would like to add that it's not impossible that arowanas die from eating birds in the wild, so a lot of people take things like that into consideration. Not to mention that the bird has no chance whatsoever of getting away so it's a bit cruel in a way.
he didnt say that, he said nutritional value of the food that is being fed. if you feed foods of equally valued nutrition that can count as a simulation in nutrition only. HOWEVER you go about doing it, as long as it can be matched. even with vitamin supplements ffs eh? jk.
Juxtaroberto;2998264; said:
tottaly understood. however, in the wild a predator is hunting 90% of the time its awake but only eats 10% of the time when it successfully catches a good-size pray to feed on. hence they evolved to be perfectly fine going without food for several days. but most uneducated fish keepers assume to feed their fish every day and eat on a schedule usually matching their own as humans..
so what i must really mean is, why can't we just feed it like it normally GETS to eat in the wild and feed it less? theoretically then, live foods won't be bad for it then right? since it only encounters "prey" as often as you let it right? so just let it eat it's "prey" less often like in the wild instead of every day like you and i eat in our house...
Retuks;3009202; said:
You do not have the resources to feed "like it normally GETS to eat in the wild. You can try but again you will fall far short. You don't really think feeding commercially bred and raised crickets, cockroaches and any tank raised fish is gonna compare to what a wild aro eats do you?
Yesterday I went to the Toledo Zoo. In one of the exhibits in the Aquarium building , they built a simulation of a stream with pools in it. In there where two 3ft silvers which neither had dropeye. The depth was no more than 16-20in. I believed this has alot to do with preventing dropeye development. I have somewhat cured dropeye in a jardini I once own by putting it into a shallow container with no side to look out of when it first started to develop. After a few months in there the eye began looking normal. ( This is just my opinion on why dropeye develops and this does not mean this is a cure either. It is just something I read before, have seen, thought about and tried)
Bderick67;3010025; said:
as a matter of fact, i do. lol mostly because i breed all my crickets with a very healthy and controlled diet. i dont "gut load" them or use any cricket products, just fresh and healthy veggies with lots of oats and peanuts. if anything my crickets are far more nutritious than any wild insect gets.
when i said GETs to eat, i meant how often i feed it. not WHAT im feeding it. i was saying how most people feed their fish way more often then the fish can eat in the wild and so their fish get fat no matter what they feed them. if i lived in the amazon and caught all the things my aro eats and fed my aro on a daily schedule, naturally its gonna get fatter than its fellows.
Retuks;3012633; said:
As far as your crickets go, you may have provided a good food source there. Now you will have to do the same with fish, frogs, and reptiles.
As far as feeding schedule I would agree somewhat. With my two silvers they are only fed every three days, though pellets are offered to other fish in the tank daily. They will take the occasional pellet. With my black aro, she will only eat if hungry, a very picky eater. I do offer food to her on a daily basis, but she only accepts it about 75% of the time. Even then she will eat only a small amount(compared to my silver).
Not sure why the obsession of replicating the wild. Truth is not everything happening in the wild is good. Just because Aros eat insects, birds, etc., doesn't mean they are all better for them than prepared foods. Some are, some aren't.
For example we eat mainly prepared foods that science have proven to be better for us. Now if we throw a certain population into the wild and see how they end up I'm almost certain I will bet the farm that the city boys will grow up more healthy and more aesthethically pleasing to the eye.
Just my 3 cents.
For example we eat mainly prepared foods that science have proven to be better for us. Now if we throw a certain population into the wild and see how they end up I'm almost certain I will bet the farm that the city boys will grow up more healthy and more aesthethically pleasing to the eye.
Just my 3 cents.
