My little Arowana is not eating prawns..

Question

Hello

I have a little arowana to which i feed him feeder fish (goldfish). It woulnt take any other frozen food. After reading numerous articles, i decided not to feed him feeder fish anymore...so bought prawns and i cleaned the prawns fully. But my arowana doesnt seems to eat it...I also tried cutting the prawns into smaller pieces so that it can swallow easily...

The prawns are in the bottom of the tank and my arowana is still searching for live feeder fish. What should i do now ??? Can i starve it safely for a day or two ?

Need advise from experts...

Thank you

Here is the video of my arowana..have a look..

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=3UFzYf0pwHU

Answer 1

Starve/wean is basically the same thing.  You need to discontinue the use of feeder fish for several reasons.  One being, this isn't a natural food an Arowana would eat.  An Arowana is a surface food eater, and should be eating foods that are on the surface.  Second is that feeder fish bought from stores are given so little care, they often harbor nasty unwanted pathogens.  Thirdly, since this isn't a food they normally eat, the Arowana is now looking downwards in the tank where it normally wouldn't do so, and you will have droop eye set in.  This is compounded even further by the high proteins in feeder fish, and those high proteins cause the muscles in the eyes to develop in a downward fashion.  Once this condition sets in, nothing short of surgery can fix this.

Prawns are one possible choice for an alternative food.  Crickets as the other person mentioned is another super choice.  If you try crickets, gut load them first for better nutritional value.  Sometimes you can also get your Arowana to accept pellet foods as well.  Brine shrimp and blood worm cubes are another possibility.  I have a Malaysian Golden Jardini about 6 inches now, who I got to steadily eat bloodworm cubes and he's quite happy on those.

Once your Arowana gets bigger, another alternative you can try  is frogs too.  Frogs are a good choice for a big bulky mean to fill them up.

What sized tank is this fish in too?  Be patient.  As said, it is true, Arowana are picky eaters and since it thinks other fish are a food source, this could be over a week before any change will set in.  I can also tell you that if you want to change this, don't do the weaning.  Do exactly as you said.  You will not cause the Arowana any harm.

Arowana are mouth brooders when breeding.  It means the male when spawning will house and carry the eggs in it's mouth for 3-4 weeks and during that time, will not eat at all.  Furthermore, fish do not use food in the same manner like you and I do, so they are able to go long periods of time without food, and there are no negative effects from this.  If you want to change this, then put in your alternative foods.  Keep putting it in.  If he does not take to it, don't leave the food there.  Remove the food, and try again later.  If you can't get him to change to the new food after 7-10 days, then offer it a small amount of whatever it was eating before, and then go back to the same thing.  Continue to only offer the newer foods until you get them to accept it.  With Arowana this takes time and patience.

Was just watching your videos.  HOLY COW.  What size tank is that?  Like a 45?  You realize after about a year or so, you need about a 180 or higher, and after they go over 3 feet, you need a 300-500 gallon set up?  Better keep that in mind.

Answer 2

feed it crickets. The reason why is. That in the wild they feed off of the top layers of the water. The prawns are at the bottom, and by looking at them it could cause droop eye.

Answer 3

Maybe you should try feeding him guppies

Answer 4

No, please don't starve him. He isn't adjusted to eating that type of food. You sort of need to "wean" him off of the feeder fish. Feed him a feeder fish and then put in a prawn. If he keeps refusing, you should just stick with the feeder fish. He probably wants something alive and swimming around. It's in his nature. If the articles are saying feeder fish are unhealthy, then try to find some other form of live food to put in his tank. Arowanas are picky when it comes to food, atleast mine was!

Best of luck to you. Post more details for further questions.