This is going to be out first ever species special, and were going to talk about the jardini arowana. This is my Jardini arowana. This is copper and I named him coper because he has brownish, silvery sheen to him when I first got him. Right now, he has turned darker and I actually like that a lot more. This specie is from Australia. Their scientific name is Scleropages jardini but they are called different names. The different names included are Jardini Arowana, Pearl Arowana, Golden Pearl Arowana and Gulf Saratoga.

There is actually two different species of Arowana from Australia. They are the Jardini and Leichardti Arowana. Scientific name Scleropages Leichardti. There is actually quite some difference between the two species. First of all, if you’re going to look at the fins of the Jardini, they tend to have spots. These spots stay with most of the fish as they get older, although it becomes duller. The fins of the leichardti tend to be more yellowish in color with a darker edge. Another difference is with the scales of the fishes. If you’re going to look closer on the individual scales of the jardini, you will see spots which are called pearling on the scales. They can either be orange, red or pink. Depends on the jardini food and genes. The leichardti on the other hand have a more yellowish silver tone to them. There’s a hint of pink on the fish but not as much pearling as with the jardini. Another main difference is the shape of the snout. Jardinis have a more upward pointing snout and leicharti have a more rounded snout.
With that out of the way, let’s focus on the jardini. They are considered to be the most aggressive kind of arowana in the hobby. But then again, it depends on the individual fish. Their mouth is lined with small sharp teeth and they have what is called a bony tongue. Like other arowanas, they have barbells which help them detect movement from the water surface. If you are going to look closely at its mouth, it is pointing upwards and that therefore suggest it mostly feeds from the top but arowanas have a capability of moving their head towards the direction of the food. If the food is at the bottom, they will move their head down and check and will eventually swim towards it in a vertical position. They mostly are active swimmers and they occupy the top strata of the water. This makes them fun to watch in an aquarium. Since they are aggressive fishes, it is important to research fist on what kinds of fish he can be tank mates with. The fishes have to be either too big for him to eat or too small for him to be satisfied with. This is where the Optimal foraging Model comes into play but I will talk about that in a different video. Armored tank mates are also recommended since the jardini won’t hesitate trying to take a bite out of the other fishes.
These fishes actually comes in a variety of color, there’s dark brown, which is the color of my first ever jardini Raja. If you’d look at my previous videos and my logo, you will see raja. Then there are the silver ones, which Copper used to be like. Then there’s brownish color and then there are the extremes. There are the more Golden ones, the Black jardinis which are hard to come by and the Platinum jardini. Theres also a variety in their pattern called the Batik, which is the presence of overwhelming amount of pearls which I actually find very attractive.
The minimum tank size for this fish is 180 gallon. Copper right now is in a 180 gallon fish tank and he will be the biggest fish here. I will eventually be putting smaller fish here but that would be in the far future. 180 gallon will be the minimum because these fishes tend to grow 24 inches in an aquarium setting. Thatll be enough space for him to turn around but a bigger tank is recommended. Some people put them in a pond with heater and filter. Since this fish came from Australia which tends to be really hot, the temperature for the water should be around 76-85 deg Fahrenheit. They thrive with a PH of 6.0- 7.0 which is considered to be low to neutral. With that being said, driftwood and dried leaves will benefit the fish as this will imitate their natural environment. The tannins from the wood and leaves tend to lower the PH.
Since they are carnivore, a meaty variety of food will be best for this fish. I personally feed mine tilapia fillet, market prawn, freeze dried mealworms, blood worms, which he goes crazy for and silver sides. I avoid giving him live food for two main reasons. I don’t want to see death in my tank, like a mealworm drowning then being spit out or minnows being chomped into pieces. Another reason is that I try to avoid introduction of diseases in the tank. Feeders tend to carry internal parasites and diseases with them and they tend to have very little nutritional value. Every now and then, I would give him beef heart but that is not very healthy since it is relatively fat.

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