What foods are best for silver arowanas? A detailed guide to feeding methods

Do you know what silver arowanas eat? The silver arowana is a freshwater ornamental fish, and it is a famous glutton. You often see some fish keepers letting them eat whatever they want, and in the end they become a fat fish, unfortunately becoming what many fish keepers call a “ribbonfish”! Wrong keeping methods cause the sorrow of silver arowanas. So how do you keep a silver arowana so that it is impressive enough? Of course, first you need to know what to feed a silver arowana!

What do silver arowanas eat?

Arowanas are carnivorous animals, and the diet of most arowanas includes frogs, loaches, crickets, goldfish, grasshoppers, small shrimp and so on. It can be said that silver arowanas eat very miscellaneous things; you can feed them cockroaches, but it is best not to directly catch the ones at home, buy the processed ones from the fish market, and you can also feed them small fish, fish insects and other things; as for “eating cockroaches can turn it into a golden arowana,” that is nonsense, the golden arowana and the silver arowana are two different species of fish. If you want the silver arowana to grow well and have beautiful colors, you can feed it live shrimp, or you can feed it fresh small scaled fry. If you feed it scaleless fish such as loaches for a long time, it will cause the back to become black and dark.

1. What do silver arowanas over 20 cm eat?

Silver arowanas over 20 cm have grown a lot by this time, and the immunity of all parts of the body has also improved. What the silver arowana eats is even more important at this time. Feeding tips for silver arowanas over 20 cm:

① You can feed some larger fish and raw shrimp bait.

② You can appropriately feed loaches, insects and so on. But note that when feeding loaches, because the arowana is not very big yet, you need to cut the loaches into small pieces. As for insects such as cockroaches, you must make sure they do not carry bacteria.

③ You can feed live bait. Live bait often carries bacteria on its body. When fed to arowanas, it easily causes infection in the arowana, and it very easily causes the silver arowana's barbels to break. So it is not recommended to feed live bait often.

④ The amount fed should still follow the principle of small meals more often.

2. What is good to feed small silver arowanas around 15 cm?

Small arowanas around 15 cm can be fed normal breadworms and small shrimp (it is best to remove the shrimp rostrum from the small shrimp), and you can also feed 1.5 cm small fish. At this time the silver arowana grows very fast, and naturally it can also eat a lot. Feeding tips for silver arowanas over 15 cm:

① Besides feeding some small river shrimp, you can appropriately feed 1.5 cm to 2.0 cm rosy barbs and small tiger barbs.

② Appropriately increase the number of feedings and the amount. Aim for seven-tenths full each time; observe the small arowana at every feeding. If its belly is a little bulging and it does not eat very quickly, that means the silver arowana is full. As the arowana's owner, you must observe it carefully, do not let it go hungry and do not let it eat too much, and develop the habit of small meals more often from a young age.

3. What is good to feed juvenile silver arowanas under 12 cm?

Juvenile fish under 12 cm have just started eating raw bait. At this time you can feed freshly molted white breadworms, small shrimp (be sure to remove the head and tail, and it is best to peel them into shrimp balls to feed so that the hard shell does not hurt their stomach and intestines), bloodworms and other relatively palatable bait. Feeding tips for silver arowanas over 12 cm:

① Feeding breadworms often will make the silver arowana become picky, so it is recommended to feed breadworms only occasionally.

② Because the silver arowana is still small, and the hard shell of small river shrimp can easily hurt its stomach and intestines, so before feeding you must remove the head and tail of the small shrimp.

③ Feeding frequency. Small meals more often is beneficial to the digestion of juvenile fish, and you can feed four times a day.

Notes on feeding silver arowanas

1. When feeding silver arowanas, note that internal organs, especially the liver, are not suitable for arowanas, because this kind of food contains more fat and will cause disease in the arowana.

2. Among live baits, goldfish are not a good bait. Research shows that infectious diseases or parasites contracted by silver arowanas kept in narrow aquariums that eat only goldfish are almost all transmitted by goldfish.

3. No matter which growth stage the silver arowana is in, feeding must ensure the cleanliness of the food, and especially promptly clean up leftover food to avoid leftover food polluting the water quality and causing disease in the silver arowana.

What do silver arowanas eat? Through the above introduction, I believe everyone now has some understanding. Silver arowanas have a relatively large food intake and are carnivorous animals, so everyone should pay attention to the feeding characteristics of silver arowanas and provide the food they like, which also makes it easier to raise a beautiful silver arowana.