Okay my friend. I have some good, solid advice for you. I am from the UK so I know what's available and where to get it.
1. I'm guessing the tank you are planning on getting is a rena 200 (judging by the dimensions). This is a bad idea. Rena tanks are very expensive and are just too thin for large fish at only 50cm wide. I own one myself and raised a silver arowana in it till he was 50cm long and at this point the tank was to small for him.
2. Instead I would suggest you get a 6x2x2.5 ft wide tank. You can get one for £237 from this website http://www.freewebs.com/poseidonspalace/fishtankprices.htm
Then you will have to make a solid cabinet and hood which is quite inexpensive, around £100. On top of that you will just need filters (fluval fx5 recomended), heaters and light units. I'm estimating you could do a full setup for under £700.
3. Choice of arowana would then have to be a jardini. They don't grow too big and you can get them pretty cheap. I think a 6x2x2.5 should be ok for life aswell. The main problem you have in my opinion is your redtail cat. It grows extremely fast as you already know. You would either have to buy a large jardini or raise a small one in a separate tank so it doesn't get eaten. You can get a 5" jardini for £30 from here http://www.cheapfish.co.uk/tropical.htm
I hope you will find this info useful and take it on board. If anyone has anything to add or disagrees please comment.
1. I'm guessing the tank you are planning on getting is a rena 200 (judging by the dimensions). This is a bad idea. Rena tanks are very expensive and are just too thin for large fish at only 50cm wide. I own one myself and raised a silver arowana in it till he was 50cm long and at this point the tank was to small for him.
2. Instead I would suggest you get a 6x2x2.5 ft wide tank. You can get one for £237 from this website http://www.freewebs.com/poseidonspalace/fishtankprices.htm
Then you will have to make a solid cabinet and hood which is quite inexpensive, around £100. On top of that you will just need filters (fluval fx5 recomended), heaters and light units. I'm estimating you could do a full setup for under £700.
3. Choice of arowana would then have to be a jardini. They don't grow too big and you can get them pretty cheap. I think a 6x2x2.5 should be ok for life aswell. The main problem you have in my opinion is your redtail cat. It grows extremely fast as you already know. You would either have to buy a large jardini or raise a small one in a separate tank so it doesn't get eaten. You can get a 5" jardini for £30 from here http://www.cheapfish.co.uk/tropical.htm
I hope you will find this info useful and take it on board. If anyone has anything to add or disagrees please comment.
