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Juvenile Arowana help

2587 Views 19 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Turxiat
Okay, I'll start with the tank parameters.

It's a 240 gallon tank (96x24x24) with a 55 gallon sump tank.
Temp-78
PH-7.6 and STABLE
Ammonia-0
Nitrites-0
Nitrates- were around 20ppm before I did a 40% water change yesterday
Heavily planted with DHG, Cabomba, and Java Ferns. I use Excel with high medium/high light (8x54w T5HO) and Prime.

Got my silver arowana this morning. It took 2 days. I opened the box and the aro looked dead, just laying at the bottom of the bag not breathing. I took my pictures and reported the DOA. When I opened the bag I started to pick him up and he moved slightly. I immediately got an airstone into the bag and he started getting a little more active. After acclimating him to the water over the course of an hour I put him in the tank. He started swimming around and seemed fine. Then he sank to the bottom and repeated what I saw in the bag. Now he's going back and forth between being comatose and floating around the tank/bumping into things/not moving or swimming around like he's fine. Won't eat anything either. I transferred him to a small terrarium with flow holes cut throughout it and placed that inside the main aquarium (my juvenile JD was looking at him funny). He's getting plenty of O2 and a slow/medium water flow rate through his area. Any ideas on what the problem is? Is this common with juvenile arowanas?
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I think with any fish they will be stress on transportation. You'll just have to wait it out for the fish to get back to normal. It depends on the stock too.

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Right, completely forgot to post the stock. I have 1 juvenile jack dempsey, 1 juvenile tiger oscar (both about 2"), 6 pearl gouramis, 2 sunset gouramis, and 2 plecos (about 4").
What breed(s) of plecos? some can get to 2 feet long
They are galaxy plecos. Shouldn't get bigger than 8 to 9 inches.
What breed(s) of plecos? some can get to 2 feet long

im hoping that if he got an arowana .... a 2 foot pleco wouldnt be a problem
Well, got a great update. He's swimming around in his "hospital tank" and eating! There is hope!
That's a great sign! Very glad to hear it. He was probably suffering from a severe lack of oxygen. Doesnt sound like he would've made it much longer.

Got a pic? I love arowanas..
Yeah, it was definitely a close one. Here is a pic of the tank (excuse the algae), a pic of the aro in the bag when I got it, and how he is now!

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Also Burr, I noticed you are in N. AL. They are still sending me a 2nd Aro since this one was in such bad shape yesterday. If you've got a tank for one then if the 2nd one survives and grows out a bit you're welcome to it. I won't be able to house two fully grown ones.
Your Arowana will soon find your gouramis to be very delicious. Or, maybe it will be your Oscar that gets tempted when it gets some size on it.
It will be most interesting.
Great size tank for those bigger creatures.
Be sure to keep your tank well-covered. Some big fishes are powerful jumpers!
Have fun!
Bill
The JD swims around with the gouramis and the oscar just keeps to himself for the moment. I'm hoping that not giving the aro any feeder fish will keep it from thinking he can munch on them. :X
He looks great now. And thanks but no, I dont have the set-up for one of those atm. They sure look cool cruising back and forth across the surface of a large tank though.
I'd love to see some updates of this as it grows! I love these fish but just dont have the room for them.

Slightly off topic, but I have been seeing lots of these at various LFS in NY lately. If I ever have the proper sized tank for them is it something I should avoid buying in a local store ?
im hoping that if he got an arowana .... a 2 foot pleco wouldnt be a problem
The bioload would be the problem, not so much the getting eatten. But the ones he stated he has are a good balance between those two possible issues.

I'd love a monster fish tank with my Leopard Sailfin pleco, and a Datnoid as well as an Arowana.. maybe someday.. if some inanely rich relative I never new existed leaves me their fortune...
The bioload would be the problem, not so much the getting eatten. But the ones he stated he has are a good balance between those two possible issues.

I'd love a monster fish tank with my Leopard Sailfin pleco, and a Datnoid as well as an Arowana.. maybe someday.. if some inanely rich relative I never new existed leaves me their fortune...
Honestly, I think a a high tech planted tank ends up costing more than a simple monster fish tank.
Honestly, I think a a high tech planted tank ends up costing more than a simple monster fish tank.
You're not joking. I've spent as much on the plants, substrate, hardscape, ferts, and the lighting as I did on the tank and stand. I haven't even gotten to the CO2 system yet. Not even sure if I will now since my DHG is growing fairly well as is.
You're not joking. I've spent as much on the plants, substrate, hardscape, ferts, and the lighting as I did on the tank and stand. I haven't even gotten to the CO2 system yet. Not even sure if I will now since my DHG is growing fairly well as is.

Only do the co2 if you have high light, otherwise, you can avoid it until you feel like adding it.
I'm trying to stay low-medium tech, no co2, nothing too fancy for plants. Anubias seem to be the most happy plant in my water (7.5 pH insane gh and kh of 160 and 70 range), stem plants never seem to grow that fast (pretty much as slow as anubias), including anacharis.. even with liquid ferts. Want to try floaters out as nitrate busting alternative plant, but apparently dwarf gouramis eat floater's roots...soo.. don't know how well that will go..
I've got 8 54 watt T5HOs that puts me right under the high light threshold. I'm having minor algae issues atm but I'm fairly certain that once my dhg fills in that it won't be an issue. My anubias and cabomba are doing great, the cabomba has been in for 2 weeks and I've already trimmed and replanted twice. My crypts don't seem to be growing very quickly, but they have good coloration and no dying leaves. The only problem I'm having is with xmas moss, doesn't seem to be growing at all.
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