Tentang Arowana
Tentang Arowana
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball, Arowana.htm
Gary Davis, May 26, 2007
I claim no expertise in this matter, but a couple of decades of raising and
observing these fish have led to conclusions that are not offered at your
site.
Young arowanas like still water. When there are no ripples, they will cruise
with the tips of their barbels gliding at the surface. It may hold no
significance, but in this posture, the second or third dorsal spine also grazes the surface. When swimming like this, they are very sensitive to disturbances, and will turn toward the source -- like a fruit fly dropped into the water -- showing some directional acuity. Their preference for swimming at the surface, their sensitivity to slight surface ripples, and their superior positioned mouth, combine to indicate that they eat what alights on the water.
Shortly before their yolk sacs are fully absorbed, they will readily accept small insects like young crickets and wingless fruit flies. When fed insects, they often ignore feeder fish. This tendency continues through adulthood. They will eat fish if you don't give them a choice. The barbels-on-the-surface behavior diminishes quickly. At four/five inches, arowanas are visual hunters, with their barbels having no obvious use. I've read speculation that their barbels have an olfactory function.
In a tank where pump and filter effluence ripples the water's surface, young
arowanas will not exhibit the barbels-on-the-surface behavior, and they can
be raised in small groups. In a tank with still water, they are very territorial, and one dominant fish will kill its siblings or drive them to lower depths to starve, if they are not removed.
Adults seem to eat anything (other than amphibians) that will fit in their
cavernous mouths: whole shrimp, crayfish, mice, earthworms, chunks of raw
fish, mealworms, crabmeat, but their staple is always bugs. For laughs,
rinse some live brine shrimp, and watch a two and a half footer pick them
off one by one.
These comments apply to silver, black and jardini arowanas, except I have
not raised more than one jardini at a time.
I concur with Kevin Parent's assertion that nothing less than 180 gallons
will suffice for an adult. Also, I tried large fish, aggressive fish, fast
fish, and nocturnal fish as tank mates for my jardinis, but none lived to
tell the story. Jardinis also objected to rooted plants. My advice is: bare
tank for jardinis, well-planted tanks for silvers and blacks, well-covered
tanks for all. Good luck,
A: Thanks for the very useful info. I'm adding it to my web page with your name on it, of course. I've always had problems with the little guys. You've encouraged me to add a half dozen of the little cruisers this week. I should have known they prefer bugs after seeing all those oriental paintings of arowanas leaping out of the water to snag dragonflies. LA