Arowana Feeding/Swimming questions

W

whynot91

New Member
So i finally managed to get an Asian Arowana (Green) over the weekend 7". I cleared out most of the fish in my tank which may be a threat for e.g. Florida gar, bichir and Peacock bass which were all lot bigger than the arrow.

I'm a little concerned about the feeding. I really want to get him to eat different foods as fast as possible. When i went to see him the first time the owner showed me him eating sticks, flakes and crickets. He was in a 30 gallon tank however.

When i went to pick him up he looked very spooked, wasnt swimming much and looked very scared.

I have 2 questions/concerns.

1. He want eating the sticks, bloodworm, brine shrimp that i was giving him so i thought I'd try crickets. He ate all 4 crickets that i gave him after he recognized they were food. I want him to eat diverse food and not just crickets which is the only thing he is eat right now. How can i start him on other food especially sticks

2. He doesn't for some reason swim back and forth like my silver did. He seems a little more passive which would probably means he is maybe used to be dominated in the past. He loves to stand in front of of my Koralia and swim against it. He is not showing any symptoms of being sick, just scared probably. I'm guessing he will start swimming more once he starts realizing he is not in a 30 gallon anymore and starts dominating.
 
Congratulations on your green aro!

Give him some time to settle in, he is probably still pretty scared. At least he is eating quickly after being transferred which is a good sign. I hear that crickets are kind of addictive to aros so I wouldn't use them that often if it were me. I feed my aros market prawn and sometimes superworms gut loaded with carrots (which they seem to get hooked on as well) and the occasional aro stick (when they are in the mood) . They seem to be doing pretty well. But every aro seems to be different, I guess we just have to be patient.
 
I'm going to try superworms.

Does your arrow only eat from the top of the tank or does he come down to grab the food?
 
He mostly eats at the top or middle but sometimes goes to the bottom if he is really hungry. He doesn't seem to like to pick food off of the bottom, I suspect he may have trouble seeing it. If I throw the worm at the surface so that it makes a little splashing sound, he seems to go for it more. I guess they sense the vibrations in their barbels.
 
Your aro just not use to the tank yet and not use to you either so give it some time, be very patient with new aro. Just keep the water and temp right and your aro will be active in no time. Cricket and super worms is addictive and your aro might not eat anything else so if you can try to start on prawn. For a 7" aro its easy to feed them prawn.
 
Well now he is not even eating crickets. He is not sick and is swimming well. I noticed he swims where there is less current. Today i saw him swimming all over. He may as well just not be used to everything like hondas3000 said.

I checked the water quality/temp and it is perfect, my RTC goes nuts when its feeding time. I even did a water change yesterday, only 15% though.

I'v been feeding a lot of crickets, i gave him 9 big ones yesterday lol maybe he is just full. But Arrow's are never full though

I didnt feed him this morning so i'm gonna wait and see how it goes tonight. I was told to reduce the lighting too, so i dont turn them up all the way either.

Hopefully he turns around. I'm open to suggestions.
 
don't be too concern...my 16" SR sometimes goes 4-6 weeks on not eating anything...and the he starts on MP's....it happens often
 
MP=market prawn or shrimp. I wouldnt worry about the aros appetite too much for now. It happened to my aro many times also. When he is ready to eat he will eat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top