Hey. I just wanted to know if it is possible for one to do this sort of setup. (By the way, I'm new and this is a GREAT site. Learned quite a bit about captive care of a number of fish just by reading the threads.).

Back to topic, my main goal is to at least represent one of each species of "Arowana" out there. I could've gotten the Paima in if I could, but they get to large. That said, would it be possible to keep these all in the same tank (8x4x4) with maybe some tankmates thrown in?

Silver
Black
Asian
Jardini
Leichardti
African

it is also my dream setup. but i think it's not suitable for africans. as for the rest, australians tend to be more aggressive. southern americans and asians don't have much issue.

May I know why it isn't suitable for Africans?

The jardini tends to be very aggresive against other arowana's. Better to keep those together from same country, then you can have the real enviroment instead of having a south american outlook and asian arowana's

africans are the most aggressive of all and the most sensitive of all. they are filter feeders and need special care. normal food for the rest of the aros are not suitable for them.

That's something I had realised after looking at the care info thread. But that aside, I'm willing to go out on a limb and grab some bloodworms for their nutrition.

If you have a tank big enough I'd say it's possible, but I wouldn't want to put an expensive Asian in with a Leichardti. I believe they'd all be ok with a lot of them and a ton of space. The number of them would decrease the aggression on any one fish. A big tank for all of these fish is probably around 1500g or bigger....

Could be the jar is too aggressive. But, I had a 22 incher that was a teddy bear....so you never know.

It's possible but you need a bigger tank. As far as I know in arowana experience, RTG and Green arowanas are more aggressive than Australian arowanas. But some are more aggressive than others. I have a 16" jardini and a 13" green asian arowana and my green asian is controlling my the jar they are both in 535g. I also have a friend that have a 9" blue base xback asian arowana that killed a 14" flag tail. People in the US doesn't even know how aggressive asian arowanas as they never keep one because it's illegal. I hope someday they well legalize asian arowana so they can experience keeping them too as I'm moving to L.A in 2 years.

So an 8x4x4 isn't big enough? 8x4x4 feet I mean.

I think it is big enough. My tank is 8x4x3 feet. I have 3 arowanas. 1x 13" green asian, 1x 16" jardini, 1x 12" silver arowana. I adding some 2x 9" gold xback from pang long and 1x 10" rtg. They are currenly in 180g. Once they are 14" then I'll add them.

Anything else I could throw in?

Get some asian arowanas to control the jardini. Large bichirs are good tank mates too.

Would Gars be ok as well? And there has to be more than one Asian?

Pulcher Dats seem to make good Aro tankmates.

AU, where you from in Cebu I was there just a few years back, my wife is from Cebu. PM me if you want to keep off the record.

STs is kinda hard to find in the Philippines and the rest of the world and cost a lot too.

Are you a Filipino too?

You've got to get something on the bottom of the tank too.. A couple of pearls, leos or tigers

Gars should work too.

I'm not Filipino but my wife is and she is from Cebu.

Say "Kamusta" (hello) to your wife for me.

So how many other fish besides the Arowanas can I put? I also want to try considering an Aussie Lung for the tank. So how much do you think I may have to spend for all the Aros (Silver, Black, Afro, Chili Red, Jardini, and Leichardti) and the Lung combined?

I don't know the currency in the Philippines but I know for sure that you will be spending more than $3650. Aussie lungfish are expensive and I'm not sure if they have it in the Philippines. I rarely seen lungfish in the Philippines and I only seen West African Lungfish (Protopterus annectens annectens). Aussie lungfish also comes with a certificate just like asian arowanas.

I could probably try ordering the Lung from a pet store I know.

As for the rest...

$3650x47=171,550

So that's how much I will be paying if I get 3-inch individuals of each?

You will be paying more because that is just the regular price and not the retail price. It could go 2-3 times higher.

Silvers will cost me about 700-1200 pesos.

Blacks will cost me about 200-400 more.

Jardinis will be about the same as the Silvers.

Asians will vary. Greens are about the same as Silvers. Golds will vary between 2,000-7,000. The lesser varities will be cheaper. And the reds will range from 5,000-40,000 (Planning to get from Singapore instead.)

Africans may range from 1,300-2,400.

The Aussie Lung may cost between 3,000-20,000 estimate.

Most other monster fish cost between 400-2,500. Hopefully, Latino Lungs may be in this range.

These are all in Philippine pesos. Judging from the looks of it, I may be able to get all the fish for about 100,000, more or less. Don't really know at the moment any real exacts, but these are estimates made after looking at the retail price of a number of these fishes.

Black aros are actually more expensive than jar, silver and green in the Philippines. They are also hard to find and I know only a few people got them.

I'm not sure if your already a member in this site, if not become a member and ask some people.
http://mypalhs.com/forums/index.php

Get to know "Hendri Leung" from http://arowanaclub.com/ and http://www.indodragon.com/. His a professional photographer and been to all the asian arowana farms in the world. He's also the publisher of Indodragon books (1-5). Talk to him and he'll point you the best looking arowana farm and the cheapest.

Here are some of what I know .
(all in Philippine money (pesos))
6" Silver: 700
6" Jar: 2,400
8" Black: 1200
6" Lei: 14400

(asian aro's prices will vary on which farms you are getting them)
6" Green: 9600
6" Banjar: 14400
6" RTG: 19200
6" HBRTG: 21600
6" SR: 76800
6" VFSR: 96,000
6" BB Xback: 86400
6" PH Xback: 86400
6" Gold Xback: 81600
6" GH Xback: 86400
6" Splendour: 144000

African arowanas are no longer a "true" arowana species. They are more closely related to arapaima.

I've already known for quite a while that Black Aros will cost more. Thing is, though, I heard they aren't drastically greater in price.

And as I said, I know a shop where I can order from.



Thanks for the heads up. Oh, and whilst I know that they aren't true Aros, I'd like some help to know how much they cost.

Oh, and by the way, I noticed the lack of a chili red price. How much? As that is what I intend to aim at. Please note that I'll only start these monster tanks when I'm already done working and have been in work for about a year or two.

Chili red and blood red got the same price as you can really that they will become chili or blood at 6" unless the cert say so. That's why they are labeled SR. PT. Mujul Prima Utama is probably the only farm that got the most expensive Red in my opinion. Price can go up 3x higher than other farms.

I mean "cannot" (same price as you can't really tell that they will become chili or blood) sorry I mistype. I also forgot to add tell.

So, considering all factors, just how many fish in total can I safely chuck into the 8x4x4?

arowanas are tricky they dont like eachother to much but the thing is some do its hard to know how aggressive they are gona be if they are smaller thsn 12" long but if they are mean when they are small they porbly will be mean when they grow up. so its all depends on the fish. i have had arowanas that are never mean but i have had a jardiai killed out a 10' 4' 4' tank in a day so just watch them.

Thanks for the info.

In the case of the Jar, I'm going with waterboy on this and will make sure that there are some Asian Aros there to put down its aggression.

But, how many fish can I place inside? How many gallons is an 8x4x4?

Just to make your aros to spread out the aggression. I'll say put 6 aros.

Ok, so the tally would be:

1x Silver
1x Black
1x Jardini
1x Leichardti
1x Afro
1x Chili Red
1x Crossback Golden/RTG

7 members of the Arowana Class/Family.

Now, the question I'd like to bring up would be how many other fish could I place in the tank?

If your filter or sump can hold more bio-load then you could add some bottom dweller such as large bichirs (endli, ornate, lapradei, weeksii or congo), large catfish (too many to choose from), large spiny eel (fire eel or tire track eel) or some freshwater stingrays. Get some datnoids too, they always look good with the aros.

Plan to use anywhere from 3-6 filters for the aquarium. 2 or 3 if one of the ones I use is a pond grade filter. Plan also to put Aussie and Latino Lungs.

Another question, are Aros bad with plants? Or that's something that I should be asking about other fish?

Mixing two lungfish together is a bad idea, even with a tank size that you have right now. They like to seek and harass the other lungfish. SAL lung are aggressive to other lungfish and you'll end up with lots of bite mark, scars, wounds and missing pectoral fins. Aussie lungfish are expensive and you will need 5 for a minimum order from Gordon which is the only Aussie lungfish farm here on earth.

At ages of 17 I hope you got enough money to buy all these fishes. You must be rich....

Goodluck!

Well, you see, I only plan to do this after college. Also, I plan to get the Aussie Lung by group ordering with a friend of mine and his brother. Thanks for all the helpful hints, waterboy!

One last question though. I plan to aquascape the tank to give it a chinese sort of look. Will I have to worry about the Aros tampering with the plants? Also, with aquascaping and planting in mind, what species of fish should I NOT put in?

Arows are not bad with plants. They seem to have pretty good swim stability and rarely bump into anything.

Thanks for that note. But uhh, what fish should i not put with the Aros because they might eat the plants I put?

And waterboy, I don't even have the tank yet. The only time I'll have it will be about 5-6 years from now, so I'm just planning in advance.

Datnoids...rays or even bichirs.

They'll eat plants?

None of those will eat plants.......but the bichirs and rays will uproot them.

eat plants? you plan to keep other fish to eat the plants up?

If so, try getting some plecos or fei feng or maybe even some Japanese carp. They'll eat up the plants in no time.

Datnoids, rays and bichirs don't eat plants, but rays and bichirs will surely uproot the plants. Get some anubius or java ferns and attach them to a driftwood. Don't put plenty of plants as your fish will only uproot them.

I love your idea that you are planning ahead 5-6 years from now! I might be able to help you with your plan as I go for my vacation in the Philippines every December-March. Hope this great plan will come true very soon....

Goodluck!
Earl

Do you take me for an idiot? HECK NO!!!

I want the plants as decoration.

So bichirs will even uproot small, carpet type plants?

Honestly, i dont get you. What fish do you actually want? a plant eating fish?

I was asking if they eat plants so that I could get a warning and not put them in the future aquarium.

I think i've made myself clear with the second post was that I wanted to if they would tamper with the plants, because if they did, I would avoid getting said fish.

That make things clearer?

Some little bits and pieces, I'd like to know on a certain matter:

What kinds of catfish could I put here? Considering the fact that I want to aquascape and all? What would look good with Aros and would not be too difficult to care for under the conditions necessary to maintain Aros?