Arowana HELP!!!

[asdf]

can you keep an arowana in a 75 gallon tank???

 

[CFC]

Only for about 6 months and then it will need something bigger.

 

[Final Dynazty]

lol no. You wil need at least a 300 gallon tank for an arowana. at least.

 

[Teelie]

They get BIG. I saw what was probably only a juvenile at the Audobon Aquarium last month and it was easily 3 feet. They're not home aquarium fish at all IMO. They shouldn't be kept by anyone short of an expert or very dedicated keeper.

 

[CFC]

A 3 foot silver arowana is pretty much full grown and definately a mature adult.
There are 6 species of arowana, two from the Osteoglossum genus (bicirrhosum and ferreirai) which hail from South America, three from the Scleropages genus (formosus, jardini and leichardtii) which the former hails from Asia and the latter two hail from Australia and the very rare Heterotis niloticus from Africa. All 6 species will grow to at least 2 feet but the Scleropages arowana's usually dont grow much larger than this which means they can be kept in a minimum of a 180g tank, though obviously bigger would be better. Black arowana's (O.ferreirai) usually dont esceed 2 feet in captivity either but do have the potential to reach 40 inches so should be given a minimum of a 240g tank.

 

[Teelie]

I thought they got bigger? Must be thinking of another fish then. Either way though my point was at 3 feet, that's large for anyone's home aquarium.

 

[CFC]

Your probably thinking of Arapaima gigas, another member of the Osteoglossidae family and related to arowana's. These grow to lengths of up to 10 feet and IMO should never be offered for sale in captivity.

 

[Teelie]

Could be. It's hard to keep track of all the various species of fish. Just the Cories and Pleco/related families have 100's of representatives each.

 

[Isis_Nebthet]

I saw an arapaima in a petshop about two hours drive from my house. The thing was about 4 ft and in a tank it couldn't move around in. They're nice looking but thinking of a 13' fish is kind of frightening

 

[andywg]

13' arapaimas are becoming more and more rare, even in the wild due to overfishing.

8' is a more common maximum size these days (especially in the aquarium).

 

[tenxiong]

I think a 75 is okay for a few months depends how big you buy him. You're probably have to up grade it.