ace99 Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 My Jardini arowana has not eaten in 4 days. He has never taken dried food well but he usually does not pass up on krill or crickets (live or frozen). For the last 4 days, he will put the food in his mouth and then spit it out. Water quality is fine. Lately, I've been feeding him frozen crickets only. Is he so picky that he only wants live crickets (I'm desparate so I'm off to the LFS to buy some live crickets). Is this normal for an arowana to willingly not eat for 4 days. Any advice will be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
street cypher Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 You should try to expand its diet. Crickets and mealworms are known to be extremely addictive, if you feed an exclusive cricket diet your aro will most likely reject everything else and also suffer from loss of nutrients from other foods. I find that sometimes arowanas will go through hunger strikes, and become picky with their foods, but it usually goes away once they realize they are really hungry. If your jardini rejects live crickets you may have a problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDFISHGUY Posted January 2, 2006 Report Share Posted January 2, 2006 Try feeding raw shrimp . I used to feed mine pellets in the morning and either crickets or shrimp at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ace99 Posted January 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2006 He ate the live crickets without any problems. I can't believe how picky he is. Since he doesn't eat pellets I usually suppliment his diet with shrimp stuffed full of good quality pellet food. Since he's rejecting krill and raw shrimp, I'm in trouble. Maybe I'll starve him for a few days and try the shrimp again and feed the live crickets less frequently. What other foods would you guys suggest. He doesn't like beef hearts, squid nor mussels. What a pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirtis Posted January 2, 2006 Report Share Posted January 2, 2006 You should try to expand its diet. Crickets and mealworms are known to be extremely addictive, ...and, unfortunately, rather poor nutrition, even when gut-loaded....a good reason to have a much broader diet. Try some earthworms, superworms, small bits of mysis shrimp, and mebbe some NLS large pellets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthgirl Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 You gotta increase his diet! Try some feeders, definately cut up earthworms, Uncooked shrimp, smelt (all except the feeders can be bought at the fish and tackle store, ie Wholesale Sports or The Fishin Hole) He needs more! And ffor Jars they like the chase of feeders (petcetera has always buy one get one free!) -ham- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 What other foods would you guys suggest. NLS floating pellets. Most frozen foods (as well as crickets etc) are lacking in vitamins & essential trace minerals. Also, these foods generally do not contain the proper amino acid balance, or lipid levels, for optimum long term health. Unfortunately the longer you spoil a fish with fresh/frozen foods, the more difficult it becomes to wean them onto a commercial dry food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 And ffor Jars they like the chase of feeders (petcetera has always buy one get one free!) .... and it's a great way to introduce pathogens into your tank, some of which can be deadly. Feeders from pet stores are notorious for causing health issues in an otherwise healthy system. They are raised in massive pond set ups (usually under very cramped conditions) where massive dosing with antibiotics ect is the norm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandopsis Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 I have to agree with RD. I feel the only time you should be feeding live fish is when you have raised them yourself. Of course this is not very economical or ever as nutritional compared to some of todays dried food, but some people like to see their fish in hunt mode. Myself being one of those people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reza Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Feeding my jar live food is the last thing that I want to do, home raised live food is takes a long time, lots of space and encourages any aggresion in the arowana. Clam meat is never refused by my aro, shrimp is also a good choice. Not sure about blodworms as I haven't fed any in a year. Anyway, ace99, it's been a while since you posted, how's the aro doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ace99 Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 My jardini is a very picky eater. I have to resort to stuffing the shrimp full of quality pellets to encourage a balanced diet. I've tried to introduce beefhearts, fish meat, earthworms, and mealworms. The longest that he's refused food is 9 days before I gave in and fed him shrimp. Any thoughts on food variety "training"? He's been like this since I've acquired him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ace99 Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 I've stopped feeding him crickets in fear of him getting used to only eating crickets. Some reports on the internet state that some arrowanas just will not take flakes or pellets no matter what you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reza Posted January 26, 2006 Report Share Posted January 26, 2006 (edited) Adding supplements to the food he likes sounds like a good idea. Hopefully in time he will acquire a taste for the pellets. Edited January 26, 2006 by Reza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
street cypher Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 I've stopped feeding him crickets in fear of him getting used to only eating crickets. Some reports on the internet state that some arrowanas just will not take flakes or pellets no matter what you do. Arowanas can almost all the time be trained to take pellets, although some species are much pickier. I can understand snubbing flake food though. For now, i'd just suggest being persistant with introducing it to different foods. Right now, i have an RTG that i'm trying to nurse back to health. It hasn't eaten for about 4 weeks (2 with the previous owner and 2 with me). So they can go a long time without food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ace99 Posted February 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 4 weeks without food is incredible!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.