Hello everyone,
I have been debating this issue for about 8 months now and have finally decided that in the interest of keeping a well balanced tank, selling the aro would be a good idea. I've had this RTG since October 2007. He's about 17" which is about the same size as my larger Charming Phoenix.
Currently this fish resides in a 150g 5x2x2 with 2 similar sized Charming Phoenix, 1 6" IT, a 12 and a 15" Endlicherri and in the other side of separation: 6 small phoenix a 2" Silver Dat and an albino Bichir.
So the culminating moment in my decision is when I awoke one day last week and the Aro was on the small fish side of separation and all the small fish were on the large predator side. Well at first I thought the aro ate the small fish; but they appeared to be doing fine with the large Datnoid.
A few months ago a small phoenix escaped to the predator side and the Tu'big (the Dat) tried eating it. Eventually he spat it out because no matter how many times he tried crunching it like a Comet feeder, it wouldn't scarf down his throat and continued to wriggle around. When he was spat out, 60% of his scales were missing (plumes of scales flew while being chewed) and I thought he wouldn't make it; but that phoenix still lives to this day!
The end result? My datnoid doesn't think phoenix is a worthwhile food source. If you fear your food might break out of your stomach and eat you alive... If that's the case, then without the Aro I could remove all separation and have a full 5' tank with large and small fish combined.
But the aro would eat any of the small phoenix. He's tried many times but I'm always (surprisingly) there and scoop it out before he takes it.
I have a video posted on Youtube which contains some blurred video of the aro. Currently I'm only running one cheap 4' coralife t5 bulb. Thusly video and pics don't come out very nice. I'm working at picking up a 260w CF setup for what will eventually be on the 77g Tenecor tank that's collecting dust.
I've put this off for a very very long time. I wanted to believe that I liked the aro--it's a NICE aro. He's got very nice development along the 5th row and... has some 6th row gold patches with purple shine. I've seen similar and larger sized xbacks with less development than this RTG.
I've tried and tried to get him on pellets; but to no avail. He readily eats Superworm and to a lesser extent Beef heart. I've had some success with prawn but they had to be small chunks. I don't like crickets, but he will greedily eat them up if you provide. Basically, if it moves about he'll eat it.
In the end, I think I just don't like Arowanas. I met a guy who was really into them and eventually I had a collection of fish which exactly resembled his setup. I ended up with 20g tank, then a 90 with just a phoenix and within 2 years of fish keeping had the whole shebang minus rays. Now I've been in the hobby 6+ years and I like everything in my tank but the Arowana. So I've delayed this because I know it will disappoint a certain number of people.
Maybe in a few years I'll decide to try again; but for now I've got my hands full with keeping 9 Phoenix in 1 150g tank! Currently I know of no one else anywhere who's keeping more than 1 phoenix in anything less than 1000 gallons of water. And yet I've successfully kept 2 15"+ phoenix in a single environment with short periods of separation (during crisis) for over 3 years. I should really sit down and make an article about my many hypothesis about phoenix keeping.
Well I guess that's about it. Here's that video:
I'll try taking some pics but I've never been happy with the colours on a picture. Regardless, I'll post pics asap.
I have been debating this issue for about 8 months now and have finally decided that in the interest of keeping a well balanced tank, selling the aro would be a good idea. I've had this RTG since October 2007. He's about 17" which is about the same size as my larger Charming Phoenix.
Currently this fish resides in a 150g 5x2x2 with 2 similar sized Charming Phoenix, 1 6" IT, a 12 and a 15" Endlicherri and in the other side of separation: 6 small phoenix a 2" Silver Dat and an albino Bichir.
So the culminating moment in my decision is when I awoke one day last week and the Aro was on the small fish side of separation and all the small fish were on the large predator side. Well at first I thought the aro ate the small fish; but they appeared to be doing fine with the large Datnoid.
A few months ago a small phoenix escaped to the predator side and the Tu'big (the Dat) tried eating it. Eventually he spat it out because no matter how many times he tried crunching it like a Comet feeder, it wouldn't scarf down his throat and continued to wriggle around. When he was spat out, 60% of his scales were missing (plumes of scales flew while being chewed) and I thought he wouldn't make it; but that phoenix still lives to this day!
The end result? My datnoid doesn't think phoenix is a worthwhile food source. If you fear your food might break out of your stomach and eat you alive... If that's the case, then without the Aro I could remove all separation and have a full 5' tank with large and small fish combined.
But the aro would eat any of the small phoenix. He's tried many times but I'm always (surprisingly) there and scoop it out before he takes it.
I have a video posted on Youtube which contains some blurred video of the aro. Currently I'm only running one cheap 4' coralife t5 bulb. Thusly video and pics don't come out very nice. I'm working at picking up a 260w CF setup for what will eventually be on the 77g Tenecor tank that's collecting dust.
I've put this off for a very very long time. I wanted to believe that I liked the aro--it's a NICE aro. He's got very nice development along the 5th row and... has some 6th row gold patches with purple shine. I've seen similar and larger sized xbacks with less development than this RTG.
I've tried and tried to get him on pellets; but to no avail. He readily eats Superworm and to a lesser extent Beef heart. I've had some success with prawn but they had to be small chunks. I don't like crickets, but he will greedily eat them up if you provide. Basically, if it moves about he'll eat it.
In the end, I think I just don't like Arowanas. I met a guy who was really into them and eventually I had a collection of fish which exactly resembled his setup. I ended up with 20g tank, then a 90 with just a phoenix and within 2 years of fish keeping had the whole shebang minus rays. Now I've been in the hobby 6+ years and I like everything in my tank but the Arowana. So I've delayed this because I know it will disappoint a certain number of people.
Maybe in a few years I'll decide to try again; but for now I've got my hands full with keeping 9 Phoenix in 1 150g tank! Currently I know of no one else anywhere who's keeping more than 1 phoenix in anything less than 1000 gallons of water. And yet I've successfully kept 2 15"+ phoenix in a single environment with short periods of separation (during crisis) for over 3 years. I should really sit down and make an article about my many hypothesis about phoenix keeping.
Well I guess that's about it. Here's that video:
I'll try taking some pics but I've never been happy with the colours on a picture. Regardless, I'll post pics asap.
