Myanmar or batik Arowana is a relatively new species. Been discovered just around a decade ago, it is one of the rarest Arowana among aquarium hobbyists. This Arowana has a peculiar feature. There is a beautiful zebra-like pattern on their scales and face. It is also said that like zebra and tiger the pattern on scales of each fish is unique. In this article, we will discuss the region of origin, physical appearance, food, tank size and several other things. So, let’s start.
Myanmar or Batik Arowana region of origin.
This fish is a native to the waters of Tananthayi River. Tananthayi river forms a large basin in the Myanmar peninsula at the coast of the great Indian ocean. This river is also known as Tanintharyi or Taninthayi river. This river is the backbone of the inland maritime economy of Myanmar. This is the reason that even before the introduction of Batik Arowana to the world the fish is not new to the locals.
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Why Myanmar Arowana is also known as Batik Arowana?
Do you know about batik art? Batik is a folk art of printing a piece of fabric with the resist method. But, perhaps the name batik is there with the Myanmar Arowana because of the beautiful pattern on its scales. This pattern is like a traditional pattern that people of Java and Indonesia use in their fabric printing technique. But whatever it is the fish we are talking here is a very unique Arowana fish family member.
Batik or Myanmar Arowana Physical Features.
This fish in terms of its appearance is completely different from others. Batik Arowana looks a little bit like Australian Arowanas but only at the first glance. When we closely examine these fish differences are more than visible.
Striking wavy patterns are visible only on close inspection in the case of young individuals. But in adults, as the age progresses pattern in more visible, for instance. You can relate this to the fact that sometimes sellers try to sell Jardini Arowana to novice buyers claiming it to be small Batik Arowana.
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Apart from the wavy pattern, this fish is similar to other Asian Arowana breeds. We do not have any particular claim about the age or size but looking to the wild counterparts we can estimate, not perfectly though.
One thing is particular about this fish is that they only come in a cross back iteration. There are 5-7 rows of scales and these rows cross back.
Difference between normal, high back and cross back Arowana is in detail in the link below. For more details on Asian Arowana appearance, you can go through these links.
Myanmar Arowana food
This I have also explained in several posts earlier. But for the sake of discussion here I am giving a brief note. Batik Arowana is a large bony tongue carnivore fish. This fish is from the family of osteoglossidae fish family. Fishes from this family have several distinctive features. One of those features is swallowing their food whole.
So, anything that is safe to swallow is good for your Arowana. But, there will be some challenges that you may face with baby batik Arowana. That is a whole lot of a different topic that is addressed in the following article.
There are several options that you can choose from. you can give them commercial food, special Arowana food, chicken chopped to an appropriate size, prawns, fish fillets chopped to an appropriate size and several other options.
You can go through the following article for more enhanced reading.
- Arapaima size, feed, care and conservation status.
- African arowana
- Jardini arowana
- Southern saratoga Arowana
Myanmar Arowana tank set-up.
This is a massive fish. No known Arowana hobbyist claims anything about age but I believe that in a properly set aquarium they will go beyond 20 years of age. Since batik Arowana is just discovered 20 years back, they were introduced much late to the aquarium trade. There is no record of any fish been alive this long in an aquarium. So, by judging their natural habitat and their wild size I guess they will be a little bigger than most Asian Arowana breeds. In fact, they might be as big as the wild adult Red Arowana.
This implies that batik Arowana will require a massive tank to rival any other monster tank. In some of my previous articles I have given a detailed account of Arowana tank and Arowana tank filter set up. You can see those articles below.
Health Issues
Like all other Arowana breeds, this fish also lives in freshwater sources. So, in a similar fashion, they need fairly clean water. Looking at my own Arowana tanks I would say a 20% water change performed weekly will be a good option with 50% monthly water change. This will keep all parameters like pH value, sulfur content, nitrogen percentage etc under check.
Also, with the consultation of your vet, you should regularly perform de-worming of the fish. This may be done by clear solution available on amazon. Also, there are some medicines that are directly poured in the tank and then major water change is done the next day. But, still don’t do it yourself if you are new to this breed.
We will soon bring common Arowana diseases where you can learn to identify symptoms and household remedy to cure them.
Must Read: RTG arowana : The Red Tail Golden Arowana. | Golden arowana
Conclusion
Myanmar Arowana or batik Arowana is a very new member of Arowana family. Surely, it is not new to the waters of Myanmar but to aquarium hobbyist it sure is. We believe that in aquarium trade this fish is yet to achieve its full potential. I really wish to see someday a 20+ years batik Arowana gracing some monster tank somewhere in the world. But, I feel that is a distant dream because we see a lot of these fishes in the juvenile state in the aquarium trade but never have seen this fish in a massive avatar. Let us see what lies in the future.
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