Questions from the noob

Looks like I am the only one here who has never owned an Arowana before so I will start out by asking a few questions.

1. What are the pro's and con's to feeding pellets/sticks to meaty foods ie. prawns, bullfrogs etc? I hear people getting excited when they are able to get their aro's onto prepared foods but from what I have seen the majority of the champions were raised on meaty foods.

2. Other than it being easier to clean what are the advantages of going with a barebottom setup?

3. What does it mean when someone says "nice fifth level shine"? I know it has something to do with coloration but what exactly not too sure, some examples would be appreciated.

4. If I am gonna try tankmates should the aro and the mates be introduced together or is it better to let the aro grow out a bit first?(would love to have some bichirs in the tank once I get an aro)

5. Water quality - ph,temp,gh,kh,etc and how important are these to healthy growth?

6. Are aro's nitrate sensitive?
That's it for now, as more questions pop up in my head I will put them up.
 

protoxeno

New Member
Looks like I am the only one here who has never owned an Arowana before so I will start out by asking a few questions.

1. What are the pro's and con's to feeding pellets/sticks to meaty foods ie. prawns, bullfrogs etc? I hear people getting excited when they are able to get their aro's onto prepared foods but from what I have seen the majority of the champions were raised on meaty foods.

2. Other than it being easier to clean what are the advantages of going with a barebottom setup?

3. What does it mean when someone says "nice fifth level shine"? I know it has something to do with coloration but what exactly not too sure, some examples would be appreciated.

4. If I am gonna try tankmates should the aro and the mates be introduced together or is it better to let the aro grow out a bit first?(would love to have some bichirs in the tank once I get an aro)

5. Water quality - ph,temp,gh,kh,etc and how important are these to healthy growth?

6. Are aro's nitrate sensitive?
That's it for now, as more questions pop up in my head I will put them up.

1) pros to pellet is vitamins, nothing have more of a balance diet then food sticks. cons to pellet is that your aro won't get as fat but enough to be healthy and strong. it might also be a bit boring for you to see it wacking pellets for a while. Seeing my aro wacking SW is really fun.

2)Can't think of any other advantage other than easy to clean.

3) The lvl of shine people refer to is the row of the scales of an aro. Asian aros have 5 rows that can be viewed on the side. The holes that spam across the aro is the lateral line and that is a mark of 3rd row of scales. Therefore th 5th lvl is the 5th row of scales of the aro. Example on RTG is that its usual that RTG's 5th row of scales dont' get any colour or shine (usually black) with the exception of Panda Golds and other high quality RTG.

When people say nice 5th lvl shine, means the 5th row of scales on the aro has great shine (instead of being normally blackish when full grown).

4) I think its best to introduce the aro after tankmates with the exception of blood parrots thats in pairs or more. Blood parrots tend to pick fights when in groups. With other calmer tankmates, introducing the tankmates after aro would make the aro feel that he needs to defend its territory thus attacking or picking on tankmates to show dominance.

5) PH in Canada is pretty high and using chemical to lower won't do much good as I find it keeps going back to around 7.5 - 8.0. Aro prefer a bit lower around maybe 6.0 - 7.8. Temp should be around 27 - 30 as I keep it. The rest aren't really monitor as long as ammonia and nitrate are zero.

6) All fishes prefer zero and lets just make it zero at all times. Usually aro show signs of weird behaviour so take that as indication that something is wrong. Usually is water quality.
 
Here in the lowermainland on the westcoast our tap water is soft and usually around 6-7 for ph, I have heard of how the water is back east, hard and high ph. Your guy's water would be perfect for african ciclids, I gotta add baking soda and epsom salt everytime I do a wc.

Thanks for the reply to my questions, any other opinions?
 

protoxeno

New Member
If your water is soft over in the eats I guess you have to put some coral chips to boost it and maintain PH level just incase you get PH spike either too low or too high.
 

frozen-fire

New Member
it's true...our water is pretty sweet for africans! but in my african cichlid setups, i still used crushed coral substrate with fossilized corals as rocks/decorations.
 

Max Power

New Member
keep asking all the noob questions taureandragon76, it means don't have to ask them :). I have lots of experience with discus, but I'm pretty much in the dark when it comes to arowanas. I figure I'll educate myself on this forum so buy the time I buy a aro I'll be confident.
 

ninjaturtle

New Member
keep asking all the noob questions taureandragon76, it means don't have to ask them :). I have lots of experience with discus, but I'm pretty much in the dark when it comes to arowanas. I figure I'll educate myself on this forum so buy the time I buy a aro I'll be confident.

aro keeping is quite simple... if you know how to keep discus u'll prob thrive in aro keeping as discus r prob harder to maintain than aros. aros r real hardy.. just ppl overreact when something happens to it because they cost a fortune.

its like saying, if you know how to drive a shitbox you will know how to drive a benz, only diff is you wont care if your shitbox hits something, but ull cry if you benz has dust on it.
 
What I am finding right now is that with aro's the key is very clean water, stable ph, proper diet, and proper size tank and thats about it.

Ok so here are a couple of more questions

1. How often would it be recommended on doing w/c's if tank is moderately stocked with good filtration?

2. How much water should be changed out everytime?

3. How often should they be fed? (should you feed often when juvie and cut back to every other day when mature)
 

ninjaturtle

New Member
taureandragon76;613]What I am finding right now is that with aro's the key is very clean water, stable ph, proper diet, and proper size tank and thats about it.

As with any fish you keep

Ok so here are a couple of more questions

1. How often would it be recommended on doing w/c's if tank is moderately stocked with good filtration?
define moderate... atleast once a week, better to do 2. when i first got my jardini i changed water everyday or 2, thing grew like weed

2. How much water should be changed out everytime?
generally as a guide, if once a week then 50%, if twice a week, 20-30%.

3. How often should they be fed? (should you feed often when juvie and cut back to every other day when mature

for anything less than 4 or 5" stop when you see the stomache bulging out, and feed several times a day, i fed mine like 5 or 6 times a day, a lil each meal. when they bigger you wont see the stomache bulge when full, so feed as much as they'll eat, they know when to stop, unless u feed pellets.. cuz they'll expand and actually be more than ur aro thought he ate
 
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