Arrowana question

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kingzfan

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Jan 16, 2003
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Hello all,
I just have a quick question regarding Arrowana. What are the best tank mates for these fish?
Right now I have a 4" Arrowana in a 55gallon tank. I decided to put in 2 two inch Oscar. So far it's not all that good of a situation. The oscar are going after the arrowana and he just stays in the corner.
Did I pick the wrong tank mates for this fish? Is there another tank mate that I should consider?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Kingzfan

Edmonton 2 KINGS 0
 
If your arowanna is hiding in a corner it is time to get rid of the oscars. When they are small they can be pretty shy and timid. When they get large they will eat anything they can cram in their mouths, including my fingers..:)
You will have huge problems with tank space with three large fish in 55 gallon tank. An arrowana can get 3' long so plan on upgrading soon.
I have an arowanna in a 120 with 3 angel fish and a severum. I am out of space in this tank.
As far as compatible fish with an arowanna, they don't do well with aggressive fish, like oscars, especially when they are small. I have found they will get allong with more peacefull fish as long as they can't swollow them. Arowannas grow very fast.
What are you feeding yours?
 
well...I have since taken the Oscar back to the LFS. The idiot was the one that told me the Oscar and Arrowana would be good tank mates. I'm glad he took them back. If he didn't, he would have gotten them back the hard way.
When I said that the oscar didn't get along with my arrowana...he said "OH...I didn't know you had an Arrowana" that's the last time i will go there.
I haven't fed him anything yet. I was thinking of feeding him live fish.
Any suggestions?
 
I am glad they took it back. It's hard to get good advice from a LFS. I have always started off the smaller arowannas on freeze dried plankton or krill, if it is big enough. Yours being 4" would probably take krill. I try to keep them off live food because once they eat it it's hard to get them to take anything else. Mine is about 15" now and it eats cichlid pellets, hikari gold. Try feeding it both, maybe throw in a few guppies if it is still scared from the oscar ordeal.
 
Originally posted by tubbanorman
I... I try to keep them off live food because once they eat it it's hard to get them to take anything else.
Click to expand...

I wish I should've known this earlier, cause when i first got my arowana, i constantly fed him live brine shrimp, and he loved it, but now when i try to feed him freeze-dried brine shrimp, he doesn't even look at the stuff, and prefers the live ones instead! What should I do to make him forget about the live brine shrimp and eat the freeze-dried ones? Should i just starve him for a day and then feed him the shrimp or what? Any advice to help get my arowana off of live food would be greatly appreciated, by the way he's still a juvenille, about 5-6 inches in length.
 
3' might be a lean estimate on the size of a fully grown arrowana. Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg has an Amazon biotope tank with a specimen that is at least 5', maybe longer.

Once your fish gets a little bigger, it can get along fine with fish that don't swim in the same area of the tank, such as catfish, etc. However, it will eat anything small enough to fit in its very big mouth. These guys eat large flying insects, fish, and even birds in the wild. There's a video at the aquarium that shows one of these monsters picking a bird off a limb, jumping 9 feet out of the water to do it.... (Which is why you want to keep something REALLY heavy on the lid of your tank...)

My lfs used to raise these guys for the aquariums in the area. He would sell them off when they reached 4 feet, and he would keep them in 300 gallon tanks at that point. (The "Alcatraz" tank I mention from time to time was at one point an arrowana tank...)

As soon as I have the space for a tank of that proportion, I'm going to get one myself... I won't do it now, because I know I could only enjoy the fish for about a year in 55 gallons...
 
Unless you have access to a very, very large tank to put this fish in, you're going to have (literally) big problems. This is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world.

Personnaly, I think anything less than 300 (imp) gallons per adult fish is simply not enough, and I also think that they should only be available on license for that reason.
 
wow i feel like i just posted this same thing on another post.. oh wait cause i did. ... doesn't some dude on this site have a 4footer in a 500gallon tank that he raised since it was only 3inches or something like that? bet he can help.
 
Originally posted by Roland
Unless you have access to a very, very large tank to put this fish in, you're going to have (literally) big problems. This is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world.

Personnaly, I think anything less than 300 (imp) gallons per adult fish is simply not enough, and I also think that they should only be available on license for that reason.
Click to expand...

I agree totally. So does the owner of my lfs. That's why he won't sell them to anyone with less than 300 gallons, unless it is with a written contract that it will be brought back to him (to help him out with the raising process only) within a year. Nobody has bought one other than the husbandry departments of our area aquariums for years for that very reason. They are gorgeous, though. Whenever I have room, I'm going to be helping him out, so that he can raise more than one at once. I don't mind giving fish up, raising them is most of the fun for me.... Now, where did I put that tank catalog?....
 
Yeah I agree, they're one of the most odd and prehistoric looking fish available, but they are beautiful. Im glad to hear your lfs are taking an ethical stance on this.

Unfortunatly, in S.E Asia, you can buy these fish at 4" (presumably strait from the mothers mouth) in PLASTIC SANDWICH BAGS that maybe hold 2 pints. Ive seen them. I shudder to think what % of them reach adulthood. The cheapest ones cost less than $5, so you can see the temptation....

I remember watching a programme about arrowanas where a poor BAT ended up on the menu! Most fish like flake and the occasional live meal... these ones like WHOLE ANIMALS! Amazing.
 
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