How to Keep Silver Arowana? Six Recommended Tank Mates for Community Aquariums

Silver arowana, also known as the two-whiskered bony-tongue fish, is an ornamental fish that is easy to keep, inexpensive to raise, and highly ornamental, so many people like to keep a tank of them at home or in the office. So how do you keep silver arowana?And what fish are good to keep with them?

1. How to keep silver arowana?

Silver arowana is very easy to keep. Generally, as long as the water quality is good and the food is sufficient, it will grow healthily. The specific keeping methods are as follows:

1. Choosing the tank: Silver arowana is a large ornamental fish and is very active, so when choosing a tank, it is best to pick a covered tank with as much space as possible. Generally, a covered tank 1.5m long, 50cm wide, and 70cm high is enough for keeping them.

2. Introducing new fish into the tank: A newly purchased tank will contain chlorine, so tap water should be set aside in advance to age for three days, and then placed in the sun to be exposed, which can effectively remove it. If conditions allow, the water from the original tank can be siphoned into the new tank to help the new fish adapt to the environment.

3. Feeding: Silver arowana is a carnivorous animal and often eats water fleas, small fish, small shrimp, and so on. So to keep silver arowana well, newly introduced silver arowana fry need to be trained to eat, and different foods should be fed during different growth stages to promote their growth. The specific feeding methods are as follows:

(1) Fry within 10 days of age: mainly live bloodworms. Before feeding, the live bloodworms can be soaked for 15 minutes in a water solution of 3% table salt and 5 grams per liter of nitrofurazone, then fed. The feeding amount should be enough to be finished within 20 minutes.

(2) Fry after 10 days of age: mainly feed quick-frozen bloodworms.

(3) Fish at 3 months of age: mainly feed shrimp. When feeding, feed 5 times a day in the 1st month, 4 times a day in the 2nd month, and 3 times a day in the 3rd month.

(4) Silver arowana over 3 months old: mainly feed shrimp, twice a day.

4. Adjusting density: Silver arowana grows very quickly, so the density should be adjusted according to the actual situation, generally once every month, and the number should be reduced by as much as possible by half each time. For example, the first time stock 150 fish per tank, the second time stock 70 fish per tank, the third time stock 25 fish per tank, and thereafter gradually reduce the stocking number.

5. Water quality management: Silver arowana is suitable for living in weakly acidic water, so when adding water, try to adjust the water quality to between 6.5 and 7.5, change the water once every three days, each time changing one third or one quarter of the water, and regularly clean filter cotton, white cotton, and other filter materials to ensure the water quality is clean.

2. What fish are good to keep with silver arowana?

Since silver arowana is mostly silvery white in body color, keeping it alone appears too monotonous, so several kinds of fish can be kept together to add color to the tank. The specific fish that can be kept together are:

1. Oscar fish: The oscar fish is about 30cm long, and its body color is covered with irregular red stripes or orange-yellow stripes, looking like a map, which can effectively make up for the silver arowana's single color and add color to the tank. However, oscar fish are greedy eaters, so when keeping them, be sure to ensure sufficient food, so that the silver arowana does not fail to eat enough and starve to death.

2. Parrot fish: The parrot fish is about 33cm long, and its body color includes green-orange, blue, yellow, and many other colors, which can effectively make up for the silver arowana's single color. However, when keeping them, try to keep fish similar in size to the silver arowana, so that smaller ones are not attacked and injured by the silver arowana, so attention should be paid when keeping them. Nevertheless, parrot fish have strong recovery ability, so keeping them together is relatively easy.

3. Tinfoil barb: The tinfoil barb is about 15cm long, with a grayish-brown body color, and is very easy to keep. It can grow normally as long as the water temperature is 22-32 degrees, so keeping it with silver arowana can add some color to the tank.

4. Pineapple fish: The pineapple fish is a bottom-dwelling fish, about 20cm long, and its body color is mostly light golden yellow, light purple, and so on. Keeping the two together can effectively add color. In addition, the pineapple fish has strong adaptability and a gentle temperament, and only when hungry will it bully some small fish to snatch food, so when keeping them together, try to ensure sufficient food.

5. Flying fox fish: The flying fox fish is about 30cm long. Its body color is diverse, fresh and tender, and it is very easy to keep. It can effectively make up for the silver arowana's single color and add color to the tank.

6. Stingray: The stingray is a bottom-dwelling fish, relatively docile in temperament, about 50cm long, and generally moves on the bottom of the tank or along the tank walls. Its body color is mostly black or coffee-colored. The silver arowana is a top-dwelling fish, so keeping the two together can add some color to the tank. However, because stingrays are not easy to keep and have high requirements for water quality, attention must be paid when keeping them together.

Overall, silver arowana is very easy to keep. As long as the water quality is well controlled and feeding is reasonable, it will grow healthily. However, because the silver arowana has a single body color, when keeping it, you can keep a few oscar fish, pineapple fish, parrot fish, and so on to add color to the tank.