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Arowana

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mlgt:
Ive been asked to set up a tank for my friend and hes wanting something he can watch grow with minimum fuss but looks spectacular.

At first I suggested Discus or Angels but he didnt like it, he mentioned Pirahna. However I told him they are only fun during feeding time.

So I suggested he have a look at Arowanas. Although it was partially my liking to them and because hes got a big living room he can fit anything up to a 5 foot tank in there.

The only issue is actually deciding on purchasing a already grown one or 2-3 small baby ones in the hope they will grow giving the right tank conditions.

As far as I understand as long as the tank is long and enough space for it to move up and down then actually you wont be needing a tall tank.

So I can assume anything from a 300+ litre tank is sufficient? Filtration wise I suggested placing a pond filter with sump to outside his garden would be good.

Let me know if you have experience with Arowanas and perhaps instead of getting 2-3 arowanas, he would get the 1 arowana and some tank mates.

cat:
Trouble is, the common Arowana, the Silver, would need more like an 8ftx3ft tank. They can be vicious towards one another as they grow too and all species of Aro need a wide turning circle, so store bought tanks are often just plain too narrow for them.

Silver Arowanas quite easily get 3ft long, just take him to visit the ones in the big tank at London Zoo They're almost big enough to ride on.

Smaller Arowanas aren't much smaller and tend to be quite a bit more expensive. Like the Jardini which is much more aggressive than the Silver and even then, will need more like a 900 litre or more tank.

If he can only have a 5ft tank/300 litre I would go smaller than Arowanas!!

What about smaller Bichirs? Like Polypterus senegalus, that one is fairly common and would be fine in a 250-300 litre. Or maybe a Ropefish (Erpetoichthys calabaricus), it's still in the Bichir family.

Tell you what, I'll chat about this with you later haha.

cat:
I think this is the Piranha I was thinking of:
http://www.piranha-info.com/default.php ... s_brandtii
It's aggressive and solitary! But not that exciting looking really.

Although this species has red eyes, I think this is the one I saw at Wildwoods one time:
http://www.piranha-info.com/default.php ... s_rhombeus
They can get pretty darn big though, like Pacu big.

Or there's always the Oscar option, old reliable! Or maybe one of the smaller Snakehead species?

If I had the space though I'd go with one of these, way better teeth than a Piranha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMH-clfYq5s
He'd do good in a 300L (can get up to and over 15"!!) and is definitely solitary!

They don't fit into the Chinese thing, but Arowanas just are plain too big for a first timer, he'd land himself in a heap of confusion, especially after a few broken lids/bulbs and the fish maybe developing drop eye from being fed food too fatty or sinking food. Arowanas with drop eye look so depressed:

(OH and Silver Aros originate from South America, Jardinis from Australia, Blacks also from South America, Asian Arowanas are from the Malay Peninsula, not China - no Aros actually live wild in China!!)

Lamzang:
Have to agree with Cat on the space issue there: I have as yet to see a picture of an arrowana in a tank, where the tank looks big enough. Unless your friend can build a tropical pond, I'd say stay away from the arrowana (for the fish's sake). Even ADC recently had one in a display tank in the basement but only temporarily - and it could hardly move in the 5-ft tank!

ghostsword:
Why not get Oscars? They are nice to look at, and very easy to take care of.

If I had the space for a big tank, I would have hanging plant baskets on top and Oscars and rocks on the bottom. Beautifull to look at, and the fish grow large enough to allow for an amazing display.

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