Black Arowana - Osteoglossum ferreirai

I have always loved arowana's. I tried an Australian Arowana (Sclerophagus jardini) once in the 360 gallon tank, but had to remove it within 3 days. It was so aggressive that I feared for the Amphilophus amarillo and Parachromis managuensis (both massive and aggressive fish).

In my Local Fish Store I came across a beautiful 15 inch South American Black Arowana, the Osteoglossum ferreira. South America has two types of arowana's: the Osteoglossum bicirrhosum (Silver Arowana) and the Osteoglossum ferreirai (Black Arowana), and both are known to grow over 3 foot. The advantage of the South American arowana's is that they are more relaxed then their Australian counterparts.

Asian arowana's could even be more suitable as they don't grow that big, but they are CITES protected, and very expensive to buy. It is legal to buy/own chipped and certified Asian Arowana's in Europe. Have a look at this fantastic setup by Oliver Knott.

Since my tank is 11.8 foot (360cm) and 951 gallon (3600 liter) I am confident that I can offer this fish a great and spacious life.

The only worry I had was that it would have a hard time with the big cichlids...but it adapted well, and ate from the start. I now feed it once or twice a day with fish, shrimps and mussels, and it grows like crazy ;-)