November 16, 2007
Arowana live food - beware …
Hi all,
Hope everyone well… Been travelling quite a bit these past 2-3 weeks to some very interesting places (Japan, Myanmar and Vietnam.) so have not had time to update everyone on what's happening. My apologies.
My 5 gold x-backs are doing well. Have very good appetite. Still jittery I must say and fights happening all the time. How I know? I see bruises on their body and scales on the bottom of the tank. But like I said, if you want more than one in the tank.. then you have to live with this!
Anyway, I just wanted to warn everyone about the inherent risk of feeding their arowanas live food. I have been feeding mine quite a bit of feeder fishes like small mollies and goldfishes. I also feed them market prawns when I'm too lazy to buy live food for them.
Anyway I bought a mixture of mollies and goldfishes last weekend. They were in 3 different bags and each bag of feeder fish is S$1.50. I usually check the fishes before I buy them. I want to make sure that they are still active in the bag and not about to die. (sometimes they have been in the small bags for a whole day and the oxygen is low in them.. So please check.) I thought that I picked the 3 'best' bags of feeder fish.
Boy, was I wrong! You can't really see them well in the bags. Anyway, I took them home and as usual, drained out all the water from the bags and 'rinse' the feeder fishes a few times before I put them into my tank. I did not pay much notice to the fishes after that as I was going to start dinner. About 2 hours later, I went to check on my tank and saw some feeder fishes that did not look right. Some of them had white spots/patches and broken fins on them. To me, this raises an alarm bell as I'm sure some of these feeder fishes had fungal growth on them.
What did I do next? This is the part I hated most! I had to take out ALL the infected fishes (about 1/5 of the total feeder fishes) and change a quarter of the tank water. (I had to shower again after that! What a pain!) I could not take the chance of my arowanas being sick because of this! I monitored my 5 babies over the next couple of days… Thank God everything was fine! What's the best way to know that they are ok? They are still eating well! Nothing beats that behaviour!
Moral of the story ? Always be aware that any live food you bring back for your arowana could have some problems with them. So just be vigilant! If you suspect something is not right… then just take them out immediately! Unfortunately sometimes there are no suretell visible signs but that is a risk like everything we do. I think as long as you are mindful of this, it is ok. What's life without some excitement right? 
Also a few readers asked me about feeding their arowanas cockroaches. They seem to be plentiful I guess all around us. BUT my advise is, don't do this! You have no idea whether these roaches have taken any roach poison or have insecticides on their body. This to me, is a risk not worth taking.
Cheerio… Steven
Filed under Arowana Care Tips by Steven
Comments on Arowana live food - beware … »
hi steven…thx for ur tips abt livefood feeding for aro…
thru ur info…my super red aro growth well & hyper good appetite…16 months old with 18 inc long already…
d only problem is my aro very " quai lan "…if my wife feed him when i'm oversea or outstation…he rather fasting woh…
refuse to eat till i'm come back…sometime might take 1 week+…if not mistaken already 3 times liao…how u think hah…
regards
Hi,
Wow your dragon seems so attached yo you, thats not healthy.You can train your dragon to feed when your wife feeds
him.My dragon use to be like that refuse to eat when my wife feeds him. So i stuff him for 3 days than ask my wife to feed
him, this time he wallop the feeds. Now he eats whenever who feeds.
Chow,
RT
Hi Steven,
Thanks for the info. I had the same experience before and stop buying feeder fish. I am currently trying to get my aro to eat market prawn instead of live food like frogs and super worm. So you think it is safe? Is giving just prawn enough for the aro? Appreciate your advise.
Hi Steven,
Thanks for your sincere advices and information on live food. After suffering from several severe mortalities caused by excess/wrongful medication for parasite infestation introduced by live food. I finally give up live food and convert to dry prawn/pellet feeding for my arowanas. It was a bit difficult at the beginning as they refused to eat for more than one month, but they subdued eventually and converted to pellet feeding, causing me less troubles, efforts and costs. All we need is determination and insistance.
Regards,
Stephen
Hi ! Steven / other viewers,
I think, I had shared the live feed experience with my Arowana. It was only once, that I tried when I was going to be absent for about three weeks. After that I found my arowana infected with ich, lice . I was mentally upset, tried medications, which did not work to my satisfaction, and ultimately resorted to salt water treatment, which got my Arowana back into shape.
I feed only frozen prawns. I somehow find that my Arowana only likes salt water prawns and not, which have black stripes and not the fresh water prawns which are pinkish in nature. I wonder if that makes any difference.
I find out the health of my Arowana by seeing its wastes (shit) in the fish tank floor. If it is pinkish and in solid pieces, than its OK. Otherwise the waste is dark and in powder form in the tank.
Do others have any comments in my views. Do share. It is courtesy Steven Yeoh, that I am able to open up. Thanks to you Steven.
Vince,
You need to give it some 'hard love' to train it! Do it now and you will sleep better knowing that others can feed it too.
I agree with RT.
Steven
Stephen,
I cannot agree with you more.. Anyone who wants to train their arowana to eat non-live food must definitely have 'determination and insistence' to train it. Hard love like I mentioned earlier.,
Steven
Shankar,
With respect to salt or fresh water prawns, I cannot see any difference. Anyone have any comments about this?
Steven
I HAVE A QUESTION. BUT B4 TAT WANT U GUYS TO KNOW TAT IM A SPOREAN LIVING ABROAD.GOT AN ARROWANA A COUPLE MTHS AGO. STILL A NEW COMER IN THE ARROWANA WORLD. NOTICE THE FISH SOMETIMES RESTING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK FOR QUITE SOMETIME. IS HE RESTING OR I RECEIEVE SOME ADVISE TAT IS NOT A GOOD SIGN.HE MAY ME FEELING SICK OR SOMETHING. IS TAT TRUE N WAT STEPS CAN I TAKE. PLS ADVISE TY.
Steven,
Your recent article about removing all the "white spot" infected fish is a good tip. I've never rinsed my goldfish before putting them in the aquarium. to feed my RTG. I simply put the whole plastic bag in the, with the original water. Now I now better.
However I wonder if arowanas ever get infected with "white spot" disease. I've never seen any arowana with white spots. I've even heard oen guy told me arowana's never get white spots as they are imune to it. Is this true? I know from experience that they get anchor worm, but I've never seen them get white spots.
Appreciate your response.
Thanks.
thk steven 4 ur sincere tips most appreciate n all the best 2 u……….cheer
Hi Steven,
Valuable information you shared. Thanks!! I always wondered 80% of feeder fish I bought for my Arowana will float in the aquarium within 2-3 days. I had no idea why this happened and since then, my Arowana became poor eater and hardly eats feeder fish. I have tried worms, pellets as well as market prawns but no luck. Change water at least 3 days once while maintain pH level at 6.5 to 7. Please advice. Thanks !!
John,
If it is resting very often at the bottom, you could have a water problem. Try changing it and see whether it helps.
Steven
Jefri,
Ich/Ick or white spots affects all fishes.
Steven
Siva,
If they die so often, there is definitely something wrong with your water. Add some salt when you change the water. Also only change about 1/4 tank at any one time..
Steven
i agreed with you on live feeders… but i was not so fortunate because my fish was infected with anchor worms and it took me 2 months to cure it as it was recurring.
Hi Steven & Folks,
My 13 inch Arowana became poor eater and hardly eats for past few months. It always throw out the market prawn after biting it.
My arowana is still looks healthy, no signs of illness. But do not know why it doesn't feel like eating?
I even consult Qian Hu and brought a bottle of Vit C (appetizer) to add into the water but still no improvement!
Water change every week and PH level is maintain at 7, anyone can advise how to improve arowana appetizer?
Kelvin
Kelvin,
Have you tried live food? This is just to prove whether it is a fussy eater or not..
Steven
Hi Kelvin,
You are facing the same problem i had with mine too. My arowana used to eat market prawn daily but out of sudden it stopped eating. I tried to feed feeder fish, worms even centepedes but no luck. I even changed water according to Steven's advise but to date my arowana does not seem to have the appetite it used to have before.
Steve…any advice?
Hi Steven and Siva,
No, i have not tried any lived food.
BTW, last two days my arowana started to eat well. It tooks 3 big market prawns. Maybe it starved for past few months, now it cannot take it anymore : >
Today, i will observe again.
strange behaviour!
Kelvin
Hi Steven,
Thanks for all your efforts in sharing!!
This is actually my first time writing to you.
I am very new to arowana, just managed to persuade my wife to let me get a 4ft tank and got myself a very nice pearl aro which is about 10inches long. Cycled the tank for 3 days already so i'm just gonna bring it home tomm. One question i need to ask, how do you feed market prawns? Do you peel the skin too? Do i feed it right out of my freezer when it's still hard or wait tills it gets soft? Many thanks bro
Morning Steven
Another question today
When i feed cricket to my aro, am i suppose to cut it's back legs, wings and other sharp parts? And how many crickets can a 1 feet aro eat in a meal (considering i'm feeding him once a day)? Just bought a blood parrot to be his friend, seems to be really afraid of my aro now, i think it should not be able to swallow the parrot lah, but is it really necessary for aro to have some companion? Just wanted to do so that it will attract his attention so that it won't be to free to starting jumping out of my tank (Just a safety precaution). Appreciate your advice, thanks a million man!
Cho En,
If the parrot fish is being attacked, I advise to take it out because your arowana will probably kill it. You can't really prevent the arowana from jumping because it is in it's nature to do so. Don't worry as this is normal..
No you don't have to cut any parts of the cricket. How many will depend on how many it eats at any one time.. Very subjective here… after a few times you will know roughly how many to feed it..
Steven
Cho En,
Also, (did not see your earlier message) do get a copy of my arowana care book as it will answer most, if not all of your queries as a new arowana hobbyists.
Steven