Gold Arowana is part of the prized Asian Arowana.
While the Red Arowana is commanding a high price collectively, the rare breed of certain gold Arowana, such as the Cross Backed Golden Arowana, is selling at a higher price.
The initial cost of owning a Gold Arowana is very high.
How do you care for such an expensive fish?
1. Tank
Before you buy the Gold Arowana, it is important to buy a very big tank for the fish.
If you think that a 3 feet tank is big enough for the Gold Arowana, you are partially right. It is big enough for the fish in
the first year.You need to change into a bigger tank a year later.
The best is to buy a 5 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet tank before you buy a Gold Arowana.
The tank seems very large for a little fish of just 6 inches. You may even think that the fish is very lonely. However, watch the growth of this magestic fish as it doubles in size practically every two months.
You will have a dragon in the tank a year later.
2. Water
There is only one way to keep the Gold Arowana happy and healthy.
The trick is to change water regularly.
That does not mean change water every month. It does not even mean change water every week.
The best is to change water every other day.
If you have the time to change water daily, that is even better. You just need to change 10% of the water. Remember to add in some salt with each water change.
If you can change water every week, you need to change 25% of the water. You can use the water to flush the toilet or for gardening.
Do not feed it after each water change. You can feed the fish the next morning.
3. Diet
The mistake in feeding fish is over-feeding.
Most hobbyists make the mistake of feeding too much.
Fortunately, the Gold Arowana is not a greedy fish. It does not eat until it gets fat.
The Gold Arowana will stop eating when it is full. You will find it painful to see the Gold Arowana kills the goldfish, and then spills the dead fish out. However, that is the nature of the mighty dragon fish.
It is your fault that you have put in too much food.
It is possible to rear a Gold Arowana on pellets. Once you have made up your mind to feed pellets to the Gold Arowana, you should not put in live feeds.
The moment the Gold Arowana tastes blood, it will never want to eat pellets.
You will have a hard time dealing with a stubborn fish. You may even need to starve the fish for a couple of weeks before it accepts pellets again.
If you intend to feed live feeds,
you can do so when the Gold Arowana is bigger.The live insects will probably kill the small fish.
The best is to feed pellets until the fish is at least one feet in length, before you switch to live feeds.
The best is to provide a variety of live and frozen food.
Many hobbyists witness their prized fish getting sick after eating feeder fish. They witness the tail of their prized Gold Arowana rots.
You can breed your own feeder fish if you want to control the quality of the feeder fish.
Breeding mollies, guppies, and gold fish is not hard. The effort is worthwhile, since you will enjoy a healthy Gold Arowana.
4. Salt
Gold Arowana hardly get sick if you change water regularly.
However, adding some salt into the water will help the fish to remain healthy. Gold Arowana can tolerate slightly salty water.
Make sure the salt does not contain iodine. It is best to buy sea salt.
5. Tank cover
Gold Arowana jumps. It is in the nature of the fish to jump for the lizard walking across the ceiling.
You cannot stop the Gold Arowana from jumping.
The only thing you can do is to cover the fish tank, and put a few books to weigh down the fish tank.
Gold Arowana is a very powerful fish.
Even if you weigh down the tank with a brick, the fish can overturn the entire cover.
Many hobbyists have the sad experience of finding a dried fish when they return from work.
Caring for Gold Arowana is a joy.
You will experience the joy of bonding with the fish as it grows bigger. Since Gold Arowana can live for 20 years, you will find that the fish understand your mood, and you learn to watch the subtle signs of the fish.
About me:
Scheng1 is a passionate blogger from Singapore. Rich in every sense reveals my deep desire in enjoying life, and be rich in every possible ways.
