May 8, 2008
Arowanas will jump so cover up well!
Hi all,
Thanks for your overwhelming support for this new part of the blog which I have set up for you to share stories for everyone to learn from.
NB: IF YOU HAVE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES THAT YOU WANT TO SHARE, PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL WITH THE DETAILS SO THAT I CAN SHARE WITH EVERYONE AS A SEPARATE POST. (PLEASE DO NOT POST IT IN THE COMMENTS AREA BELOW EVERY POST AS READERS WILL MISS IT IF THEY ARE NOT READING THE COMMENTS.) THANKS!
Without further ado, here is the first one from readers… This is the email I received and is posted verbatim to you.
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Hi, I just thought I'd share my recent tragedy with you and perhaps you can pass it on to our extended Arowana lovers family.
I recently did a 25 percent water change on my 140 gallon Tank that housed my 26 inch 7 year old silver Arowana. After the change, I noticed he was acting very nervously. He was jumping and smashing into the glass. When I tested the water, I noticed the salt was much higher than I normally have it. 0.40%. It is usually between 0.15 and 0.20. I don't know if this is the reason for his behavior (perhaps you could theorize…). The next day, I changed 20%, and the day after another 20%. Incidentally, he seemed to calm down allot. The following night after returning home, we noticed he was not in the tank. He had managed to knock a weighted piece of glass off of the tank and strand himself on the back edge of the glass. I don't know how long he was out for, but he was still breathing when I put him back in, but his equilibrium was gone, and he died late that night. We feel as if we lost a member of our family. He will be missed, his name was Sparkles.
Thank you,
John Doe (All anonymous will be John Doe ok. 
)
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My observations and recommendations :
1) I will also add some salt into my tank with every change of water. Many people have asked me how much salt to put. To be frank, I really don't measure but to give you a gauge, I have a 5×2x2 feet tank and I usually add about maybe 150gms of salt in it. (Why I know is because I buy 1kg bags of salt..) I will also add some black water in it.. How much? It does not really matter because in my experience, this is harmless. (Ok I do have one reader who wrote me another post who stated otherwise but I will share that in another post to you. That reader does have a point because by process of elimination, it does sound like it was the cause but anyway… will share later … suspense! suspense! 
)
2) John did the right thing by changing water. As I have mentioned many times, if your fish is acting strangely for no apparent reason, this should always be your first cause of action!
3) Cover your tanks properly. Arowanas will JUMP! It is in their nature ok! A few readers asked me in the past about how to train their arowanas to NOT jump! This can't be done and we will have to live with it. In the wild, arowanas jump up from the water to catch small preys like birds! If you do not cover your tanks properly, there is a high chance that they will knock the cover off and you will have an arowana who thinks that it can breathe air and fly! (Sorry no pun intended but just trying to drive the point across!)
In John's case, we won't really know what caused it to jump but the most probably cause is an insect or something on the top cover. My previous arowana (which is at the farm now) has bruised it's mouth many time trying to catch insects that landed on the top glass cover. In my arowana care book, I narrated a story about a close personal friend of mine who was ONLY third time lucky because his first 2 red asian arowanas jumped out of the tank. The third time, he put bricks on top of the glass cover. A bit extreme but it worked!
How heavy must the top cover be? This is really subjective. What I have are pieces of glass on top of my tank and two 5 foot lights sitting on it. This should be sufficient..
Ok hope you learn something from this. Let me know your thoughts below. Cheers!
Steven
Filed under Arowana Care Tips, Arowana Stories - BY YOU! by Steven
Comments on Arowanas will jump so cover up well! »
Dear Steven,
Your articles always bring me back to life. I have no choice, but to tell you that your e mail ID does not work, when I send you mails directly. I donot know why. You can receive mails from me only when I submit like I am doing now.
My 4 yrs old 22 inches Arowana tank gave way from one side.Fortunatelu, I was at home. With the help of family members,transferred it to a Plastic Basin about 1 ft deep.I covered the tub with bedsheet. Tried repairing the tank 6'x2'x2' by myself.Failed.Will try again.Called a professional,but since he did not turn up,I did it myself.Will try today again.Now,transferred the Arowana to the waterfall pond.I find that its back,ie top surface has lost its slime coat and is reddish.Also,when I wanted to transfer it from the damaged tank to the tub,Iheld it too tight which,I feel has created a small red patch at the pressure point.I hope,I have not caused it any internal injury.Till I repair my tank,I am browsing to prepare myself for any sickness that my darling Arowana may get infected with in the pond.
Any suggestions and advice for me.Can nature cure my pet on its own?Will keep you posted. Sorry for not sending you on your email ID.Can you create one on Yahoo or Hotmail and let me know.
With lots of love to you and your family Steve.
Bye !
Hi all,
I have two american silver arowans in 7×1.5×2.5feet tank.
Now they are 16" and are settled in my aquarium.
can I keep them in this tank till they are of full size.
hi Steven,
my red 2+ year arowana had not eaten for more than a month now. i hv tried many ways but failed. changed water accordingly every week. ph level maintained at 6-7. and one week ago she jumped vigorously hurt herself all over and approximately 20 scales dropped. it was a tragic day in its entire 2 years. this made the appetite even worst and i can't see her starving this way. i'm clueless…someone pls advice….thx!!
Shankar,
I do receive some of your emails. Don't think there is anything wrong there. As for your tank, I would advise that you get a new one as you don't want to have a situation that fixed a leak somewhere and 3 months later, another leak springs up somewhere else…
Your arowana is probably stressed out.. It should be ok soon.
Steven
Mahesh,
Your tank is probably good for another 2-3 years after which you will have to change it.
Steven
Siva,
Has there been some changes in your environment lately? Some hobbyists have told me that if there are things like contruction work which causes heavy vibrations felt in the house can affect them. What have you tried feeding them?
Do you add a bit of salt when you change water?
Steven
lately is so busy with work, so not really ofserve my pretty blood red, beside rutin water change, the simple way off upper level filtre system is working quit well for me, i maintain mostly life food with frog, which it doing well with the growth of my baby n quality off water, after about 4 yrs i keep this blood red baby, he is turning rapidly red lately.
i think the best way to keep an arowana is to be simple as u can.
thanks n good day evryone.
steven tan
to siva,
as ur case, happened wt me bf with 1 off my aro baby, she is a rtg, very agresif girl, i got bite few time, jumpimg alot, anyway just maintain the water quality n not too worry about the situation, it will get back to normal soon, sometime u just need to take it easy. they just can't be too "manja" with. while this situation get on, u can put in a capsule off multi vitamin, is capsule not tablet ok, let it dilute slowly, cos with tablets it going to react too fast n cloulded the water n bring down the whole water bioo system.(only 1/week, change 30% off water after 1 week n let it rest for a week)
Dear fellow arowana keepers,
I kept two 45 cm red arowana in a comparted tank, which is covered with pieces of metal web weighted by 500 cc plastic bottles filled with water. In order to avoid infectious diseases, I feed them with pellets and krills only, without live food. The setting looks untidy and un-professional, but it works. I believe that the keeping method should be as simple and economical as possible, thereby our passion and committment can be sustanied longer.
Sincerely,
Stephen Tang
Steven,
there is no as such. i used to feed market prawns, worms, live fish and centepede at times. but now none is her favourite. what you think?
Steven Tan,
thanks for the piece of advice man. i really appreciate it!! btw, may i know in detail wht type of multivitamin capsule is tht? i hv tried used a liquid form recenlt recommended by someone i know but it did not help anyway. could you pls give me more detail abt this. i am more willing to sacrifice anything to get this guy eat something and back to norm. pls advice. thanks in advance…Siva
Siva,
Feed what you have at hand.. Don't let your arowana dictate what he/she wants to eat. If it is hungry enough, it will eat anything you give it!..
Steven
siva,
hello!!
anykind off multivitamin, but must be capsule, try it out n see how, lately i find 1 of my friend's so call"" blood red"" is so yellow, n the guy r giving up the fish, but i see the potential, she will be red, only take sometime, hay……is passion with keep a red.if he really pass the fish to me i will try my best.
goodday n wish ur baby is ok.
steven tan
siva n master steven,
i do agreed with what steven suggested, unless we really unfortunate to have a very so call "difficult" fish.
cheers n enjoy the journey.
i had cheated by a shop for my 1st xb, grown to be a very beatiful green, hahahah…..
steven tan
Steven & Steven Tan,
thanks alot for the advise. you guys know wht happen? finally she had few worms (6pcs) last nite. coooool!!! i hv been waited for weeks for this moment to happen. i bought live fish as well just incase she is very hungry. but those are still untouched. wait for few more days. i throw in 1 centipede as well in the morning tdy…and she grabbed it too. i changed the water twice in the last 4 days. i saw some algae at the edge of my aquarium turned to be green in color which i didn't really understand why. i scrubbed those away while changing the water. hopefully she will be alrite and back to live as she used to be. thanks alot for the support guys!!! i really appreciate it…
dear siva,
is good news to hear about ur baby get back to normal, wish u all the best, she will fine, keep intouch. had u try with the multi vitamin? my baby recently have some problem when i feed her with some live prawn from local aqua shop, it cause algae n skin problem to my baby. still under treatment now, but is ok to have some problem sometime, exciting experiences.
Siva/Steven Tan,
Algae is caused by sunlight. So best way is to give it as little sunlight as possible if this is a problem for you. Siva is right to scrub the algae away. Too much algae in the water can suffocate your fish.. change water more often if this is an issue.
Steveb
Steven Tan,
Didn't your 1st xback come with a CITEScert? You can probably change it if you have a cert…
Steven
Steven Tan,
it was very exciting to see her grabbing something atleast but to date she had none of the live fish to my amaze. i will wait and see. i hadn't fed her with anything else since last week. but each time she saw me behaves like hunting for food as she used to be but i wondered why the live fishes are left alone if she is really looking for food. points to ponder! so i left her without feeding even the worms. on the multivitamin, i tried asking around few shops but they are all have different version of stories and materials tht made me confused. so i tot of coming back to u again for advice. i completely hv no idea now. need your advice again dude…thx!!
Steven,
wht u think abt this phenomenon? i meant her appetite. is she expecting me to feed worms n centipede again? why the live fish are not disturbed? even the market prawn i fed was not bothered. pls advice. thanks.