Hi, friends! I’ve looked at this forum for a long time, but just joined, because I have concerns about my fish.
For context, I am an experienced aquarist (~35 years of keeping tanks), so I know the basics, but I have never kept an arowana until recently.
So, I got a 265g tank last year, and decided to try this. I bought a black arowana, about 5”, in November and put it in with a 6” oscar, a 5” NGT datnoid, and a big school of tiger silver dollars. Since then I have added three bala sharks, a severum, and a fire eel, all smaller than everyone else.
The aro was a little shy, hanging out by one overflow most of the time, but I’ve been amazed with how well he’s doing. He started eating flake food immediately, then Hikari sticks and Massivore, eventually. He became less shy over time, and now goes after the food almost as aggressively as the oscar. I feed once on most days, occasionally skipping, alternating between the prepared food and chopped frozen shrimp.
Five months later, the fish is about 12” and has never had any obvious health issues. He still occasionally eats the flake food that I feed for the smaller silver dollars. Has still been mostly hanging out in the same place until recently. I never observe aggression among anything in the tank.
A couple of weeks ago, he started acting differently, moving to the other side of the tank often, and seems increasingly skittish, and I don’t get why. He still eats, but I’m concerned that he’s acting so nervous, moving quickly (not darting) from one side of the tank to the other every time I walk by, occasionally pressing himself back into a corner when I approach the tank.
Some notes and additional info...
Tank is 265 gallons, with reasonably high flow (a huge wet/dry plus a Fluval FX6. 78 to 79 degrees. pH isn’t optimal, I have hard water. It’s close to 8, but I’m resistant to worrying about pH. I’ve always had hard water, and kept all kinds of fish. I have discus and neon tetras thriving in this water, and anyway, the behavior change is recent. Ammonia and nitrite are never evident. Once concern is nitrate. I change 80 to 90 gallons of water (30%) at least once per week, and often twice, but nitrates are consistently 20 to 30 ppm. I feed heavily. Planning to do several consecutive 50% changes and add extra Purigen to see if I can get it down. But again, the behavior change is recent, and the aro has seemed perfectly fine for months, so I’m puzzled.
Tank is in my office, between my bedroom and the rest of the house, so I walk by it many times a day, always have. Walking by the tank never made the fish skittish until the last couple of weeks.
Any ideas what might be causing this? Thanks!
For context, I am an experienced aquarist (~35 years of keeping tanks), so I know the basics, but I have never kept an arowana until recently.
So, I got a 265g tank last year, and decided to try this. I bought a black arowana, about 5”, in November and put it in with a 6” oscar, a 5” NGT datnoid, and a big school of tiger silver dollars. Since then I have added three bala sharks, a severum, and a fire eel, all smaller than everyone else.
The aro was a little shy, hanging out by one overflow most of the time, but I’ve been amazed with how well he’s doing. He started eating flake food immediately, then Hikari sticks and Massivore, eventually. He became less shy over time, and now goes after the food almost as aggressively as the oscar. I feed once on most days, occasionally skipping, alternating between the prepared food and chopped frozen shrimp.
Five months later, the fish is about 12” and has never had any obvious health issues. He still occasionally eats the flake food that I feed for the smaller silver dollars. Has still been mostly hanging out in the same place until recently. I never observe aggression among anything in the tank.
A couple of weeks ago, he started acting differently, moving to the other side of the tank often, and seems increasingly skittish, and I don’t get why. He still eats, but I’m concerned that he’s acting so nervous, moving quickly (not darting) from one side of the tank to the other every time I walk by, occasionally pressing himself back into a corner when I approach the tank.
Some notes and additional info...
Tank is 265 gallons, with reasonably high flow (a huge wet/dry plus a Fluval FX6. 78 to 79 degrees. pH isn’t optimal, I have hard water. It’s close to 8, but I’m resistant to worrying about pH. I’ve always had hard water, and kept all kinds of fish. I have discus and neon tetras thriving in this water, and anyway, the behavior change is recent. Ammonia and nitrite are never evident. Once concern is nitrate. I change 80 to 90 gallons of water (30%) at least once per week, and often twice, but nitrates are consistently 20 to 30 ppm. I feed heavily. Planning to do several consecutive 50% changes and add extra Purigen to see if I can get it down. But again, the behavior change is recent, and the aro has seemed perfectly fine for months, so I’m puzzled.
Tank is in my office, between my bedroom and the rest of the house, so I walk by it many times a day, always have. Walking by the tank never made the fish skittish until the last couple of weeks.
Any ideas what might be causing this? Thanks!
No expert on aros, agree it's hard to know what makes them skittish. Could be tankmates, lighting, feeding, idk.
