Most times, the simplest solution will cure your arowana…

My arowana is about 13 inches. He's doing well in his 265 gallon tank. I had noticed that he's eat as much of the arowana food sticks as he use too when he was a little lad, (6 inches). He will eat the crickets but, not the food sticks…WHY?

Also, as he's getting old, he freaks out when I walk in front of the tank. This is starting to be a pain because water is splashing out from the back of the tank and he's also hurting himself when swimming into the glass. Why does he freak out? Doesn't he know that I'll NEVER will hurt him? This is starting to annoy me. Do arowana's clam down as they get older? I need to give him a chil-pill. Any sugguestions?

Right at about 12" all my Aros get Agro…It's like their rebelious teenage years…I just make sure to have tight fitting lids so the don't jump out, remove any decore that they can scrape off the scales on, and just give them time…soon they will mello out…

Hi steven,long time no hear,just a comment about salt,i have a 20in super red arowana,which i do a 20% water change each week of which i add salt to it (tap water)which is then passed though a uv sterlizer and return back to the tank,i never use medicine's unless it is really needed,salt is a natural tonic.

Hi Steve: Yes long time no see man. How are you getting on. I totally agree with Paul on the salt and UV light method which I am using now. My arrowana a 20" super red have had no much problems whatsoever. I do change a 4 gallon pail of water every morning and fed it with one frog that's it. The fellow feels happy and active with this arrangement. I do add salt into the tank once a while to keep his appetite going. Thanks.

Hi Steven,

The practical theory of adding salt to every WC is true so far for my aro. And as i also believe that salt can cure or keep most disease away. Medicine is always no good for aro.

Hi steven,

tks yr info. I fully agree with u that the simple things in life is surely and truly working.

Keep up yr gd work.

bi

hi steve n all
i am hoshi i have a pair of arowanas a year old, n about 13 inches i always put a 12 mm glass top, 4 the tank.n about an inch of space between the tank n glass top this ensures they dont jump out n i always have a sturdy top 2 display my other knickknacks
i have NEVER added salt 2 my water, even after changing the water. should i start now, after a year, or leave things as they r

adding salt just removes stress from water but that may not be the reason that the arowana is not eating.

the prime reason is the water quality.
secondly if there occors sudden shock…..

try to change only 10-20 % water 2 a week and do make sure the chlorine is neglegible.
arowana is a very strong fish it would go out of any stress perhaps thats one of the main reason why we are paying so much for such a wonder fish!!!

Dear Steve,

I agree that slat is the best course treatment for any disease pertaining to any fish. I feel, salt should be used only as medication and not as a precautionary measure, because then, the fish may become immune to hte salt treatment. I suggest that the dosage of salt and medicines should be mentioned. In my next mail, I'll try and forward the formulation, which I have gathered on the net for the benefit of true lovers of fish as pet.

Though, I am restraining from going for medication for fear of danger to my loving Arowana, I m keeing options open till emergency arises.

Dear Steeve, have you come across a case, where a hole is there in the gill's flap ? It appears like a punched hole in the gill flap (the correct nomenclature, sorry I have forgotten). The Arowana, is active and appears to be fine.But, it has a white patch on the gill flap. The salt has reduced it. Its in salt water for abouttwo weks now. I am doing any water change at present. I will do so after a week in stages.

How long can the arowana stay out of water ? In case I have to give it some dressing to cure the hole.

Onder,
Looks like you have a fussy eater. As I always say, let it know you're the boss. Sooner or later, it will eat! It is whether you have the heart to starve it or not!

Steven

Onder,
Forgot abt the second part of your question. Do you have strong lights shining on your tank? Arowanas sometimes do not like too strong a light on them.

Steven

Paul & David Low,
I do not use UV sterilizer. Mine is very simple! I change about 25% of the water with direct tap water and add salt and blackwater. Sometimes I add some vitamins if I feel like it but that's it!
Do you need UV? I can't comment as I've never had to use it. Anyway, continue to do what you think is right for you!

Steven

Hoshi,
Personally, I would add salt to it everytime water is changed. I agree with Paul when he says that salt is like a natural tonic! I feel that it adds vitality to the fish!

Also good to hear that you have a good strong cover for your tank! I still hear too many stories of arowanas jumping out!

Steven

Sujoy,
I can't agree with you more! Whether your arowana (or for that matter any aquarium fish) is healthy or not is dependant wholly on the quality of your water!

But sometimes, when your fish is already in a poor state because of the condition of the water, salt can act as a natural tonic (hmmm I like this word Paul gave to salt! ;-)) and can help speed up the recovery process.

Steven

Girija,
I do not see salt as a medication at all. A good analogy I have is when you have a cold. You go to the doctor and he/she would prescribe a flu medication but he/she would also say that you should take more vitamin C products like orange, etc.. To me salt is like the orange that you would eat.

As for your second part, does your arowana have a hole or a white patch on it's gill flap? Irrespective, if this has just appeared recently, it could be something in your water. (eg. bacteria, fungus, etc) Change your water every 3 days or so for the next week or two to make sure that whatever is in the water is removed.

Steven

Hi Steven, hw r u doing bro. I'm cool but quite busy with my work tho. Anyway, thanx for ur mails and it really helps me to improve in many ways to take care of silver at home.

Last, week i feed my silver a frog and this guy love it. This is first time feeding a frog tho. But thinking of feeding frog 2 time in a month….is that ok…..?

I totally agree with u, Paul and other who said….salt is good. Actually, it is. I do add salt whenever i change water.

My silver is almost 1 1/2 feet now and i used to touch him while cleaning the tank. He was an agressive fellow before but not now. I think this makes us closer and he could recognise the owner.

I do talk to my silver whenever i go back home once a week. I only see him once a week and i make sure everything is good condition before i leave.

I believe Arowana is a good listener and they could make us calm whenever we are in worries and depress. I know this sounds funny but try talking to them through your inner heart. You will see changes in between u and your Arowana.

U take Steven and also to others.

Cheer up and have good time with your Arowana.

Bye

Hi, Steven…

Nice to join your blog. I bought a green arowana 4mmths back. I must say it has grown 3inch from 3.5in to abt 7inch now…This is my 1st Aro..so i am new to this fish….i have reared parrot and goldfish before and with success…

I heard a lot abt "Blackwater"..Can you tell what it is?…Can I get it at the Aquarium shop?…Secondly..i notice my Aro have some tail rot…not severe..just like discolouration…from green to pale at the edge….is that normal?

Lastly Thanks for the blog…Keep it up.

Mark

myself 100% agree with paul says salt is natural tonic…1st can cure most diseases in water…2nd to stimulate an appetite…3rd can make ur aro more active…more swimmy like taken VIAGRA…
i change 6'x3'x3'tank water every 5 days…each time 30% of d water & added 1/2kg salt…so far my aro doing well…
AQUA PLUS only use when water changing 50-60%…but never use
black water…

Takeshi75,
Frogs are fine.. Good that you have a good 'bond' with your arowana. Actually when I change water, I also take the opportunity to stroke my arowanas. Feels kinda cool !

Steven

Mark,
I will be writing another post soon about blackwater and my experiences with it.
Any fin rot is not normal.. You need to change water and if it becomes bad, you need to medicate unfortunately..

Steven

August,
I would advice against changing 50-60% of water. That is just too much. You need to be careful with that..

Steven

Hi Steven and all Arowana lovers ,

Last week Sept 27/08,Sunday as i was feeding my Rosie Arowana with frozen cubes blood worm(blue base) now about 15 inches long ,my friend Kin came to pick me up to go shopping for Salt water tackle shop .As KIN was honking twice as a signal he has arrived , i hurriedly dash out of my house,with the fish tank lights on .
We both went out for less then 3 hours and had Vietnamese noodles .
Guess what guys, you be amazed !!!! My tank top lid did not closed .How careless it would be .And where is my darling fish ???? Oh MY GOD ,MY lord , she is what !!!@#$%???? .
Oh Gosh , Rosie is still in the tank alive and swimming .
Thank god ,she did not leap out of the tank to catch a fly. Usually,Rosie would leap up from the tank,but seldomly .But she is a calm fish and quite an agressive when she is hungry
I must be so fortunate for the 2nd time indeed.Last time was almost killed her,when my fish tank temperature was below 58 degrees ferenheight,below 15 celcius.However i save her .
So good luck and love your Arowana dearly with care and attention.
Regards
Simon

hey steven,

very useful information indeed… currently i use treatment for my aro…. it contains beneficial bacteria as well as immuno-stimulants… is this good or bad? i normally change 1/3 water every week… can i add salt in place of the supplement i use? will it be effective?
one more thing i would like to add is about how useful your care book is for reference… its really very interesting to read… a must buy for beginners like me!!

thanks for the tips. will keep that in mind.

Cheers

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the valuable sharing. Need your advice if it is better to use Ketapan leave to create black water or buy the ready bottled type from aquarium shops?

Rgds……Stephen

i would like to thank …Steven Yeoh….for sharing his knowledge and thank every one for sharing their experience .

i recently bought an 12'RTG … its an 5feet tank(70.13 us gallons) …
it took her 2 weeks to have a gold fish …
now it fine … i do daily 20% water change ..and add 5 spoons of salt ..(is it fine ?)
is it ok if i give koi fish coz i heard gold fish has a lot of fat content
i also want to know, is the TAG number on the certificate usefull to us by any chance .. or y is it useful?

Hi Steven ,

i would like to know, should i fit a power head for my 5feet tank? … i heard its used for the flow of water currents in the tank …
i'm asking u this, just for the flow of water currents. i have heard aros need these water currents
and for water filteration i'm using EHEIM 2215(external filter)..this filter has green stick sprinkler , i have attached it to the top edge of the tank , is this only sufficient …???????

Hi steven,just a note about the uv sterlizer,iv'e had this since iv'e been keeping arowanas,iv'e never had white spot or any other nasty things in my tank since fitting this to my system and my arow is 100% healthy,i still find it a little upsetting when people who keep arow's (and truly love their fish) keep adding treatments to their water when there might be no need for it,only treatment thats gone in my tank is salt,all arowanas have soft delicate skin/scales and harsh treatments can really stress them out and cause major damage to them,how many arow owners have had split fins on their fish and gone and put some treatment in the water and probarly made things worse,when all was needed was salt which is a natural tonic.

Sabri,
Thanks for your kind words. You don't really need to add beneficial bacteria if your bio rings, etc are mature. I only add that in a new environment. BUT no harm adding it once in a while.. You can just add salt when you change water in addition to what you're adding now.

Steven

Stephen,
No difference actually. I just buy the black water rather than use the leaves. More convenient..

Steven

Ragini,
-You don't have to change water everyday! Once or twice a week is often enough.
- koi fish is also ok as feed.
- the TAG number of the cert just tells you that this fish is bred legitimately by a certified farm. Also it means what you bought is actually what you got because many buyers are cheated by unscrupulous sellers.
- If your water is clean enough, then your eheim should suffice…

Steven

thank you Steven …for replying to all my ques…

actually, this is for the first time, i own an aro (rtg)..
i have also downloaded the AROWANA Ebook (really worth it)
i go through ur blogs too…(helps me a lot)

i also wanted to know how to lit the aquarium ….
especially for an rtg aro ..
do these lamps affect the colour of the fish for good ? or its just for show buzz and nothin to do with the fish …(do they like dark tanks?)

commonly fond tubes are hitachi(light pink) and boyu (aqua white tube )

also wanted to know, DO aros need water currents in the tank or still water is ok ?
coz i heard if there is force currents in water it helps to remove some dirt or oiliness on its scale ..to keep it healthy and shinin.

Lastly, thanks for sharing caring ……

Ragini,
If you don't have lights, their color are more dull from what I can see. You should have lights switched on at least 8 hrs a day. ( Sunlight is ofcourse the best but algae will bloom nonstop! )

Aroweanas are river fish.. which means that the waters are usually calm. So I would recommend calm water.. water current is fine but not too strong..

Steven

Hi, what do you mean 'not too strong' ?
1) I'm currently have an external canister pump in my 4ft tank, with 01 submersible pump in the tank. Is it ok for the RTG? or like you said 'water current is fine but not too strong.
2) should i remove the submersible pump an replace with other kinds of filtration pump?
3) As my 4ft tank model with cabinet is convenience for only an external canister pump which i can afford, thats why i add an addition of submersible pump. And i look the water is quite still is ok?

Anyway i bought the E-book too, very beneficial. I'm new too and own my 1st RTG.

Upon setting a new water tank, is it ok to add PSB into the water? I was advised by the Shop owner as to add bacteria, for your advice please?

Hi,

1)Whats the main things to put/add to the new setup fish tank?
2) How about when changing water?

Azhar,
what is psb? You should let your water cycle for a week with bacteria added BEFORE bringing your arowana home. As to what to add… a good filter system with bio substrates for the bacteria to grow in… and have routine water changes…

Steven

PSB - Photo Synthetic Bacteria, is it ok to add in for the setup of the water?

hi Steve.

i have a 11" rtg arowana its tail has a saw tooth-like look.

it have been like that for 3 months now .could you give me a

hint as for what is it and how to cure ? thank you very much

in advance.

truly

Tann

ps:my tank water has ph=6.5 ;gh=100 ;kh=20 ;no2=0;nh3=0;no3=0

Tann,
Do you have other fishes in the tank? They could be nibbling at it… If not, then you could have some bacteria in your water that's causing it. Change your water often..

Steven

Hi Steve and all arowana lovers,

It's been a hard time this year. I hope you to give us some advice on our arowanas.

My friends are arowana keepers in Taipei Zoo,Taiwan. In the last 5-6 years, they keep 15 arowanas. Each of them were kept in separate tanks 180*90*66cm with lid to prevent from jumping out. They provided life frogs, insects, and life fish as their daily meals. Water changes 25% per two days. Vitamin C were also applied sometimes to the arowanas. It's been at least 5 years and all arowana are with perfect condition in the last 5-6 years, and all of them have reached to the length of 60-70cm ( about 2 feet).

This year in 9 months time, sadly we have lost 5 arowanas, 3 of them died by "head continue hit the tank wall hardly" till they float up. The keeper heard really loud "bang" noice and tried to stop it, but it never work. The arowanas were sent to the vet for the death reports, but all of them got healthy organs,tissues, scales, and without parasites. Which means we have no clue why they hit the tank.

We are worry about the other 10 individuals, because they should not necessary to secrefise if nothing goes wrong. Therefore I hope all arowana lovers help on this.

Thanks a lot.

Anny

Anny,
How often do you change the water?

Steven

Thank you Steve. I just asked the keepers, I got a wrong message last time about the water change. They said the water does not change often. Usually they changes 25% water every two weeks, but it can last for up to one month because the tank is rather large. The PH of the tap water in Taiwan is around 5.5, all species are fine to deal with it, as long as they leave the water for few days before applying to the tank. Which mean the possibility to cause the death of the arowanas by water is little.

Because the fish had lived for more than five years without changing anything in and out of the tank. We can imaging that the causes of their death should not be simple. At the moment, we are thinking if the fish has reached to their reproductive stage and therefore they are more stressful and they need more space. Or maybe in their body demends we are unable to give them some important materials through feedng compares to the wild.

Anyways, hope to read some more information about this.

Anny

Hii Steven,
This is a thru story happend to my 30inch Silver Arowana.My Silver Arowana is 3 1/2 years old and 30 inch size.I am staying in Abu Dhabi.When i came here 2005 i bought small Siver Arowana for Rs2000(18 Dollers)from Sri Lanka. Caring ,Water changing,Food giving by My wife.She never adding any Medicine except salt.Morning giving Beef Heart and every day evening sippon 3% water and adding fresh water(Well water).Last vacation time when i go to Sri Lanka my Arowana stop getting Food.I gave so many different foods even live foods but not answering.But very healthy.I got very upset due to this reason.Anyway after 45 days i came again to Abu Dhabi.nearly after one week my vacation,again my Arowana started to take food without any medicine.That mean nearly 2 monts live without Food.How?I will show photos next time(I got photos my vacation time).
one more story,My first vacation time my second son was sick and he was in Hospital.Due to that reason i could not enjoy.
My 2nd vacation My childrens are ok.But my loved Arowana was stopped getting food.My Arowana is giving Prosperity,peace & protecting my family.Please beleive it.Thanks.

hi there.

i just bought an Australian arowana yesterday and until now i havent seen it eating small fishes. i even bought meal worms but my fish is just ignoring it. what would be the solution for my problem? thank you so much. =D

Oliver,
It will take your arowana sometime to get used to your tank and new environment. Be patient. It can take several days before it will eats. (Having said that, some might take longer..)

Steven

hi steven
thank you so much for replying.. i really appreciate it a lot.It has already been a week since i bought my Australian gold but after i changed the water (about 20 %) it started not to eat meal worms and small shrimps anymore. it just ignores the food. does it have anything to do with me changing the water.and just yesterday my arowana jumped out of the water 2 times. why? my arowana even lost some of its scales after. im afraid that it would die.what should i do? hoping for your helpful answers. thank you..=D

Oliver,
It is common for arowanas to jump. Losing scales will happen.. don't worry. JUST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD COVER!!!
If your arowana is new to the tank, it will take time for it to adjust to it's new environment.. Not eating for the few week or so is normal..

Steven

hi steven,

i heard grasshopper is a good dite for aros and i have even tried it once ….but i have heard … one should remove the head of the grasshopper and then feed it to the aro …im really scared …i hope there is no internal damage of any organs….coz i did not remove the head of the grasshopper.
Also, wanted to know is it good to give goat heart pieces as a part of a good rich diet ..

hi steven..

my australian gold is now almost 7.5 inches.. my aro will be a month now this coming nov 11.. would it still be ok for me to buy a green arowana(about 5 inches) and put it in the same tank? will they kill or fight each other my tank is a bit small but i think it would be good just for now since they are still small.. hoping for your reply.. thank you steven.. =D

Ragini,
I think grasshoppers are ok… Don't think removing the head is necessary. Comments anyone?

Steven

Oliver,
I think it is still ok since they are so young… BUT having said that, you should still monitor CLOSELY to see whether they can get along or not.. All the best!

Steven