some advice please

[snugpuppies]

Not new to the hobby but new to owning an arowana. Currently in a 150 gallon tank by itself. All is good. Water parameters are good.

Its a HBRTG. I have had it almost 2 weeks now and I am trying to get it to take hikari pellets or sticks. No luck. It readily will eat shrimp and smelt. It has the occasional cricket (once per week) but doesn't seem to fond of live food?!

I tried soaking the pellets in the shrimp juice - it takes the pellet in its mouth and then spits it out. Texture thing I guess. Any strategies on how to get it on pellets? What should I add to ensure a proper diet?

Currently 14 inches long. How much should it get per day?

I appreciate any responses and yes, I know that the answers are likely in the forums already - I just need to find them. There is alot of postings to go through - even with advanced filters!
thx
Michael

 

[Cirrus]

Yes, you should find old posts on this topic.

Personally, I think you are lucky your aro is eating shrimp and smelt readily. I would suggest mixing in a few floating Hikari pellets with the shrimp/prawn and hopefully one day the aro will take to the pellets too. Do you have any scavenger fish in the tank to eat any uneaten food?

 

[tomuhs]

Hi Michael

Great work getting him to feed, that aro greedily ate anything i gave him including pellets. The only thing is that he was in a community setting therefore more willing to attack pellets; monkey see money doo. As Theo mentioned, you should consider yourself lucky that he is already eating smelt; sometimes they can go for weeks without eating when introduced into a new tank.

In my experience, if you want to pellet train, the best time is when you introduce him/her into a new tank. From there i would simply starve until they take pellets. The aro you grabbed off me was very very fat so he should be fine. At this stage of the game though you will need to either stop feeding shrimp/smelt and try going the pellet route or just try giving pellets every now and then and hopefully he'll take (perhaps a 20% success rate.) You could also wait until you got your 300 setup and throw him in there and starve until he takes pellets. Other strategies include: getting more comm mates, soaking, stuffing shrimp etc etc.

In terms of diet, there are plenty people that simply feed MP or smelt. Obviously variety will keep your fish happy and vibrant. At 14 inches you can get away with feeding once a day or every other day.

Good luck and happy fish keeping. BTW post some pics for everyone. He/she is one of the nicer HBRTGs i've seen.

 

[snugpuppies]

Thanks for the support. user name: tomuhs...too funny. I thought that was you but didn't want to ask. The aro is doing great. Like I said, spits out the pellets but absolutely loves prawns. I have to be careful or it will jump out while trying to feed. It sits or swims and patiently waits for me to approach the tank - almost stalking type behaviour lol

Maybe when I put it in the 340 this week I will try the starve approach. I tried when I first got the aro but like all newbies, I cracked before the aro!

Pictures will come soon.

 

[tomuhs]

It sits or swims and patiently waits for me to approach the tank - almost stalking type behaviour lol

He was definately the strongest eater out of the comm, even out growing my gold head (he was 2'' bigger) and eventually becoming the alpha.

I tried when I first got the aro but like all newbies, I cracked before the aro!

Pictures will come soon.

LMAO!!! Dont worry it took me a few years before i had the guts to actually starve an aro to the point of pellet being trained.

 

[snugpuppies]

Well it finally happened. I managed to get the 340 gallon tank set-up. I will get a picture tomorrow and post. The hardest part was finding 5 other volunteers to lift it in my house.

So far, everyone is doing good (only been 3 days). It has my arowana (14'), two delhzi bichirs (10' & 12'), one 10' motoro stingray, and two big fat clown loaches (7' & 9').

Trying to get the aro to eat pellets. No luck thus far but I'm holding out for now...72 hours and counting. Who will crack first!!

 

[tomuhs]

Well it finally happened. I managed to get the 340 gallon tank set-up. I will get a picture tomorrow and post. The hardest part was finding 5 other volunteers to lift it in my house.

So far, everyone is doing good (only been 3 days). It has my arowana (14'), two delhzi bichirs (10' & 12'), one 10' motoro stingray, and two big fat clown loaches (7' & 9').

Trying to get the aro to eat pellets. No luck thus far but I'm holding out for now...72 hours and counting. Who will crack first!!

Congrats and good luck with the move. Looking foward to pics!