5 myths about keeping arowanas - do they describe you?
When we keep arowanas, especially as a beginner just entering the arowana world, we ask for advice humbly, afraid of making even the slightest mistake. But sometimes opinions vary widely, and as soon as we hear something we can't wait to try it... Yet often it's exactly this that puts our beloved arowana in mortal danger. Below we'll discuss a few myths on the road to keeping arowanas:
Excessive pursuit of a large water volume
When it comes to keeping arowanas in tanks, everyone always says the bigger the better, as it provides the arowana with spacious growing room. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's easy to overlook one issue: arowanas (especially young ones) are very neurotic. They look mighty and imposing, but in fact they startle easily. Moreover, most arowanas people buy are young ones around ten to twenty cm, and placing such a young arowana in an oversized water volume makes it very hard for it to adapt. This often causes problems such as lying on the bottom of the tank, refusing to eat, clamped fins, and drop eye. So I remind everyone that you can partition off a small section for it within a large water volume, letting it adapt slowly. You can also add more small fish to keep it company - parrots, pineapple fish, flying fox, hog-nosed catfish and others are all good choices. Never leave a young arowana alone in a large water volume.
Keeping arowanas at high temperatures, spoiling the arowana
Perhaps having heard of the concept of a fire dragon bath, many people get the mistaken impression that arowanas are very delicate, and they pamper their beloved arowana by turning the water temperature up very high for fear of problems. I've seen people keep arowanas at a high temperature of 31-32°C.In fact, 26-27°C is fine for adult arowanas, and 28-29°C for young ones; temperatures above 30°C are for treatment. Long-term high temperatures easily breed bacteria and increase oxygen consumption, which is bad for the arowana.
Powerful filtration = no need to change water
Arowana tank filtration is generally designed to be very powerful. I often see many friends trying every possible way to flush away the poop. The aim might be to avoid changing water or to reduce water changes. In fact, regular water changes in set amounts are very necessary; manually siphoning out the poop and adding new water every few days is so good. It achieves multiple goals at once. Without water changes for a long time, the water quality becomes old, and arowanas are very prone to problems such as gill curl, fin rot, and pimples. So I remind everyone not to be lazy and leave everything to powerful filtration.
Everyone says it's good to feed arowanas live food
Everyone enjoys watching the fierce predatory scenes of arowanas. But the safety of the bait is often overlooked. When feeding bait with strong mobility, it must be handled first. For example, stunning it by throwing it or cutting it with a knife will do. Otherwise it easily causes impact injuries and perforated intestines. Also, quarantine is very important. Diseases such as enteritis and ascites are caused by unsanitary bait.
Keeping arowanas in salt water
This mistake is often made by beginners. They always like to add a little salt to the water. Salt is used for treatment, not for keeping arowanas. Adding salt must reach a certain concentration to be effective for treatment. If salt is always present long-term, then when salt treatment is truly needed, the effect may not be obvious. Humans can no longer abuse antibiotics, let alone arowanas. In addition, I think long-term low-concentration salt in the water breeds bacteria, which is beneficial rather than harmful to the arowana.
Experience is always summed up slowly; one of my arowanas has already accompanied me through five springs, summers, autumns and winters, and I really hope it can keep accompanying me...
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