Yes, it's true. 10 Things is back. Super excited to bring this series back to you for season two. Very exciting.
We're going to be doing all kinds of different topics. If you have a topic that you'd like to see a top 10 list done on, put it down in the comment section below. And if you like this kind of content, make sure you subscribe and ring the bell so that you don't miss out on future episodes.
This is going to be totally different, and I'm pretty excited about it. So let's stop running our mouths. Let's get into the list. This is 10 things you should know about silver arowanas.
I've said it about a thousand times on this channel that silver arowanas are what got me interested in fish keeping way back in 1993. As soon as I saw them for the first time, I was instantly obsessed and I wanted to know anything I could find out about. Now it didn't take very long before I saw another type of arowana that I also became obsessed with. That was the Asian Arowana. Asian Arowana's don't get quite as long as silver Arowana's do but their appearance is very very similar their fins and their faces and their mouths and everything are all very similar but there is one huge difference and that's the colors.
Asian Aro- Arawanas are available in several different colors like gold and green and red, and they're absolutely gorgeous. But there's one big problem with them, and that is they're illegal in the United States. I've read that back in 1975, Asian Arawanas were...
were listed as endangered and 183 countries signed a treaty banning international trade of these absolutely gorgeous fish. My friends north of the border in Canada, guess what? Your country didn't sign that treaty, so you're good. And I am super jealous. But for those of us south of that border in the United States, we have access to a couple of arowanas like silver arowanas and giardinis, and that's all we have access to, but that's okay.
because they're still both awesome. Take one look at an arowana and it's easy to see why they're so popular. They have a super unique shape, a huge scoop for a mouth, and they glide gracefully across the top of your tank.
They're one of the most graceful you'll ever see, but there's a huge problem, and I mean huge problem. they get absolutely massive. I mean like huge. A lot of times you'll find them in the stores at about five to six inches but trust me they're not gonna stay that size for long. If cared for properly, arowanas can grow about an inch per month.
So that five to six inch arowana could be 17 to 18 inches by the end of the first year. So are you prepared for that? In the wild, arowanas have been found to be as long as four feet. Now in captivity, they tend to only get to be about three feet.
Yeah, just three feet. Fish that can reach sizes like that should be in an aquarium that's a minimum of eight feet long. If you don't have a tank that size and you don't plan on getting a tank that size, then this is a fish that you should just stay away from.
I know they're hard to resist. They're super cool fish, but do the right thing because they grow a lot faster than you think. Trust me, there is no one better qualified to talk about this next segment than me, and I'm not very proud of it.
Arowanas have the nickname water monkey. Is it because they look like monkeys? No. Is it because they like to eat bananas and throw their own poop?
Nope. Is it because they can jump several feet out of the water to snipe insects off of low hanging tree branches? Yep, that's exactly why they call them water monkeys. And it actually makes no sense because water monkeys don't jump out of the water.
But anyway, Arowanas are huge jumpers. Believe me, I have plenty of experience in this. There are lots of reasons why they would jump out of the aquarium.
It could be that they're seeing a bug that's up on top of your glass canopy, or it could be that they get spooked by somebody turning on the lights or somebody walking by the tank real fast. Whatever it is, believe me, it's not a matter of if they're gonna jump, it's a matter of when. So you absolutely have to make sure you have good, heavy, secure lids on these aquariums because if there is the slightest of opportunity, they're out of there.
Trust me on this one, I've got more experience than I should even admit on YouTube. And I'm a total idiot. And I have no idea why you even watch my videos. Actually, bright arowanas. I would imagine you would have to have a really big tank to do it, but it's worth talking about.
Arowanas are fraternal mouth brooders, which means the male will carry the eggs around in his mouth until they develop into free swimming fry. The female lays the eggs, the male fertilizes the eggs, and then he'll pick them up and carry them around in his mouth until they can swim around all on their own. Here's the thing, just like with African cichlids, if you're breeding fish in a large pond, there's always the chance that when the male releases the fry, there's that opportunity and that threat of other fish eating them. To stop this from happening, the breeders like to strip the fry from the male's mouth before they're released naturally.
But there's a problem with that. Think about how strong a three foot long fish is and imagine trying to take your hands and pry its mouth open to get the fry out. I'm sure it can't be easy.
These fish are are so strong that I've heard stories of breeders just cutting off the male's head so that they can get the fry out easier. I guess sacrificing one male to get 20 to 30 fry is worth it to them. Personally, I would just get another job.
Arowanas are carnivores which means they like a meaty high-protein diet. Things like shrimp, fish, and even worms they'll eat them all day long. You can feed your arowanas a couple of different ways. You can buy store-bought food or or you can get creative and use things like frozen fish or frozen shrimp, which is what I do all the time.
I thaw the shrimp out, slice it up and throw it in there. Now my arowanas are kind of small. Once they get full grown or close to it, actually just throw the whole shrimp in there no big deal but you got to make sure you thaw it out because that's just not nice to throw them in there if they're solid ice but there's another way to feed your arowanas too and that is to buy manufactured fish food for them you can buy food that's made specifically for carnivores like the Hikari food sticks which I love and use all the time or there's other brands out there that are making food specifically for arowanas like the arowana formula from Northfin which I've never used but but everything I've ever used from Northfin has been really good.
So I would imagine that one is too. But my absolute favorite food to feed arowanas is the Tetra Jumbo Krill. This is an unbelievable freeze-dried krill product.
The krill are huge, they're plump, and their color is gorgeous. They just look wonderful. And let me tell you, I've never had an arowana that hasn't just scarfed those things down, and you could really feed your arowanas that same food all the time and they would be perfectly fine and they would grow really fast but i would definitely recommend feeding your arowanas a variety of diet give them several different things you don't want to eat the same thing for every meal every day your arowana doesn't either they won't get bored it's healthier for them because they get different things from different foods just give them a variety use foods that are made specifically for carnivores and those freeze-dried krill or even frozen shrimp you got got all kinds of options.
It's very easy. They're not really picky eaters, so you shouldn't have a problem feeding your arowanas at all. Just give them the good stuff.
We've had a lot of arowanas and they're pretty hardy fish and they're not that picky about their water parameters, but there are some things that we should talk about before you set up your first aquarium for your arowana. First is temperature. Arowanas are tropical fish so they like warm water but they don't like it too hot. Ideally shoot for 78 degrees. Now if you go up to 80 degrees or you go down to 76 degrees it's okay they will be fine.
They'll be perfectly fine. Next is pH. You'll want to keep your pH around neutral, which is 7. But it's all about consistency. Just try to keep it around 7 and not fluctuating up and down all the time. One of the biggest things you need to think about when it comes to the water in your arowana tank is that it stays clean. Arowanas, they have a big appetite.
They like to eat a lot. Big fish means big appetites, which means big poops. and we all know what that can do to the water.
A consistent maintenance schedule is crucial to your arowana's overall health and longevity. The number one rule to remember when you go to select tank mates for your arowana's is that if it can fit in your arowana's mouth, it's gonna be food. Even if you put fish in that are too big to fit in the arowana's mouth, At first the odds are your arowana is going to grow a lot faster than whatever you put in there with it and when that time comes And there's opportunity it will happen Trust me the best tank mates for arowanas are gonna be larger fish that obviously cannot fit in your Arowana's mouth and the best thing to look for are fish that are gonna stay in the mid to lower range of the aquarium This way your arowanas will be up top and whatever other fish you select for them is going to be down in the bottom. Nobody's going to be getting in each other's way.
Nobody's going to be fighting over territory. Everything's going to be fine, and you won't end up buying expensive fish food for your arowanas. We've kept arowanas with Oscars, Datnoids, Jaguars, Jack Dempsies, and Common Plecos, but my favorite combo is the arowanas with Stingrays. It's perfect because the arowanas are going to always be up top, And the stingrays are gonna always be down below so they're never gonna be a problem for each other.
I planned all along to get stingrays for this tank and I still want to but I don't know. I got seven fish in there now. We'll have to see. Silver Iowanas originate from several different areas of the Amazon River, but just like we've done with other 10 Things episodes, I'm gonna tell you that that doesn't even matter. So many of the fish available in the hobby are captive-bred in farms all over the world.
So the fish you buy at the pet store have never seen the Amazon and have no idea what it is. These are prehistoric fish that have been in the aquarium hobby for as long as people have been keeping fish in glass boxes. You Arowanas are what's known as a bony-tongued fish. Basically that means they have teeth on their tongue.
They're also known for having the two barbells that protrude from the tip of their head above their mouth. John calls them dangly things. There's a common issue with arowanas that you need to be aware of if you're considering getting one of these fish.
Now, it's not life-threatening, and it actually has no impact on the fish's overall health, but it's something that's still unsightly, and that's drop-eye. The symptoms of drop-eye are not as extreme as they sound. It's not like the eye falls out onto the bottom of your tongue. your tank and gets eaten by the tank mates.
No, it's not as extreme as that. It's basically your arowanas always look like they're looking down, and their eyes just kind of get stuck that way. Here's the thing, there's tons of articles and information out there about drop eye. I'll put a link down in the description to some of those articles, but for this, I'm just gonna talk about my personal experiences with it and what it is that I believe actually causes this.
Arowanas are always going to be prowling the top of the tank. They're always. going to be up there if you look at mine you see them going back and forth they're always up top and they're always going to be looking up trying to find the next thing to eat in the wild they'd be looking for insects outside of the water and stuff like that well when they're in an aquarium a lot of times people are going to throw in food that's going to sink down to the bottom or there's going to be fish and decorations and things like that down below them that they're going to be looking at so they're not only going to look up for food but they're also going to be looking down and if there's a lot of activity, if there's food down on the bottom, if there's other fish, a lot of stuff going on below them, they're going to be always looking down.
And in my opinion, that's what causes it. They're looking down so much that they just get stuck that way. So when it comes to preventing it, it should be pretty much common sense.
I always advise arowana keepers to feed floating foods, things that are going to stay up and not slowly sink or even sink at all. Let's keep them up top so that we keep... keep our arowanas always looking up rather than down, and also limit the stuff that's going on down below your fish.
I have some fish in the tank with my arowanas that are below them, but it's a huge tank, and they're not always directly below the arowanas. Plus, I have no decor in this tank at all, except for one piece of wood. I don't even have substrate in there, which I'm actually rethinking, because I don't know if the fish can actually see there.
reflection in the bottom panel of glass so they might think there's other arowanas in there and they might always be looking down I don't know I have to look into that but try to keep the activity and things like that below them to a minimum and do not feed sinking foods because we don't want them looking down my strategy is to hold the food up above the water allow them to come over and and see it up there and then I drop it in and they eat it right away again in its It's all in an effort to keep them looking up all the time and not down. But if they do end up getting drop eye, it's not the end of the world. It's not something to really lose your mind over. It's just unsightly. It's not going to shorten the fish's lifespan or anything like that.
Just kind of is what it is. And as I said earlier, anything past surgery, I don't think there's any way of getting rid of it. So the best thing to do is to just try to prevent it altogether. John was telling you earlier about the Asian Arowanas and how we can't get them here in the United States.
We can always dream, but for this segment we're only going to talk about the Arowanas that we can get here. Obviously there's the Silver. We've been talking about them the whole time, but there is more.
Alright, so there's the Jardini, which looks more similar to the Asians. They're shorter and stubbier than the Silvers, but they have the same shape. They have a reputation of being pretty nasty though, so watch out. There's also the black and the blue varieties of the silver arowana.
They're really pretty. I've seen them in person. These have coloring that is very different from the silvers when they're very small.
They'll show a lot more black and blue, but as they grow they start looking more and more like the silvers with blue or black highlights. Mainly in the fins. There's also albino and platinum arowanas. Basically they're snow white arowanas and they're very rare.
Because of that you can expect to pay a pretty hefty price if you can even find them