Colors on Silver Arowana?

[Tim Wheatley]

I have a baby Silver Arowana and he first developed a blue and orange patch behind the gills, and now all his fins (bottom and tail) are developing a gorgeous red color. His body is a mixture of black and reds. It really doesn't look very silver at all except on it's head or from a distance.

It gets quite a varied diet. Is there anything I can favor to try to bring out the colors, or is the fish just going to develop colors with age/health anyway?

 

[aquabeast]

ive only seen young young arowanas and ive never dealt with them, but im sure people would know around here..

 

[HUKIT]

Clean water and carotene from market shrimp/prawns will help bring out the red.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Ahh! Awesome, thanks!

 

[Henry405]

if that arowana really turns red, your pretty lucky. Medium to large size red arowana's are worth thousands

 

[Rokuzachi]

Ohhh... that's a potentially awesome find!

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Here's a shot which shows the colors. Unfortunately the best shots I got don't show the body too well... But at least you can see the coloration. Or part of it...

The fins all have a strip of red, the body is all red too. They're actually a little more pale in the pic than in my eyes.

 

[Henry405]

Very beautiful fish. It's developing a very nice color.

 

[HUKIT]

What are your intentions with him when he's no longer a young whipper snapper? Is there a huge tank in his future? Arrowana has always been my dream fish but even with all my big tanks there's no room a adult fish.

Very good looking fish though, did you change anything diet wise?

 

[Jason7894561230]

A monster tank is definitly needed. Some of those fish can reach a foot in length, awesome fish too though!

 

[Tim Wheatley]

What are your intentions with him when he's no longer a young whipper snapper? Is there a huge tank in his future? Arrowana has always been my dream fish but even with all my big tanks there's no room a adult fish.

Very good looking fish though, did you change anything diet wise?

I'm hoping to have the funds together for a monster tank before he needs one. If not, then I'm unfortunately going to have to trade him in to where I got him.

I feed a varied diet. Mostly Carni FLOATING sticks to hopefully avoid dropeye, some flakes, some cichlid floating gold and very rarely some frozen foods. He also grabs an occasional ghost shrimp and their sinking foods, too.

Here's another photo which shows the blue streak I mentioned. All these reds and blues seem to be coming out more and more as it gets older.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

A monster tank is definitly needed. Some of those fish can reach a foot in length, awesome fish too though!

Don't they get a lot longer than 1ft? I always thought so?

 

[HUKIT]

Try three feet, which is why he's not swimming in one of 2 150's or my 180g. I though about buying small with the intention to grow out but I have enough tanks to occupy my time without another monster. What type of growth rate are you seeing?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

He's been in a 75 and I think I'm getting an inch a month, he's about 6 inches, maybe 7 (with my eyes, that is). I did read that like with most fish they have a spurt and then they slow down at 9-10 inches. I've seen that with all the big fish I have, so I'm hoping I'll have enough time to not have to trade him in and get another to grow out... We're working on moving and basically the first thing on my personal list with the new place is the concrete basement.

I wouldn't want to keep him in a 75 if he gets more than 1ft. Already decided there's my trade-in length... Like I said I hope he slows at 9-10 as an inch a month isn't going to work.

 

[HUKIT]

That was big on my list as well, with 9-11 tanks up and running and 3 over 150g there was no way I would dream of having this much weight upstairs. Plus I'm considering a fish room at the moment and researching air pumps to run them. Good luck and I hope you get to keep him, but if it's not in the cards there's a nice credit at a LFS.

 

[Henry405]

I'm pretty sure you can find a local seller and be able to get more out of the fish than your LFS. I'm not being racist or anything, but asians LOVE the fish and will pay thousands even for a small red arowana. Although I must advise that in some states, I've heard the selling of these fishes to be illegal so check regulations first.

 

[HUKIT]

I'm pretty sure you can find a local seller and be able to get more out of the fish than your LFS. I'm not being racist or anything, but asians LOVE the fish and will pay thousands even for a small red arowana. Although I must advise that in some states, I've heard the selling of these fishes to be illegal so check regulations first.

It's not a red arrowana, it's a silver which are the most common and perfectly legal for sale.

 

[Giant Danio]

Wow always wanted an arowana that is cool you are so lucky my local fish store has baby ones they are mean they eat the rocks in the bottom of the tank!! They spit them out but still there crazy!!!

 

[Henry405]

it just looks like its changing into red so I thought tim might of got a red arowana instead of silver haha

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Yeah this is a red Silver Arowana, you're probably thinking of a red Jardini Arowana?