Silver Arowana Fish Care Guide
The Silver Arowana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum) is by far the most commonly seen and popular species amongst predatory fish keepers. Though the Silver Arowana is the hardiest and easy to care for fish in the Arowana family, they still require long-term dedication and commitment.
This particular Arowana is native to the Amazon River Basin with a range between Brazil and Columbia. Research and observation have seen these monster fish get to a massive size in the wild so a large sized tank is required for this graceful Dragonfish as it still manages to grow fairly when kept in a captive setting. A six-foot in length aquarium with around 250 gallons of water column is the minimum ideal size.
When compared to the other commonly seen Arowanas in the hobby worldwide such as the Jardini or Asian Arowana species, there is higher chance of keeping them together as they're not as territorial towards other Arowana tank-mates such as the Scleropages specimens. Caution needs to be taken with prospective tank mates, as they can manage to fit smaller sized tank-mates into their mouth with no hesitation.
Stability is the key for the Silver Arowana when it comes to water parameters. It is always a good rule of thumb to maintain the water conditions with immaculate standards for the Arowana. Temperature should be kept at around the high 70s to low 80s in Fahrenheit. pH tends to be around 6.0 - 7.0 for most Arowana keepers though you can stretch it up a bit to the mid 7s, given there isn't a lot of fluctuation.
A sturdy lid is mandatory because they are known jumpers. The Silver Arowana has been observed in the wild to jump right out of the water to capture their prey. When kept in a captive setting, these natural behaviors still prevail so it would be wise to keep the lid tightly sealed.
Diet is one of those things many Arowana keepers tend to complain about. Make an effort to feed your Silver Arowana a varied diet so it will become accustomed to having both dry food and frozen or live food. We feed our little Dragon Fish a mixture of dry foods such as Hai Feng or Hikari Food Sticks. It's always good to supplement it with live food such as California black worms, mealworms and even frozen foods such as bloodworms, shellfish, etc.
The Arowana has existed on Earth since the Jurassic period so it doesn't surprise any of us with such an ancient appearance and has survived throughout these millions of years, even outlasting dinosaurs!
