Picky Arowana :(

[morbidprince]

Hey since I'm new to the forum I haven't read through all the old topics yet...if the questions I've brought up here has been answered somewhere else please direct me to it?

1. My 10 month old jardini arowana ONLY eats frozen blood worms and live mealworms, he will touch NOTHING else. I've tried frogs, prawns, arowana sticks...I'm trying to get more variety into his diet but he has spat everything out except the two food mentioned above. He did ate a small piece of carrot I threw in for my pleco once and that was very...odd...What can i do to get more nutrients into his simple diet? If he will eat the carrots...should I give him carrots??

2. My jardini at the moment is in a 20 gallon tank, but he's gettin' big, and so is his little bichir friend, how do I make the tank changing less....traumatic?? Also how big should I go? Gravel or no gravel?

thanks for reading!! I'm quite new to caring for my arowana, so far it reconizes me and looks healthy and happy, but any advice would be very helpful!

 

[onemisterchristian]

The best way to find if this has been adressed before, is to use the search function. This topic has probably been brought up several times in the oddball's section. However, as for your feeding problems..your arro is still fairly young and if he already eats anything steadily try only feeding him other things. Even if he doesn't eat them right away, he will eventually. Fish can go much longer without food than we give them credit for; and when he's hungry enough...the less appealing/healthier foods may seem more attractive.

Secondly...The tank situation you've provided for your arro is quite below what many arro keepers here find acceptable. How big is your arro? No doubt that 20 gallon tank will soon start to stunt his growth. Are you aware of how big your fish can get? I believe your fish gets upwards of 2 ft. Check with other keepers in the oddball's section on a tank size. Honestly I've heard you shouldn't go much smaller than 6x2x2 but that's just reading through other posts, not experience.

EDIT: Here, this is a great place to find info. on the fish you're looking for...The ever growing tff fish index. Scleropages jardini

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Yeah, your tank is definitely too small for both the Jardini and Bichir. I'm guessing the Jardini is no bigger than 6".

Firstly you need to get him into a bigger tank. As already has been said 6x2x2 MINIMUM! I'd also recommened a little gravel or sand but its all down to personal preference.

As for the feeding, if your Arowana is healthy, it won't hurt to starve it for a few days and try feeding the other foods you want it to eat. Also since its eating meal worms already, you could feed the pellets to the meal worms and then inturn feed the meal worms to the Jardini. That way the meal worms take in the goodness out the pellets, then the Jardini gets the meal worm which is loaded with the nutrients from the pellets.

Good luck!

 

[morbidprince]

onemisterchristian:

Thanks for letting me know about the search function, I will use that next time definetly! Wow so we can starve the little guy a bit? Hm...that's a good idea to have him eat some healthier foods, how many days should I go at a time? Shall I also starve his tankmate while I'm at it, he has gotten jelous before when we feed the bichir first, he'd chase away the bichir until he gets his mealworm

Actually we were baby sitting the arowana and bichir for a friend, but the friend never came back for them so we kept them, he was only 3" then and bichir was 5" so a 20 gallon looked okay. Yikes 2ft! definetly time to go tank shopping....Thanks for the link! I will be checking it out

DevilsAdvocate:

Oh you guessed right, he's around 5.75 in right now. 6x2x2..I wil definetly keep that in mind when I go to the petstore tomorow.

Oh that's a great idea also! I've been feeding my mealworms veggies and oatmeal...now i'll be adding fish diets to their meals. This has been very helpful! thank you both for your advices!

 

[onemisterchristian]

I didn't mean to not feed him at all. Sorry about that. What I meant was, only feed him what you want him to eat. If he doesn't eat it...take it out and try again the next day. Sooner or later he'll get the point. He'll get used to eating healthier foods this way.

 

[morbidprince]

Oh LOL ! Thanks for clearing that up! Well I gave him arowana sticks, he just looked at it blankly and continued to wait for his worms so technically he didn't eat. He does eat carrots if I cut it into a small strip...but would carrots do my aro any harm? I think he must have thought the carrot are frozen bloodworms or something...