Iam thinking of setting up my current tank that has a bristlenose catfish (about 15cm) and a adult red oscar into a arowana tank.

I would like to know all the important things that i need to know about keeping such a fish that needs a lot of looking after.

What tankmates are sutable for the arowana?

I have a 480L tank which is about 175 x 55 x 60 cm.

Checked around the web too. But would like a more personal note .

Any help would be cool, thanks

silvers can get between 2-3 foot long (3 foot when housed properly) so the tank isnt going to be quite wide enough for a smaller adult (good excuse to upgrade to a 3 foot wide though ). dunno about the aussie or asian aros.

i dont know much about them other than theyre big fish, they are prone to drop eye (and some beleive a cause is fish at lower levels as they like to keep an eye on them) and eat alot :lol: they jump too so you need good secure lids- many put bricks etc on top as they can easily pop off your average lids

would they be ok with a adult oscar as a tank mate? iam guessing no??

I wouldn't recommend it Oscars are pretty boisterous fish and could stress an Aro, especially a young one, quite badly. Mine does OK with Severums, but I wouldn't recommend anything more agressive than that

then how about having a ground level fish with it since the aros always stay up , with many hiding places? i love clown loaches, would like a black knife ghost fish. iam planning to get a bigger tank of about 2.5m x .7 x .7

clowns might be a bit active? not sure bout the BGK. a fancy pleco that isnt too bossy might be something to consider as they wont be out much when your aro is awake?

then how about having a ground level fish with it since the aros always stay up , with many hiding places? i love clown loaches, would like a black knife ghost fish. iam planning to get a bigger tank of about 2.5m x .7 x .7

no, having fish under them is the main cause of drop eye. drop eye is very hard to fix.

like Tracey said Severums can be a good choice, but really depends on the individual fish its usually not keep with much else.

no, having fish under them is the main cause of drop eye. drop eye is very hard to fix.

I disagree, at nearly 2' my black aro showed no signs of dropeye despite being kept in a tank with a school of clown loaches, and many other tankmates. I think the main cause is bad diet (fatty foods like feeders) as mine ate nothing but pellets and bloodworms.

As for tankmates, arowanas are predatory fish, not really aggressive fish if you get what I mean. I would keep them with agressive fish (like most CA cichlids), go for larger, less aggressive tankmates. I kept mine with clown loaches, uarus, silver dollars and a big fire eel. The loaches were quite small [in comparison to the 20"+ arowana) but he nevre bothered them, IMO because he was never fed feeder fish and was kept well fed with other foods.

LOL, the drop-eye debate :lol:

I've read a lot about drop-eye on various sites and there are almost as many theories as there are Aro keepers out there.

Its interesting though, that drop-eye is most common in Silvers and Asians, the two species that are farm-bred (Silvers) and heavily in-bred (Asians). It very, very rarely shows up in Blacks and Jardini's, both species that are mostly still wild-caught or only very occasionally tank-bred. Of course, environmental factors are going to have an impact, but I've seen posts by ppl who've had Silvers and Blacks in the same tank, same food, same water....... the Silver will get drop-eye but the Black will not :-?

It's interesting what you say about yours not being fed feeders and being safe with other fish, David. I got my Silver only a few months back, he was with Mystic for several months before that. To my knowledge, he's never been fed feeder fish before. Just the other day, Tye dropped off some of her accidental hybrids for my Clown Knife to dispose of, and the Aro went absolutely crazy, tearing around the tank trying to catch them. Even though he'd never been fed feeders before, he knew exactly what those little fish were. Instinct is truely quite amazing 8)