Breeding Silver Arowanas(Osteoglossum bicirrhosum)

by Ernesto Ramos Jr.

The Silver arowana is one of the 2 species of arowanas found in the

Amazon and is the biggest among the arowanas. It is the most commonly
kept dragonfish mainly due to availability and low price.

Silver Arowanas

This article will focus on the breeding of this beautiful fish. I have kept
silvers for 7 years and have learned a lot about its behavior and biology.

The Set

I was able to breed my silvers in a concrete pond of about 600 gallons.

The dimension is approximately 6.5’ x 6.5’ x 2’. It is important to note
that the depth should be at least 2’ to prevent them from jumping out.
The fishes feel more secure with this depth.

The pond is filtered by a 2 pass mechanical and biological filtration which I

designed myself. Water is pumped into the filter via a 500 gph pump.
Rocks, stones and driftwood line up the bottom to provide more biological
media and at the same time give a sense of security for the other fishes in
the pond.

The Stars

Four silver arowanas were used for the breeding. The oldest was about 6
years old(~32”) while the rest were about 2 years old(~25”). Based on
the spawning behavior which followed, I was able to get 2 pairs. There
was no physical difference between the male and the female. In the 1 st
pair, both male and female had protruding lower jaw which some people
believed to be the way to tell the male. While in the 2 nd pair, both male
and female had short jaws.

Pond mates initially included Two 18” Pacus, Four 10” Albino Tinfoil Barbs,
Plecos and a Blue Botia.

The Spawning
The 1st spawning was purely accidental. My 2 Pacus were getting rough to
their pond mates and were starting to eat most of the food. So I decided
to remove them and transfer them to another pond. This necessitated
removing approx 50% of the pond water to be able to catch such big
fishes. This is what actually triggered the spawning. Three days after the
massive water change, the 1st pair spawned. The pair actually stopped
eating after the water change. At first, I thought it was due to the stress(I
had to wade into the pond to catch the Pacus). But apparently, they stop
eating as a prelude to spawning. The pair will start swimming close to
each other and “hover” at their favorite corner.

The actual egg laying starts when the pair lay on the bottom of their
favorite corner.

Then they both press their sides together.

The eggs are laid during this time and at the same time fertilized by the
male. Egg laying usually happens around noon and is done in about 30
minutes. The male scoops up the eggs and carries it in his mouth. But
there are instances when the female carries the eggs in her mouth. The
female in my 1st pair actually carried the eggs but spat it out, thus the
eggs were eventually eaten by the Tinfoil Barbs.
The male then broods the eggs in his mouth for about 7 days after which
the eggs start hatching.

It is advisable to separate the male during this time to avoid being

stressed by other fishes. The male aerates the eggs by “breathing”
heavily during this time with his mouth a little open most of the time.

The eggs start hatching in approx 7 days. You can tell that the eggs have
hatched as the male will keep his mouth closed to prevent the fries from
swimming out. There is also a lot of shuffling in his jaw during this time.

The Harvest

You can start harvesting 6 weeks after the eggs have hatched. Early
harvesting will actually ensure that you get the most no. of fries before
some of them gets eaten by the male. The risk here is that the fries still
have yolk sac attached to them. But based on my experience, silvers are
actually tough fishes. Even the fries are tough.