RTG arowana or the Red Tail golden arowana is one of the most sought after arowana breed world wide. Before we progress further in this post let us call Red tail golden arowana as simply the RTG arowana. This breed is the stepping stone in the world of exotic arowanas. As you can imagine silver arowana, Jardini arowana and green arowana are more common in our circle of arowana keepers.
In this post we will discuss their physical appearance, their tank size, food, care and many other topics. Before galloping ahead I have a request to make. If you like our work then kindly support us by subscribing to our news letter. And if you have any suggestions or just want to share something about our blog then do leave a comment.
RTG arowana appearance.
This is one of the most striking of all breeds of arowana. In the recent times you may have seen red and blue base arowana. But before that, RTG arowana was the apple of the eye of every exotic fish keeper. For me it is the second best fish I have owned besides the chili red arowana.
This fish has same dimensions like other Asian Arowana breeds. Under favorable conditions golden arowana will out grow 3 feet of length. This is quite a hefty fish with wide side profile.
As for the color this fish is mostly golden from head to beginning of the tail. The tail and fins are red. Ideally, brilliant and shiny gold cheeks and radiant golden scales are expected. There as 5-6 rows of scales.
There are two protruding snake tongue like whisks at the tip of the lower jaw. They use it to detect any motion inside the water.
Putting all things together, this is really a very beautiful fish. And at the very imposing size of 3 feet RTG arowana is certainly one of the best luxury pet and center of attraction you can have.
What goes wrong with purchasing RTG arowana?
That is an ideal description but that is not what you will find in the market. False claims by sellers do play a role in creating a big hole in your pocket. It has a golden body and red fins, basically. But do you know there are several variations of this breed available. Some mention them as a variation but for me its a kind of fraud. Well, I don’t want to be harsh but looking things with the prospective of the buyer I should point out certain things. You must apply precaution in finalizing this fish.
Firstly, try to buy RTG arowana from a registered breeding house. This will help with two things. You will certainly get a cruelty free pet as they are bred not hunted or captured. Additionally, since breeders hold a long experience, sometimes a couple of decades you will get a degree of certainty.
This is because in most cases colors of fish will come out and darken as they mature. similar is true for other features.
Most of the times substandard specimen and similar breeds like RTG arowana are sold with false promises. Later when mature the fish doesn’t display any signs of a good quality RTG or its features are diluted to an extant that it doesn’t look like it belongs to the family.
So, its better to be cautious in making the purchase.
RTG tank requirements.
This has been discussed in the past several times. For a very quick explanation let me give you some details.
Looking at the natural habitat of Asian arowana we can very easily conclude that they will need a big tank to survive for long. It will need at least a 8 feet long 4 feet wide and 4 feet tall tank when adult. In the mean time you can start with a small tank and slowly graduate to a larger tank. But, in doing so, please remember not to make your fish live in a cramped environment.
All the time a juvenile must have a large space to swim. A tank with 5 times the length of the fish will be sufficient, for instance.
I have give a detailed account of arowana fish tank requirements in my previous posts. Here are some that you can go through for more details.
Jardini arowana the Heavy weight form arowana world.
RTG arowana fish food.
This i have also discussed several times earlier in my other posts. Here I will give you a very brief account on what to feed and when to feed and how much to feed. Fresh food is best for any living organism, for instance. Rather, I should say close to natural food available in the wild.
So, In the wild Asian arowana eat a variety of food and that too is fresh live food. They eat insects, small amphibians, small reptiles, fishes and rodents that can fit their mouth and several other readily available organisms in their natural habitat.
So, what you can do? you can give them all of the above options which might be available at your local pet shop. You can also feed them chicken and lamb meat. A new trend is feeding live black solider fly larva is settling in. Live fishes are also a good option. And its better to include a wide variety of feeder fish. There is a wide variety of commercial dry food also available that you can buy online and at pet store near you.
You can go through these articles to know more. I would especially recommend the feeding article.
Arowana Fish Food : Best Food, Fish Food, Price
Arapaima size, feed, care and conservation status.
Arowana Fish : Introduction, Arowanas Fish Families
Precautions in keeping Arowana.
This is common for all arowana breeds. Arowana are fresh water fish that live in either fresh water ponds and lakes or in slow moving parts of rivers. So, they need a constant supply of fresh water. You have to maintain water quality, for instance, if you wish for a healthy long living arowana.
It is recommended that a 10% water change can be applied in every three days. If it is too much of a commitment for you, you can extend this period by a week. But, not more than that. You can make a 30% water change every month.
You can relate this much quantity of water change with the large size of tank requirement for this fish. Also a change in water more than that will put the fish in a lot of stress.
Conclusion.
We have discussed RTG arowana physical features, food, tank requirements and precautions in this post. I feel this much is sufficient for an introductory work. We really hope you like our post. Also we have a couple of other blogs. These are dealing in health and wellness and automobile, education, lifestyle and several other niches of life. Below are some posts from those.
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V intresting & knowledgeable article.
Thank You, Seema Pathak, for your kind words..