Update AROs from Panda July 17 Grp Ordr

[xenon240]

I have a XB and SR from Theo and Kenta's GO from July 17. They both have grown at least an inch since then. I would also be interested to hear updates from others that were in on this order.

I have raised Silver and RTG's but this is the first XB and SR for me. For those new to the ARO hobby I would suggest starting out with RTG's, they are more outgoing fish and hearty appetites. My SR and XB on the other hand were very shy and hard to feed when I first got them. They would not touch pellets and would barely take fresh shrimp, so I resorted to feeder fish for a few weeks. I then tried going back to shrimp and had to hang shrimp on the edge of the tank, they would not eat if I was in the same room. Now two months after, they are finally eating heartily on fresh shrimp and will eat when I drop the shrimp in the tank. You definitely need to be patient with these higher end AROs.

When I got them, I had to temporarily house them in the same tank (thought it should be OK as I had my Silver and RTG in the same tank with no problems), but this turned out to be a big mistake. If you remember, the SR's on the July 17 order were huge about 8 inches and the XB's were only a small 5-6 inches. The SR fought with the XB one night and he lost about 10 scales. they are now in separate tanks.

I've included some pictures, one of before and the others are recent.

 

[T1KARMANN]

nice aros

when aros are that small its best to feed them what they want meal worms all the way

you are very brave putting 2 aros in the same tank

the tank also looks very small what size is it ?

i wouldn't put 2 aros in a tank smaller than 4x2x2

but if the aros are doing fine just forget what i said and just keep doing what works for you

i find reds eat better than any other aro

 

[Marius]

^I'd go for 180 from the very begining (6'x2'x2')

 

[Yuppa]

great lookin aro's, your super red is superb!!

 

[m_class2g]

nice looking panda aros! im glad they have their own tank now! gutsy to put them together lol.

 

[xenon240]

Yes I guess we all learn from our mistakes.

The first tank was only a 30gal, I had no option as I was moving within a month and did not want to setup my larger 75 gal before moving. Now the SR is in the 75 gal and the XB is still in the 30 gal, but I'll need to get him into a larger tank soon.

T1Karmann: the problem with meal worms is that they sink too fast, and when the AROs are new and still shy they won't have the courage to chase them. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[T1KARMANN]

yep feed 1 meal worm at a time dont throw in loads as most will sink

if the aro is health when you throw the meal worm in it will grab it long before it hit the tank base

always throw the worm in front of the aro so it can see it hit the water

a aro that size should be eatting 5 x giant meal worms per feed twice per day

its best to feed small aros below 12inch twice per day