Asian arowana community/group? Help?

[Lugal]

I don't have much experience with Asia Aro but I do keep one 24" Malaysian Aro which is still alive and well plus very healthy for 3 years, so I may be able to give you some advice :
1. Most Asian Aro need the best water quality possible, especially Malaysian. Their scales are very thin compared to other variants so they're very easily to be infected and corroded.
2. Aquascape should be empty for reason 1 and Aro is very jumpy, avoiding chances to bump into something.
3. If you want Aro community, then having entire new, over-filtration system is the must to reduce very high bio load.
4. You might want to make sure your Aros could take pellets. It helps keeping your tank clean and overall health for Aro.
And those are just the starts... I recommended keeping only one though.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

There's a guy/channel on YouTube called (micksfishuk) who has kept an Asian arowana community with success for at least 3 years that I know about, think Mick has 4 Asians and a silver in his tank, I'm not sure but I think his tank is 3000 litre or around 800 gallon, have a quick look yourself.

 

[RD.]

Let me try this again. Lol. But having seen this tank many times in person, over a number of years - comm tanks with Asian aros are not an easy thing to manage, and come with the same risks all comm tanks. Bad things can happen, even when it seems it’s all under control. The green in this vid was 31” when we removed it, and measured TL with a tape.

 

[Hao]

Let me try this again. Lol. But having seen this tank many times in person, over a number of years - comm tanks with Asian aros are not an easy thing to manage, and come with the same risks all comm tanks. Bad things can happen, even when it seems it’s all under control. The green in this vid was 31” when we removed it, and measured TL with a tape.

I don't see a Green Aro in that video? They all appear to be XB (gold aros).

 

[RD.]

I don't see a Green Aro in that video? They all appear to be XB (gold aros).

Good point, it may have been in another tank when that vid was posted. It’s been years since we took that tank down, but I do recall different fish getting juggled around over time due to typical health issues aros are known for.

 

[14crazychris]

There's a guy/channel on YouTube called (micksfishuk) who has kept an Asian arowana community with success for at least 3 years that I know about, think Mick has 4 Asians and a silver in his tank, I'm not sure but I think his tank is 3000 litre or around 800 gallon, have a quick look yourself.

Yes I know mick! he actually featured a few of my tanks on his channel a while back and was supposed to be coming back soon. I definitely think it’s not worth the risk personally. Although I love to try new things and be outside of the box, I think this is just one step too far. Going to rehome the larger ray and look at adding some more Datnoids and catfish I think.

 

[14crazychris]

Let me try this again. Lol. But having seen this tank many times in person, over a number of years - comm tanks with Asian aros are not an easy thing to manage, and come with the same risks all comm tanks. Bad things can happen, even when it seems it’s all under control. The green in this vid was 31” when we removed it, and measured TL with a tape.

This does look absolutely awesome! But as you say, so many have tried and failed. I don’t want to watch my fish squabble and fight or constantly nip at each other so I’ll go down a different route. Thank you

 

[Lugal]

If you absolutely want community tank for Asian Aro then it won't be easy. I've seen fishkeepers done that but it required absolute methods and it can be very messy when it failed.
One of said methods (Required loads of $$$ and you need to live in a country with huge market for Asian Aro) is the "5". It started with releasing 5 of them at once into 120" width tank. Observe their behavior VERY closely. All Aros have their own personalities and different level of tolerance toward one another, then keep replacing the dominant/ weakest one until you can find a community that could live with one another. Their fins & scales won't be perfect though unless you keep them in a museum-level-sized tank or a pond.
Note that filtration system for said tank really is something. It's like another 120" width tank for that plus entire water system for it so you need to be prepared.

Like I've mentioned, you may want to keep just one and keep it the best you could. Mine is in 72"W 30"D 30"H tank with filtration system enough for small pool, could take pellets and I think that's demanding enough.