what can i feed my silver arowana?

Question

its 6 inches long and ive had it for 2 weeks. Its eating livebearers but what else can i feed it?

Answer 1

I would suggest worms and insects as the best sources of foods for your fish. You will also want to start getting him used to non live foods so that option is available as well. fish fillets are an excellent item to begin making this change.

Here's an interesting link about arowana, though I don't suggest relying on wikipedia or copies from it for fish information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_arowana

Additional information on these fish
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/miscellaneous/arowana.php
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/arow-sil.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/profiles_silver_arowana.htm

Hope that helps

MM

Answer 2

I have had four silver arowana's in the past, and I currently have a yellow tailed arowana. If you want your silver to stop eating the live bearers, then what you need to do is this. It might sound off the wall, but many other sites have reccomended this as well. You withold feeding them for 2-3 days, and then substitute what you want him to eat. Arowana's are natural insect eaters in the wild, and I kept mine on mostly crickets, and every now and then gave them Rosie's and Guppies. The real challenge with this, is once your Arowana developes a taste for something, you pretty much have to starve them off of it. I have not seen any cases of droop eye occuring, and I think that's a long term effect mostly from feeder fish, rather then insects on the top of the water. My Yellow tail is exhibiting that. He will from time to time eat off the cubes of bloodworms and brine shrimp, but drop a few crickets on the top, and he keeps scanning upwards looking for them. Crickets I have found seem to be a good all around choice for Arowana. You could try millipedes and any types of non stinging flies. There are pellets you could give them too, but again you will have a challenge if they are already eating live foods. To change this, you need to withold feeding for a few days. Trust me, you are not going to hurt the fish doing so, they could go for many days without eating, but this is based also on having good water quality, which I would be assuming you have 0 ammonia, nitrites, and any other unwated chemicals in the water. My yellow tailed is still a baby, only about 5 inches long, but he is very active at all levels of the tank, and becuase his heritage has a bloodline from Malaysia, he acts like the real Asian Arowana's.

WOW that first post was a direct cut and paste right out of Wikipedia, how original is that? Not like this person knows or ever had one of these!

Answer 3

Young Silver Arowanas should not be overfed, because according to some hobbyists, they can develop dropeye, a condition in which the eyes are turned downward, as they grow. Arowanas should be offered meaty foods such as insects, shrimp, fish, beef heart, frogs, pellets, etc. Many aquarists recommend against live feeder fish because these are often raised in poor conditions and are capable of transmitting diseases to predatory fish; additionally, an arowana may eventually refuse to eat anything else but feeder fish which could prove to be very expensive. Mealworm exoskeletons are sometimes difficult for young arowanas to digest, so they are best avoided.

Answer 4

Feeder GOldfish or feeder guppies