arowana sex. how to tell?

[ermgravy]

i have had my Arow 9 years in the fall..since a baby.... she gave me eggs 6 months ago.. so i know it is maybelline now... thats the only way to tell for sure..lol

x2 eggs/gravid female only 100% way and subsequent pairing for male id. from a closed group of young you may be able to tell on jaw structure theory if all raised together from young but with out that there are lots of variables to consider n not 100% you could, blood test, dna test or ultrasound if were are talking top end lab test i suppose.

 

[superarowana]

Someone says that female has smaller head.
I am not sure if there will be mating dance "alone".

 

[ermgravy]

I am not sure if there will be mating dance "alone".

exactly and welcome to mfk.

 

[SSmokinn SS]

that is NOT a mating dance....

I have a 24" silver right now as well. 6 months back, I picked up a 20" silver. I had two 20" silvers at the time. For the first two days they were fine, then one night I walked in and they were swimming around each other in a circle. Exactly how a Tornado would spin. They would do this for 5 minutes on end, then stop for a while and do it again. Both aro's were exactly the same size, but looked nothing alike. My one has a skinnier body, but the bottom jaw goes past his upper jaw about a 1/4" or so (a lower over bite). The other guy's jaw's were the same size but his head was HUGE and the rest of his body was much bulkier. I ended up only having the big headed one for a few days, because the circle thing was freaking me out and they ended up starting aggression but still to this day I dont know the difference between a male and female.

what your describing my aro does every water change as well. Aro's need to keep moving. All he is doing is moving, and waiting it out until your done cleaning the tank. I also grew mine from 3".

I also have one in a small grow out tank that is 3" that I grew from the yolk...

 

[Will@FSA]

Ive heard aros pairing off but no mating dance???

 

[Full Metal Gundam]

lol at mating dance

 

[OddBallKeeper]

I go with the Male's lower jaw is slightly going over hi top jaw.(Because of Mouthbrooding)

 

[HungDang]

I go with the Male's lower jaw is slightly going over hi top jaw.(Because of Mouthbrooding)

isn't that from male cichlid ?

 

[KyleStone]

that is NOT a mating dance....

I have a 24" silver right now as well. 6 months back, I picked up a 20" silver. I had two 20" silvers at the time. For the first two days they were fine, then one night I walked in and they were swimming around each other in a circle. Exactly how a Tornado would spin. They would do this for 5 minutes on end, then stop for a while and do it again. Both aro's were exactly the same size, but looked nothing alike. My one has a skinnier body, but the bottom jaw goes past his upper jaw about a 1/4" or so (a lower over bite). The other guy's jaw's were the same size but his head was HUGE and the rest of his body was much bulkier. I ended up only having the big headed one for a few days, because the circle thing was freaking me out and they ended up starting aggression but still to this day I dont know the difference between a male and female.

what your describing my aro does every water change as well. Aro's need to keep moving. All he is doing is moving, and waiting it out until your done cleaning the tank. I also grew mine from 3".

I also have one in a small grow out tank that is 3" that I grew from the yolk...

That swimming around each other in a circle like a tornado is how arowanas fight each other. I had two that used to do that all day 24/7. And for the jaw thing, it`s not like many people think that it`s a male becuase it has a larger mouth to carry the eggs in it, but sory to tell you that that is nothing more than a diffect that many silver arowanas unfortunataly have, becuase a good jaw has to be strait with it`s back and not protruding over the back, becuase arowanas live on the top of the waters edge and if ther jaw is higher then ther back, they will have to stay lower in the water and that is not good if you have to hunt for your food above the waters edge. And for the sex thing I dont think that ther are many ways to say for sure if it is a male or female, becuase in fish farms they always take a pare from a group of aros and for me that is not sexing the fish becuase the fish are sexing them self. They are the ones that do all the magic

 

[Unit-3]

I come in here almost 10 years late and I can still feel the aggression bubbling from the comments.
When arowana fight, they do a dance around each other, swimming in circles and then going head to head, slipping out of the liplock, then resuming the circle stance. For many cichlids (including some parrot hybrids), the often smaller and chubbier female will charge the (usually longer and thinner) male and do a circular dance. They will go at it, biting until one emerges victorious. If the male wins, he gets the girl. If not, she will hound him, biting until he gets really beat up (or in a rare occasion, might even die). Don't know if arowana do the same thing my pairs go through, but it seems feasible. The pair in the picture eventually laid an infertile batch (expected of blood parrots) and got real snippy.
As for sexing, I feel that the angling of the mouth might have something to do with it, but I am not sure, so don't quote me, please. The distance of pelvic to anal fins seems to be common among cichlids, so maybe amongst arowana as well?