You all inspired me!

[CLDarnell]

make sure you add tons of current so they will have to swim more then get territorial.

Thank you...and thank you for your advice. One of the reasons I wanted to go with a long, narrow tank is I want to try to create an actual current. I am still researching and still undecided if I can get proper filtration if the intake is 18' away from the inlet. I may have to create multiple intake points (which I am considering anyway in order to have bottom level and top level intake). I also plan on having a removable divider to seperate the short leg of the "L" from the long leg. That way, I can put in a baby Aro for example and seperate him from the adult until he grows out.

I know nothing of Aros except the little bit I have read here. Your advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[pi-eyed]

Congrats on the new silver!!!! Silver aros are very fragile when they still have the yolk sac. Make sure you have a secure top--you'd be suprised at what they can jump through. I would suggest a few floating plants for security. Don't try to feed him until the sac is absorbed. \

Good luck,
Chris

 

[CLDarnell]

Congrats on the new silver!!!! Silver aros are very fragile when they still have the yolk sac. Make sure you have a secure top--you'd be suprised at what they can jump through. I would suggest a few floating plants for security. Don't try to feed him until the sac is absorbed. \

Good luck,
Chris

Thank you! I just picked up several floating plants today at a swap meet, so perfect timing lol! I am hoping he has absorbed the yolk sac by Wednesday. If not, I will be extra careful. For the next 3 months, he will be in tanks with glass lids. Will they be sufficient weight to remain shut? Or should I consider weighting them even at this early stage?

 

[Industrial]

We have two in a 16'x4'x5' 2000 gallon aquarium at my work and the one fights with the other one a lot and for the past few weeks isn't letting him leave the corner and I think eventually he will kill that one, or one of them will need to be sold.

PS. I wouldn't move him around so much. IMO he could last in the 29 for months and then you can let him get more settled in before moving him into the 55.

 

[BigO6687]

Man that custom tank sounds beast.
With the 3ft width you could do more than two aros easily, the only problem I foresee is when the try to pass by each other.
Other than that gl!

 

[Bderick67]

I wouldn't recommend getting two baby aros, unless you have a way to raise them in separate(d) tanks. Most likely they will fight, you could do two in a separated 55g, but fool proof dividers are tricky and the aros seem to find their way through.

My recommendation for baby arowana. Should be without tankmates until the 5-6" range and then only select few tank mates until the 11-12" range. A 55g tank minimum, keep water line lowered about 6" from the top. This Still keeps about 40-45g of water in the tank. The tank size has as much to do with water quality and stability as it does freedom to swim. You'll need to be looking for a larger tank then 55g within a few months. The 55g will only last until the aro is about 12", definitely not larger then 12".

For a first food freeze dried blood worms work best and usually eagerly accepted by the baby aro. If you do end up with one that has a yoke sack it still may eat solid food so give it a try, this will not hurt the aro and makes the transition to solid foods much quicker. Once it gets to be about four inches get it eating pellets, before then the aros pallet may be to soft for it to eat the pellets. I have found that it works better to use large crushed floating pellets instead of smaller pellets that would be their size.

Baby aros a delicate fish, good luck with raising your new one.

 

[bomber]

I know im jumping the gun but do you ahve a sketch of the diy build. Sounds very interesting..

for it being 18' long then the L shape, I would add hydro mag 8 every 6 feet or so for current. This will help push all debris to your over flows too keeping your water clean.

 

[bomber]

Oh and yeah I would do ^ this advice. I tried to have my arowana community when they were 4-6 inches or something and they fought non stop. I had to seperate them til they were like 8-10 then they were busy swimming vs current.

 

[CLDarnell]

Thank you. I have decided to stay with one (at least for now). That was my plan originally, but then I thought later that I wasn't sure if they did better alone or with one or two like tankmates. I'm glad you mentioned the blood worms. I still have two trays of cubes since I quit feeding them for the most part to my Cichlids. He will be in the 55 until May, June at the latest. I have the 150 already...just need to do some re-arranging here at home.

One thing I am really picking up from you all is how delicate the young ones are. All of my fish are spoiled...but I will be sure to handle this little guy with even more care and attention.

I admit, when I saw the one in the tank today, I was mesmerized. They all look amazing on here in the photos...but seeing one only a few inches away was so cool! I'm anxious to get him home

 

[CLDarnell]

I know im jumping the gun but do you ahve a sketch of the diy build. Sounds very interesting..

for it being 18' long then the L shape, I would add hydro mag 8 every 6 feet or so for current. This will help push all debris to your over flows too keeping your water clean.

I do have a drawing of it at work. I am an Engineer and use AutoCAD on a daily basis. I started sketching it out during lunch breaks. I haven't really talked about it too much yet since so many new guys come on here, get excited and start talking about the monster their going to build. Then, you never see them again lol.

It's not complete and now I'll have to redo it since I'm taking the tank to 3' wide. One other benefit I'll gain from this is now I can go with a sump underneath. With it drawn the way it is, I didn't have enough width underneath for a big enough sump. With the support legs only 24" outside to outside, I only had about 18" clear between them. So I was going to take the water outside the tank, pump it to the bottom port of a large tank (I have access to a couple of steel framed plastic 330 gallon totes). This tote was going to be partially filled with gravel for filtration media. An intake tube would then take the water to a second tote where I planned on having plastic screens stacked inside (sort of like a bee keepers hive) for bio filtration. I was then going to take the water to a plastic 35 gallon drum that I could add chemical filtration to if needed. The cleaned water would then finally be pumped to the other end of the tank. Visualizing it in my head, now I can go with sumps and keep the over-all set up in a much tighter space.

My biggest concern was I wanted a "built into the wall" look. Since it's a concrete block support wall, I was SOL. So, I decided to make the wall out of the tank Since I had such a long unsupported length, I was concerned how to support the wall directly above the tank, yet still have access above the tanks when I am in the walkway behind. I finally came up with vertical studs from ceiling to tank top, then bracing back at 45 degrees to a stringer fasted to the wall 78" from the floor. I can walk behind the tank OK, be able to access the tank and still have the wall supported.

The tank will have 3 total viewing "ports"...2 in the long leg, 1 in the short leg. Each 8' section of "viewing side" plywood will have an 18" X 84" opening cut into it. I plan on radiusing the corners 3" to give it a cleaner look. With 2' X 2', I was comfortable with 1/2" glass (which I already have). I will have to check again now that it's going 3' wide. Where the plywood sections meet, they will be braced inside with a 2" x 2" frame (I don't think it will be visible from the outside since it will be 12" from one view port to the next.

(wow, I type too much!)

Lighting will be simple...shop lights suspended from the 45 degree bracing. I haven't looked into heating yet...mostly thinking some sort of pool or hot tub heater, but haven't researched it yet.

I do want to have enough flow in the tank to create an actual current of around 15 fpm. I am going to experiment with timers and see if I can get the power heads to cycle on and off to create a back and forth movement with the overall movement towards the intakes.

OK, I'll stop now

Thanks again!