Arowana, getting it to eat

[Betta1]

I got a small Arowana yesterday, about 8 inches and he doesn't seam to want to eat. Anyone have tips on getting him interested in food?

I have freeze dried krill that he won't touch as well as frozen silverside that I tried today with no luck.

[Scuba Kid]

What kind of arowana is it?

Some live crickets should get it interested in eating.

[euRasian32]

8 inches is not small for an Aro. It has already made the jump from juvenile to young teenager at that size.

It's normal for a fish to not eat shortly after introduction, so don't worry too much.

Along with the crickets, get the smallest portion of blackworms at your LFS. Toss a small buch in the water near the Aro's swim path. Make sure you clean your blackworms thoroughly if you haven't used them before (with tank water or dechlorinated tap water, close to the same temperature of course).

If you can't find some black worms, go with a live food. Crickets, blackworms, small sections of earthworms/nightcrawlers (rinse and clean!), ghost shrimp, guppies (assuming it's too small for rosies), etc.

[justintrask]

I'm going to assume it's a silver aro. I hope you have an adequate size tank for it. IME, aros will go for a week after introduction to a new tank without eating, so don't worry. I feedmine 3 small comets, 3 freeze dried krill, a cube of beefheart, and 5 large petco crickets once every 3 days. He's about 10 inches. He's a Jardini, but the same should apply for silvers.

I have mine housed in a 75G right now, with a 210 waiting for once I move into my apartment (love basement level apartments)

Make sure the cover is tight and there are no gaps, because they can and will jump out, even if it is covered. I keep a 10 pound dumbell on top of my lid, and he proceeds to knock the dumbell off of the top whenever he spooks

[Betta1]

Thanks for the input, I'll go get some crickets tomorrow or the day after to see if that'll get him to eat, perhaps earthworms. I'm not into feeder fish though so something else will hopefully work. He's a silver arowana btw and he's only in a 40g breeder however I work at the LFS and know the owner so it's no problem at all to get him a new home when he gets to big. I enjoy getting fish to simply grow them out and trade them in.

I'll see if I can get him to eat, thanks for the input

[justintrask]

Get a bigger tank ASAP. The arowana's body will stop growing if it doesnt have enough room, but the insides will keep growing. My first aro was in a 29G, and it barely lasted 3 months because of stunting and eventual death

[Betta1]

Yeah I know about the stunting, I give the schpiel all the time at work. I'm just going to grow him to this tank then probably trade him in for another arrowana. Even if he lasts 3 months it's no problem, I can just keep trading them in for smaller ones

[trashion]

Sorry if you find this rude, but uh, why not just get a fish that can live healthily in the tank you have?

[emc7]

It actually sounds nice to be able to have a fish for a while and not have to home it for life.

[trashion]

I guess it's a matter of opinion. I hated having to give up my fish that I'd raised from small babies to full-growns when circumstances caused it to happen. Like with any other pet (dog, cat, etc) I think that once people own an animal, they should try to to hang on to it and care for it, rather than trade it in once it gets bigger. Just IMO, though, other people must feel differently.

[nathanbarry]

Most fish take a few days to start eating and be settled into its new tank...give it time and hopefully he'll be fine. If he still isnt eating after then try feeding him small feeder fish.

[emc7]

I guess it depends on whether is goes to a good home. I couldn't possibly keep all the fry my fish have, but I do feel its irresponsible to get something if you know you have no way to meet its needs. I love the club auctions because you share your fish with people you know and if they are successful you will soon see their fry.

My dad loves peac0ckss and Mbuna and keeps buying them, but they are crowded in 55 gallon tanks. I would be perfectly happy to keep selling off the biggest adults and breed young adults and keep some fry from each spawn. But he gets attached. I don't like to see a fish suffer because there are too many in the tank or there isn't enough space for everyone to have a territory. I'd like to get some 120 gallon tanks, but unless/until I do, I'd rather the fish move on to a new home.

We are really strict on this forum about telling people not to buy fish they haven't researched because once that Oscar/Pacu/Goldfish/Iridescent Shark or whatever starts to get big, no one will take them. Leaving people with the horrible choice between euthanizing a fish loved for years or dumping a tame fish illegally into a wild body of water where it will die slowly while exposing native fish to tropical diseases. The only way to keep the stores from stocking future monsters in the first place if for people to stop buying them.

Anyway, off my soapbox.

There is a lady in the club who buys small angels and sell large angels. She always has lots of beautiful angels and never has to deal with breeding related aggression. I think that is very smart. But it only works for fish where there is a ready market for full-grown adults.

[Betta1]

No offense taken at all, everyone has their view points and are entitled to them, which unfortunately is very easy to forget when in the fish hobby.

To answer your question I do both, my 75 has the fish which I'm devoted to keeping for their entire lives, they're the fish that I'm so attached to I decided to upgrade from a 29g to a 75g.

On the other end of the spectrum I'm in the breeding mode and to prepare I've devoted two of my tanks to grow out and one to a breeding pair. So to keep with the scheme I've started bringing home small fish to raise up into bigger fish then just bring them back to the store. The motto in the fish breeding world is get them sold as soon as they're big enough to survive the trip so that leaves alot of people out of luck when looking at fish because alot of tanks can't handle small fish. So I get a kick out of getting small fish and raising them out, some times this is a good thing cause something like the severus I've got don't look remarkable at all when small, but now that I've had them a while they're starting to get finage and coloration and from looking at pictures I feel they're going to be one of the best looking fish I've ever had. Yet I haven't been able to get anyone to look twice at them while pointing out options for a tank (ok once but it was more of an oh how cool rather then that might be nice).

Some fish are required to be bigger then typically sold, I'm growing out some of those fish now and will bring them back to the store, I enjoy it and there is a demand for it so why not.

[Betta1]

I just got him to eat. I started with a live cricket which he sort of nipped at, I think it sparked his apetite. I figured it was to big though so I broke up some freeze dried krill which he poked at a bit. Then I decided to get some small pieces of frozen silverside and that did it, he grabbed the first piece and a second as well. I'm thinkin he'll do just fine now.

Thanks for the help!

[nathanbarry]

Hooray!! He's finally ate...LOL

My nan just bought a large clown loach on thursday and she's having the same problem, he wont eat!