Best food for 3 inch arowana

Hi Guys,

I have a three inch arowana for the last week and am trying to find out what the best food to feed it is.

I'm reading a lot of conflicting reports on the web so not sure what to give him.

I've been feeding it meal worms and wax worms but i've read the shell of these might to too hard for him. Meal worms are a bit messy in the tank as well.

I've tried earthworms but he didn't go for them because they just sank to the bottom of the tank. Also reading there might be a problem with earthworms because of where they came from. I just bought them from a bait shop.

Have tried pellets as well but no joy.

Has anyone experience of feeding an arowana of this size and what's the best to give them?

Thanks for the help,

Alan.

Don't feed wax worms as a usual meal. They are fine as a treat.

Young or newly acquired arowanas can be quite shy (and remember a 3 inch arow is still a wee baby).
You'd need to experiment a bit as individuals can be be fussy.

Youngsters may not be confortable eating from the surface, but they should not be expected to eat off the ground either.

There is a tendency for the level in a tank at which an arowana east to vary during its growth (and that may also be due to vegetation or lighting).

Dim the lighting, have some floating plants.

Feed a mix of small floating pellets (I use JBL Cichlid pellets) with a slow-sinking pellet (I use JBL discus pellet). Your 3 inch arowana may be most confortable taking the sinking discus pellets as they fall to 3 or 4 inches from the surface.

You could also try some defrosted frozen blood worm....maybe even dropping it infront of it as it swims by.

Ian

Thanks Ian, will try those

Thanks Draco, will be trying those as well.

@Draco, it seems like them JBL novaXXL sticks are getting a good thumbs-up. I find them to be pretty good.

Also, I do not believe it necessary to feed live food to a healthy arowana. Small live inverts for baby arows maybe, but there is no need to feed any live food to any arowana beyond that.

Although we know arowana will eat rats etc in nature, their gut function will be different to a captive animal. So, not only is feeding such food unnecessary it can actually be damaging to the health of the fish.

On a final note.....it is really good to see a young arowana grow from 3 inches upto its full captive size. They are superb fish with an interesting personality that does change as they age.....young fish may be simply greedy, but as they grow they will even start to beg for food and may even give you a head-shake if you don't feed them when they want it.

On a even final final note.....just to complete the picture..... their feeding habits and ability has been the death of many arow in captivity: leaping out of the tank with speed and power has left a number of owners with a dead arow on the floor.
Handling a small arowana is quite easy with careful netting; but as they grow you need to develop skills on catching them as they do stress very very easily.

I know you didn't ask the question, but if you do ever recover an arowana from the floor dose the tabk with Tetra Aqua Safe (it has vitamin B1), turn the lights off in the tank, dose with a mild anti-bac (such as eSHa 2000), and hold the arowana in a net for a short while near the surface making sure that it can holds itself upright before letting it go. If the fish starts to list to one side, then gently lift a net under it and hold it near the surface until the fish is stable. You will find that it's eyes go cloudy white and it will go off food for a few days with staying in the middle of the water, but with care and attention that should pass after a few days.

Apologies for giving advice which was not asked for, but it is part of how to feed an arow (ie not letting it bolt out of the tank).

Ian

i feed my young arowana tetra doromin floating cichlid sticks and he took them from the start no bother, as mentioned above, i have a darker surface area because the light is short and thats where i started feeding him.
i would treat live foods as a treat and only that... google them and see what they eat in the wild and you will get an idea of what they thrive on naturaly.... they are opertunistic hunters so if you don't get it on a stable diet of sticks or pellets then you will have problems in the future...

Thanks for all the great info guys!