Training Arowana to eat Prepared Foods (Sticks/Pellets)

[Sidrock]

Hello everybody,

Nearly everybody I spoke to (forums, "experts", local fish store guys) recommended that I should get my silver aro to switch to "prepared foods" (Sticks/pellets) sooner rather than later.

And the suggested process to do this was to starve the aro for a week before he finally starts accepting "sticks" instead of raw food (shrimp, insects, feeder fish etc)

Ok, Now that my Silver Aro is acclimatized in his tank and is about 7 inches in length, I have finally gathered the courage to do this..

So, how exactly to do this? Do I keep offering him Arowana Sticks (and nothing else) till he starts eating those. Or do I offer him nothing for a week and then offer him the Arowana Sticks?

Sid

 

[Bderick67]

I would start by not feeding anything for 3-4 days. Then only offer the food sticks once a day until he eats. Once it is readily eating the food sticks you can then offer it other foods. If you find that it quits eating the food sticks in favor of other foods then go back to only food sticks.

 

[Quen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW9Evey7H9A

Eating Pellets

 

[JL]

Train it to feed at the same time each day on what ever it feeds on now so that it begs when the time comes, then proceed to change to pellets, keep netting out the pellets when it does not eat and keep doing it till it accepts pellets.

 

[T@nkbuster]

My three juvie aros (silver, jar and yellow tail, all in different tanks) are taking well to pellets now, I didn't have to starve them at all. They started out on freeze dried shrimps and blood worms, and when I started giving them pellets, they all took them straight away. They now still eat all three types of food voraciously, heck my jar even tries to eat the flakes I put in for its Tiger Barb tankmates! Am planning to introduce Hikari foodsticks soon.

All of them have Tiger Barbs for tankmates that ate whatever I put in the tank, perhaps this helped them associate the pellets as food quickly? Or spur an innate instinct of competition for food?

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

 

[bigdaddycool]

just be patient and dont lose it - he has to eat and will do so once hungry enough. most people give in too soon

 

[Sidrock]

just be patient and dont lose it - he has to eat and will do so once hungry enough. most people give in too soon

He has not eaten anything for about 4 days now. I keep offering pellets (Arowana Sticks) which he takes a bite (taste) and then lets go and does touch again. I have to net the stick out each time.

How long should I starve him before giving up (at least for the current attempt) and finally feed him something he will eat? (shrimp, etc)

Sid

 

[jclyde13]

When I made the switch to pellets, I didn't starve my aro at all, I just soaked the pellets in water with its regular food (bloodworms and FD krill) and gave them to him. I did this every day and after three attempts, he started eating the pellets.

He has not eaten anything for about 4 days now. I keep offering pellets (Arowana Sticks) which he takes a bite (taste) and then lets go and does touch again. I have to net the stick out each time.

How long should I starve him before giving up (at least for the current attempt) and finally feed him something he will eat? (shrimp, etc)

Sid

Don't give up, it won't starve itself to death. Just give it time and it will eat the pellets when it's hungry enough. BTW 4 days really isn't that long for an aro to go without eating, someone on here a while back had an aro that refused to eat for six weeks and it survived, so don't worry about it. Just keep offering the pellets and eventually, it will take them.

 

[Bderick67]

He has not eaten anything for about 4 days now. I keep offering pellets (Arowana Sticks) which he takes a bite (taste) and then lets go and does touch again. I have to net the stick out each time.

How long should I starve him before giving up (at least for the current attempt) and finally feed him something he will eat? (shrimp, etc)

Sid

If you started this 4 days ago, then why post a thread yesterday asking how it should be done? Anyhow just keep going as you are doing now but only offer the sticks once a day.

 

[arodini]

When I made the switch to pellets, I didn't starve my aro at all, I just soaked the pellets in water with its regular food (bloodworms and FD krill) and gave them to him. I did this every day and after three attempts, he started eating the pellets.


Don't give up, it won't starve itself to death. Just give it time and it will eat the pellets when it's hungry enough. BTW 4 days really isn't that long for an aro to go without eating, someone on here a while back had an aro that refused to eat for six weeks and it survived, so don't worry about it. Just keep offering the pellets and eventually, it will take them.

That may be an extreme case. All fish are not the same. I would not recommend anyone starving his/her arowana this long. It'd be great if the fish survived after the starvation, BUT what if it couldn't make it....