Moving large Arrowana

[agentsmith]

Hi all, new to the forum.

I have a relatively large silver arrowana (28"). I'm remodeling the house and need to move the tank (100 gal) to a different room for a while, what is the best way to move the fish? It gets aggitated easily and jumps very often, especially when I'm wearing something red.

When it was about 14" long, I moved once and it was a mess, it jumped and got through two layers of heavy duty plastic bags and bloodied itself pretty good. Don't want to go through that again if I can avoid it since it is much bigger and stronger now.

Anyways, I've seen people using some type of Japanese tanquilizer on their fish before moving with mixed results.

Any info would be great.

Thanks.

[Fishguy2727]

Clove oil is an anesthetia, so it will put them to sleep, and then when put back in water without it they come right back. However it requires precise dosing because when overdosed is the only humane way to put down a fish. I'm not sure of the proper dosing, but I got a small bottle of 100% clove oil at GNC for $6. Are there any plans for a bigger tank (or indoor pond)?

[jeffs99dime]

welcome to a.c.

[Drumachine09]

Welcome, and isnt a 100 gallon tank just a wee bits small for a 28" fish?

[Lady Hobbs]

Big fish = Big Net.

[agentsmith]

Thanks for the replies, and specially for reptileguy. I did some more googling on your clove oil idea and find out that some university had some actual dosage experiments run on their wild salmon program. Pretty useful, I will try it out with half doses when I make the actual move.

And to Drumachine09, a bigger tank is in the master plan, just need to bribe the wife to let me have it. I'm hoping something around 150 gal. I may need to have it custom made since I really don't need it to be too deep, maybe 18" to 24" max. I just need it to be long since the arrowana typically skims the surface and swims back and forth.

[Sin]

hey man , arrowana are beautiful fishes i have three myself , the way i transported my biggest ones are 15inches was in a huge tub i brought at a cheap price at national wholesale liquidators , make sure it comes with a cover and not a see through clear type, but colored one, these fish especially the one your size would jump out in a heartbeat , once the cover is put on they will calm down and when transported make sure the tub stays even , thats how i did it and no problems , the key thing is not to over stress them , my arrowanas actually eat right out of my hands and almost took my finger off one evening during feeding time. . lol gotta love them fish. . i wish you all the best

[Sin]

agentsmith , what do your arrowans eat ? i feed mines silversides krill Spearings beef hearts and chicken , you believe i have mines living peacefully with small 3in tinfoil barbs and 5in sharks?? they were not raised eating live foods , my male is 15in female is 15in and another female is like 10in and no problems with them trying to eat others

[newt0524]

hey smith

i don't agree with the 18 - 24" width statment. the rule of thumb is what ever the legnth of the fish is times 2 for the width and times 4 for the length. so for the 28" aro you should be looking at, 56" w x 112"L x 36-48"D or 4.5' x 9.5' x 4'. he may be able to navigate a smaller tank, but its not the best thing to do.

does the aro have problems turning around?

newt

[agentsmith]

Thanks for the reply Sin.

Wow, three arros? In the same tank? Mine killed off three kingkong parrots and chased an 9" tiger oscar out of the water.

I don't really have any difficult moving the fish from one place to another, I can use a styrofoam holding tub with a pump I saved when my friend shipped some koi from Japan a while back. My problem is with actually taking the fish out of the tank, once it's out, it is relatively easy to move. last time I move it, it was only about half the size now. I submerged a large plastic bag I got from the seafood store into the tank and opened the bag as big as possible. I tried to guide the fish into the bag so I could just lift the full bag out without actually touching the fish. But as soon as the fish felt the bag, it thrashed all around and banged into the glass very hard, it actually punctured the bag and got out, bloodied itself pretty bad in the struggle. I can only imagine this time might be even more exciting. I may need to hire a few amigos to just lift the whole tank to the new place. Such is the life.

I mainly feed my arro cichlid pallets, the red medium kind, it might be a little too fatty, it has droopy eyes, I read it is due to fatty tissue built up behind the eyeballs. I also feed it live bugs - crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, scorpions, grub and wasps, also the occasional small mice whenever I can catch some in the backyard.

I would love to have a 4x4x10 tank for the arrowana, but that may be pushing the wife's limits a bit. I could put my 2-yr old in it for swimming lessons. hehe.. Anyways, I'm thinks a 24"deep x 30" wide x 72" long tank...or 224 gal. hmm. bit bigger than I planned but still doable.

[Drumachine09]

hey smith

i don't agree with the 18 - 24" width statment. the rule of thumb is what ever the legnth of the fish is times 2 for the width and times 4 for the length. so for the 28" aro you should be looking at, 56" w x 112"L x 36-48"D or 4.5' x 9.5' x 4'. he may be able to navigate a smaller tank, but its not the best thing to do.

does the aro have problems turning around?

newt


The mesurements newt provided would be just a weeee bit over 1300 gallons. you better buy your wife a LOT of roses for that one.

i think you should be safe with a 150 though.

[Sin]

hey agentsmith. . .my boy Ray orignally had 5 arrowanas living together , he had three males and two females , his biggest male is like 18inches which he kept along with another similar size male and i brought the three i have , ray went to the petshop one day and seen 5 baby arrowanas swimming together , they must of been a few inches , he fell in love with them instintly , and like 11 months later hes got them the size they are now by good quality feedings , the fish eat better then he does , always eating something different each and every day , when i took over the fish i followed his routines of feedings and the fish are happy and love each others company , i had gotten the last third arrowana like several weeks after i had gotten the other two and when i went to pick her up we used a big net , and guided the arrowana into the net and placed her in the tub , then closed the cover , and then transported.....when i put her back into my tank after the ride i swear that arrowana acted like she owned the tank , like she had always been there and began eating the very next day and actually swims side by side with my male , and rubs next to him as if to show affection , i believe these fishes are best kept in pairs or more as long as they were raised from young and know each other , had it been a strange arrowana i got from another source , things might be very different indeed.........but anyhows getting the fish into the net seems to be the hardest part due to size of the fish and him being spooked.....try to make slow moves when you are ready to transport him and slowly guide him into the net...once into the net dont waste any time getting him into the tub....you dont want to hurt him and dont worry about too much of the scales , should he lose some , they will grow back as your fish is very hardy at that size. . i dont know what else to say.....but i do wish you luck :thumb:

[Drumachine09]

^^^^----Good story.