Discussion on Aro eating habits

Aros can have very good appetites and often, we come across those that eat very little or none at all for a long period of time. What triggers this? Is it psychological? Is it physiological?

Those who own aros with enormous appetites have a happy problem, they just need to control the food dished out, not to overfeed the aro as it can pose a risk to the aro's health, e.g. having sbp.

For the majority, increasing aro's appetite seems to be an issue that is close to many hobbyists' hearts.

Let's all share our experiences, and as usual at the end of it, I will summarise the findings to be used as reference material for all to benefit from.

my rtg seems to get sick of one food. it was on 100% MP diet previously...appetite kind of dropped.

[gtohow]

heavy tanning for young red causes their eating appetites drop a lot...

another xb got chewing problem since young... have to feed through swallowing..

I noticed some aros are choosy in their food. When fed with froggies, some won't eat, but the moment SW is tossed into the tank, the feeding goes into a frenzy. In this case, I conclude that there is a psychological element in aro's feeding habits. Besides being fussy, an aro could refuse to eat because it was "spooked". This is another area that could trigger off a lot of discussion, for example the compatibility of tankmates, environmental changes such as noise eg from construction/renovation, etc.

However, there are many other reasons for an aro refusal to eat or low intake. Some of these would be water parameters, some parasitic infection, possibly viral infection.

On the topic of water parameters, the ideal situation would be doing water tests to ensure ammonia and nitrite are zero, and ph is within a range of 6 to 7. Regular water changes would remove nitrate and growth inhibiting hormones and increase aro's appetite. For a high bioload tank, twice a week 20% water change is a good habit, though tiresome one if there are several tanks! Otherwise, a weekly water change routine is essential. Never underestimate the power of water change to improving your aro's health. And then, there's the discussion on whether too much coral chip can affect appetite as this raises the gh, thereby making it more uncomfortable for the aro, many are adaptable to the harder water but not all are, and it could be the reason for the fall in appetite.
Another area which someone recently brought up, is a salted tank good for your aro? Salt is a great remedy for many ailments, but should you maintain salt in your aro tank all the time, or should salt only be dosed when there is suspected illness?

heavy tanning for young red causes their eating appetites drop a lot...

A good observation, btw, would 8 hours be considered heavy?

[gtohow]

Originally Posted by Spakase

A good observation, btw, would 8 hours be considered heavy?

not sure... me 24 x 7

i added salt every water change...
normal routine practise...

Agreed small XB may have problem chewing, esp SW. Gd to have small frogs as their main diet

Some of my observation :
1. When aro is under stress, it dun eat;
2. Aro chooses food if there is a choice and they can starve for quite long period just to eat the one they like.
3. Water parameters (what are the best parameters? I dun know) will affect it's appetite;
4. Tankmates will motivate them to eat more;
5. Change of environment will affect them too.

[ElectricBlue]

Sharing my experience on the topic.

1) Regular water change regime 2 - 3 times a week
2) Submerged tanning light created warm water enviroment - increase metabolic rate
3) Constant regular feeding at schedule time
4) Adequate portion size feed
5) Choice of feed
6) Boost with Vit twice a week.
7) Comm environment stimulate competition for food.

I notice when young the aro very timid and gets spook easily, they tend to be small eater when they grow up.. anybody notice this as well?

I believe all start off the same way, but along the way, an incident could cause the aro to become timid. I have one Red that started off being a very big eater, later on it became very timid, I noticed it jumped often. After I transferred this fish to another tank, it regained confidence and started eating voraciously again.