Hiya hobbyist,
Thought I’d go into a topic today that’s not featured much anywhere. I’ve actually had many hobbyist asking me what is the best way to move their arowanas to another tank/place because of reasons like moving house, changing to a larger tank, feng shui advise, etc… I thought explaining in words would be a real challenge so guess what??? I had to move my tank for real …. so I thought I’d share how I did it….WITH PHOTOS OFCOURSE!!! 
Like I always say, a picture speaks a thousand words.
What happened was my wife wanted me to move my tank to another location in our house and of course I could not just lift it up and carry it right.. I could have said no to my wife but thought better as she would probably nag me until I did it anyway. Sigh! So anyway, I decided to do it ASAP. As I did not have a spare tank in my house, I decided to move my 5 crossbacks to the farm so that I could drain the tank and move it to the new location.
I’ll be frank here… There are not really any hard and fast rules as to how to move your arowana to a new tank/location. But what I’ll be describing below will definitely give you an idea on how it’s done if you ever needed to do it yourself.
HOWEVER here is my advise ok… if you have just one arowana, then I think you can probably do it yourself but if you have more than one, maybe it would be better to get some professional help to move them. You really do not want to stress out your arowanas unnecessarily. Trust me on this!
So anyway, let’s get started with the move ok… ENJOY!!!
1) The below are probably the only equipment that you would need to do the job. A styrofam box, STRONG plastic bags and fish stabilizer. The fish stabilizer is to make your arowana a bit drowsy so that it would become ‘calmer’ and not struggle too much when you try to guide it into the plastic bag.
2) Example of a fish stabilizer …
3) Ok before you start, it would make sense to drain a bit of water from the tank. This is in case your arowana becomes a bit excited and jumpy… You don’t want it to accidentally jump out of the tank while you are trying to move it do you?
4) After draining some water, put a bit of the fish stabilizer into the tank to calm the fish down. Be mindful that this is potent stuff ok.. so use sparingly… Read the instructions on the bottle.
5) Put the plastic bag into the water and guide the arowana into the bag. Do not try and force the arowana into the bag as this can cause it to become very agitated and jump around and injure itself.
6) Before you tie up the plastic bag for transport, do put in a drop of the fish stabilizer to calm it down for the transport to another location. (Only needed if the distance is far enough and in this case is to the farm.)
7) Putting the arowanas into the tank in the farm. What you should do is put the entire bag into the water first for about 30mins. After which, open the bag and slowly mix the tank water with the bag water before slowly releasing the arowana into the tank.
Ok hope you enjoyed the above ‘move’. Do share if you have any other methods. Oh by the way, some people also oxygenate the bags before they tie up the bag for transport but I think it might not be needed if the distance is short. Like I said… no hard and fast rules to follow but some people do take additional steps… Cheers and take care…
Tags: arowana, arowana fish, crossbacks, moving your arowana, dragon fish, arowana care
THANX A LOT FOR THE UPDATE STEVE. I GET MY HOUSE PAINTED DURING OUR ANNUAL GANPATI FESTIVAL AND THAT TIME ITS VERY DIFFICULT TO MOVE AND TAKE CARE OF MY AROWANA…BUT NOT ANYMORE.
CHEERS
GANESH P BHAMBURE.
Very very thank you Stive
Dear Steve,
Your advices are always so valuable. It is really nice to get updates from you. I have the same Arowana, which you have shown in your pictures. What name/type is it? Some call it Pearl and some say it is Golden. What is correct? My Arowana is about six years old and lives with Six Red Parrots,some suckers, three Savarons and Rainbow Sharks. To be honest,I feel it is a Herculian task to shift the Arowana. I could not follow the procedure you’ve mentioned, when its tank gave way from one side. I just picked it up and put it in another tank. God was kind. It survived. But when I returned it to its original tank, with fresh water, naturally its temperature and PH factor were different. I could really see it struggling and writhing in pain by turning upside down and coming up to the water surface for its last breath sort of. I was totally helpless and sought medication on the internet and rushed to medical shops . Changed the water pump and did whatever I felt was possible. It took almost four hours to sort of give me the feeling that I still had hope of its survival. It had sustained injury on its upper spine by rubbing on the coarse cover I had put on the tank to prevent it from jumping. The normal salt water treatment cured it. I dread to shift it again.
I do agree, there is no simpler way than what you have mentioned. I was not aware of the fish stabiliser til you mentioned. Thanks, I wonder where I can get it from in Chennai (India).
Do keep in touch as I am a fan of yours.
Bye ! Take care Steve.
Thks Steve for the info-the last time I moved my arowana was a couple months,ago I was cleaning my tank which was really dirt, I just used two humongous nets and carefully lifted my arowana along with a lge towel into a lge styrofoam container, then proceded to change water, filter and all-then later returning the arowana back inot the original tank. It took a couple of hours, but after tyhat everything was all okie, dokie.
Hey, thanks alot for the update!!… I actually have to move my fish room around and was wondering how to transport my arrowana .. Or How would i go about it .. But u answered both questions =]
again thanks alot for this and all the information u have about our beloved fish !
My crossback just turned 1year old this week its at 11 inches and still growing !!
Hai Mr. Steve,
Thanks for your email information regareding transfering Arowana.
V. Hem Sankar.
Thank u very much steve..
thank you steven for your more valuable message about arowana shifting
regards
Thanks Steve,
It was interesting, i have five Silver arowana in a tank i moved them into it from a smaller tank a year ago and it was not easy.
I might need to do it again at some point. I cannot find the stabiliser in Dubai, is there any substitute? or can we order it in from somewhere by mail order?
Once read somewhere that clove oil could be used as anasthesia, but i dod not know the mix ratio!
Would prefer a more professional aproach.
Thanks again.
hai thanks steve ur send the update arowana care
thank a lot steve. you have been very helpful with your tips.i became a profesional with arowana’s
Thanks a lot for that valuable tip sir, I am very happy to get ur emails, coz their r a lot of valuable tips that u give us. Thank u a lot
Hi steven i buy my arawana almost 1 year already and is big already. My problem is that the colur that i see is yellow with gold colour. I told is red arawana but is not. Is this got to do with the lighting. Some people say that they is not to do with the lighting and some people do. I really confuse? pls help me!!!
No netting just bagging is an excellent method and the pictures explain it all …. cheers
Thank you very much for a helpful tip Steve. Now i know what to do just in case i need to change a bigger tank.
Thank you for sharing this helpful tip.
Keep up the good work Steve
Cheers
Jonathan
thanks Steven, Ive been moving my arowanas this way for years, and tell anyone who will listen about it- but you just told more people than I ever did, nice job
Hi Steve
U r always very helpful to me.I have two huge silver arowanas(75cm each) in my tank,feeding heavily.When hungry they will even
bite on my fingers.I cannot even think of shifting them
hi steve,
good work. that’s very interesting topic. i learn a lot. but i’m afraid i can’t find any fish stabilizer here in the philippines. any suggestion? thanks
danny
We will visit Singapore this May 21 up to May25 Would like to visit your shop and to buy 2 up 4 pcs of RED ARAWANA if possible. Please reply Thank you very much…
Bobby Garcia, Jr
Good! Stev!, Thanks for the information & can you send some information about fish stabilizer because we cant get such type of medicine in our local fish store.
Steve, if you place the plastic bag into a black plastic bag you will find that this also keeps the fish calmer
Thanks Steven,
I had moved my 2 aros twice. Once shifting home and the other, changing to bigger tanks. It was tough. And like you mentioned, there are no hard and fast rules. But your sharing will really assist a lot of aro hobbyist. Patience is very crucial as it may take a long time to lure the Dragon into the strong plastic bag. Once in, tilt it gently to upright position as not to frighten it before gradually lifting the heavy bag out of the Tank. That was what I did without the fish stabilizer. Would had used the fish stabilizer if known earlier… ha ha ha. Thanks once again Steve.
Thank you very much steve. i am having a hard time when i transfer my aro to another tank like luring into a plastic bag coz i have no fish stabilizer..
very thanks steven ……….
Many thanks for sharing this great tip. Timely, as i will be moving my arowana into a bigger tank.
Girija,
Those are golden cross backs..
Steven
Satbir,
Unfortunately I don’t know about clove oil. Sorry.
Steven
Chai,
Do you have a certificate when you bought it? What does it say? If you do not have one, then it’s very hard to verify.
Steven
Danny Que,
You might want to check with stores that sells arowanas. They should have them.
Steven
Roberto Garcia,
Do drop me an email when you are in Singapore.
Steven
Steve,
You did not mention about the water quality in the receiving tank.
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Albert,
I had 5 in there initially which I realized was a bit too many. So I now have only 3 in it.
Steven
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