henward

Could be!

the scale coverage of the red is actually not unusual, it is the intensity of the red colour itself that is sought after. but , this fish could have been artificially tanned in shallow water for 3 months, 24/7 and fed little. probably shortening its life, who knows i would like a red one like this but... i like them none the less regardless if they are that red or slightly more orange than red.

its possible. its age, also that fish is probably pond raised. sunlight all day really makes a big effect on them. but its possible. though red ones like that are a rarity.

Very true.

When you add up stand. Light. Tank. Filter... Definitely not cheap! You are right.

haha, simple story short. In asia, red lights are particularly popular to make arowanas seem more red. i made a point of asking for arowana pictures with normal light, as in, aqua glo or power glo or white reptile light etc, not red pink l ights. they got angry cos i accused them of faking pictures. turns out that the owners of the arofanatics site are vendors too. they took offence and i got banned. But, arowanafishtalk are also frequented by people from the arofanatics, but its set up for someone who also got banned a long time ago - similar views to mine also, many asian keepers tend to go on myth. also, myth help them sell arowanas. I dont like that. just difference in views but there is no point of keeping a nice fish in a tiny tank. unless if there is no choice, but the argument then stands... then one should not keep such fish perhaps? thats an opinion i suppose,

There are a multitude of reasons why they are kept in such tanks. first and foremost, arowanas CAN be housed in a 'aro comm' aro community tank. This is in fact, a dream of mine to have one day. but having 2 in one tank can spell trouble, having 3 is the minimum, as a rule of thumb, the more aros you have in one tank, the better the chance of success. Sometimes also, arowanas can snap, and suddenly get aggressive. maybe this is when they come of breeding age or size. At times, changing the layout of the tank could also change their behaviour even if the arowanas are the same ones that used to get along. IN my tank, i re arranged and the arowana suddenly hated the giant gourami, killed it with in 2 days - when it tolerated it for ages. but here are the reasons why when you see aro comms overseas (typically asia) - they are housed in small tanks 1) arowanas are cheap. An an example, a good quality red aro is 500usd to 1000usd, Here we pay upwards of 3k even if you import yourself. this makes arowanas easy to replace. 2) Asian people in asian countries generally have a less regard to animal welfare. This is not a racial swipe as i am asian myself. But asia in general has very little regard to animal health. hence why you see fish in tiny bags ont he road, siamese fighter fish stored in bottle caps and when they die, they just dispose of them on the side of the road, pick up another from a bucket and put it in the same place. This is also apparent seeing pet shops in asia, small cluttered places, under filtered water with usually amonia ridden systems. Fish gasping for air, cloudy water, smelling of amonia and rotten water. This is more of an education thing, i suppose in third world countries, they dont see this as cruel. 3) Asian cities usually have weight restrictions in buildings and EXTREMELY limited space, so - through neccesity, they are driven to have smaller tanks. 4) It is asserted by breeders and experienced keepers that keeping arowanas in smaller tanks have greater success of comming them. Reason is perhaps they dont have the ability to set up territories in the tank. Logic can also be found in HUGE tanks where territories can be formed with no interference, but this is the reverse logic applied with consideration of the above. example - 7 aros may succeed in a 1200litre tank, but fail in a 2000litre. 5) distraction is apparently key to aro comming. Distraction fish OR light of sight barriers like plants, air bubbles and everyone seems to agree, power heads, current that literally push the fish, distract them from aggression - i have even seen a tank with an even number of aros fighting, but when an odd one is introduced, fighting stops. This is apparenlty because when the fish pair up to fight, there is an odd one out that tips the balance of aggression. Hard to prove, but makes sense i suppose. in conclusion. The above are the numerous factors in your observation, Derived fro my experience, talking to them, seeing it in practice in asia and also just the general climate and attitude of the keepers in asia. Try this. Go to arofanatics or arowanafishtalk forum - ask the size of tank for one single asian arowana. And them go to MFK (monsterfishkeepers.com) and ask there the size for one arowana. You will get 2 vastly different sizes. in the asian forums, you will get a size of 4x2x2 (feet) in mfk, you will probably get 6x3x3 or even 8x3x3. just the culture, attitude and through the times - neccesity has forged different opinions. i guess, you have to ask yourself this: Will you find joy, satisfaction and pride seeing a 50 to 60cm fish (reaching 60 cm in a small tank is unlikely) that you just purchased, imported from singapore. Probably spent 3k, 4k, 5k, 6k on - just to see it hardly able to swim? or do you want it to be able to dash and swim at its leisure in a huge tank with the right footprint? your answer that that question will determine your line of thinking. PS: Also, in these countries, they hardly filter their tanks. I always confront people in the forums and ask them what their amonia reading is. 99% will never or have never had any test kits or even know what amonia is. They go to a shop, buy a fish and a small tank thinking its dandy, no research at all. Common threads are "fish dying" , "fish gasping" , fish not eating, water smelly and cloudy and fish sick. etc. I am actually a mod in www. arowanafishtalk.com - got banned for life in arofanatics for confronting people there:D story for another day.

yeah, the squash isnt as squashed, the batts was half price. it was 35 a bale so i took the lot. 10 bales. when they came out, they dont come out as unform as pink batts would, it seems to be one of those chinese generic stuff. so its not squashed like a pan cake and totally airless. if you look at the pics. they are not sticking out much.

Pic attached about 15cm deep. I stuff batt behind QQuite thick the Batts But gonna be warm.

What youmean?

Man! did insulating this saturday and sunday. still about a third to go, but the closer to the end, the more proficient you become, still, another sunday this coming and its done! clean up then tank build - albeit 1 week delay. in some parts of the ceiling, i reused some poly sheets to line it with batts filling in corners and where ever else i cant get the poly on. batts used for walls and ceiling is R3.5 ceiling grade (very thick) batts. most sheets of poly are between 40mm to 50mm, some parts are 25mm. garage door panels will be lined with 50mm poly, then a very very thin alimunium / tin cover to be pop riveted in. the garage is getting warmer as we were covering up the ceilign and walls today. amazing what insulation does!

just under 3k, nice! whats the stock?

wow, 4 metres. that is a big one. i would assume it would be not glass:D lol glass for that would be horrendously expensive. but awesome anyways.

what you building?

I have 4 on the tank side wall. 2 on the other. Pumps. Lights are low power demand I find.. It's the heating! But temp controller will run all heaters. I have a switch for each 'groups for ease of management.

second piece of wood in the tank. picture of stand in the garage.

wow, awesome! what is the parent like? wha type of syno is this?

awesome

overflow comb has arrived. thanks Lotofish! amazzing quality. gaps are perfect too. wont let big pellets through - and will maximise flow.

with black substrate, blackground maybe, their colour would come out a lot more. hope you get them so you can put them in an amazeballs tank!

I believe the cost of importing them is quite dramatic. but very rare specimens indeed especially for NZ in saying that, its pretty cool - i would if i had the money haha

id go bigger, biggest if possible. nothing like a bogwood set up with plecs coming out of some random hiding spot as you feed, looks awesome.

correction, 20mm total glass thickness on base, 20 days to cure :dno: Bracing will be 40 cm on the ends, 30cm on middle (width of brace) Glass ordered, this is getting real! target day of construction is tuesday next week!

True. Can always bid your max.

price has been reduced on them! http://www.trademe.co.nz/pets-animals/f ... 384009.htm comeon guys, who has wanted wild discus for ages lol