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i was looking at some of my friends tank with i think OZ arowanas, and he has them in the same tank with the divider, i as looking online and i saw the same things, asian arowanas kept on either side with a divider, do they really need the divider? what can they do to eachother?

They could literally rip each other in half. When arowanas go for it, they really go for it. They are a very muscular fish and their attacks can be very violent.A fight could literally end in a fatal wound or shock before you have a chance to do anything about it.I doubt too may people would be willing to just dash in and put their hands in to seperate the fish, you just might get a finger twisted off by a large specimen. The jaws on them are large and the dentition is not that spectacular , but its the muscley writhing body behind the mouth that can make the wounds positively rippy and horrific.

Arowanas can and do live in harmony sometimes, and ive seen up to 8 individuals kept together in large aquaria and the effect of their "off synchronisation" swimming is incredibly restful but given the expense of some individuals its unsurprising that combining these animals is considered seriously before any attempt. Breeding attempts between fish previously kept in isolated conditions can be very risky, and sometimes people want the Aro's to get used to one another in sight smell and taste before releasing them into the same body of water.

Its better to raise them together when young, or in large aquaria. Presumably overcrowding principles dont really work with Aro's ( i wouldnt advocate them anyway)and when one has been raised in seclusion for an extended period of time it might act very territorially to any new addition to a tank. They are not the most territorial fish out there, certainly not as bad as a lot of cichlids for example, but since the tanks that most are kept in are rather small compared to the size of the fish, its not surprising that an arowana doesnt want to share. You have to remember aro's are a damn big fish and territoriality can be about preserving your food sources just as much as any sexual dominance.

They are also highly predacious and its not unheard of for cannabilism to occur, although typically they will only eat smaller fish than themselves who knows what goes through the mind of an isolated fish? It might turn into charles manson, or it might just assume that anything that moves other than itself is food. That kind of habituation is common in all sorts of caged animals, its one of the downsides to captivity.

With some Aro's its probably worth feeding them seperately just to stop them injuring each other in a rush for the food. Its not unheard of for aro's to leap several feet from the water to nail a given target.Their approach is about commitment and not to much thought goes into it, an aro could rip the jaw off another before it realised it grasped the wrong prey. Sometimes my aro watches the cat with great interest....

...and then sometimes the cat watches the aro with great interest....



Last edited by longhairedgit at 26-Nov-2005 23:35

ok, now i get it, they jsut look so non agressive, i was planning on getting one anyway, that should be a task all of its own.

Indeed. I hadnt quite planned on spending £1500 on housing the aro, or indeed spending another £5000 on modifying a conservatory into a tropical house, but sometimes thats the way it goes with really large fish. I feel sorry for really big catfish owners sometimes. Having said that I spotted a nice pacu the other day...