Chitila Ornata (Clown Knife)

The Clown Knife is one of the truly odd looking fish. The clown knife is found in the Southeast Asia river. They can reach up to 3 feet in the wild. In captivity, they max out at 24 inches. They are nocturnal hunters with poor eyesight. In captivity they are trained to take pellets and other foods such as shrimps, fillet, and smelts. No Clown Knife will look the same, some with no spots to many spots on their body. The bottom fin of the clown knife helps them move back and forth in the water. Their eyes are not too good for seeing, instead they use electrical sensors to spot preys and objects in the water, not unlike bats. In the native Southeast Asia like Thai and Vietnam, Clown knife is a delicacy. They are pounded into fish paste and made into fishballs and fishcakes.

I have kept a clown knife for three years. The sides of the clown knife have equal amounts of spot numbering to 11 on each side. What I love most about this fish is the graceful movements it exhibits each time it surfaces the water to gulp in oxygen and goes back down, just like an olympic diver entering the water making a few splashes here and there. My clown knife is a very picky eater, it only eats pellets and feeder goldfishes. I should have feed it more variety of foods when it was small to train it from being so picky. I don't know if this is a feng shui fish but chinese people calls it the seven-star fish or the "guan dao," which resembles the great general Guan Yu's weapon. If anyone has a chance to get one or plan to get one, watch it eat feeder goldfish, it can fit 3 or 4 fish in its mouth at the same time (greedy!).

Arapaima

Arapaimas are one of the largest fish in the world. They can reach up to 10+ feet, weighing 440lb. It's in the same family as the arowana, the bone-tongue family. They are a native of the Amazon. The Amazons have a myth that the Arapaimas are a descendant of god. Arapaima was cruel so God banished him and turned him into Arapaima. The native name for Arapaima is Pirarucu. The native use the tongue of the Araipaima and mix it with a tree bark called Guarana to kill internal worms.

The Arapaima is strong, if you get hit by a fully grown Arapaima it is like getting hit by a car going 30 miles an hour. Thai introduced Arapaima as sports fishing targets because they are really difficult to catch and they put up a strong fight. Thai people believe that the Arapaimas are holy fish. The chinese calls Arapaima "hai zhang" or elephant fish.

Arapaima is my number one favorite fish to keep because of their strength, power, and grace. They are like the emperor swimming through the water and nothing can touch it. He knows he's the boss. I had mine when he was only six inches. At that size, they are really weak and prone to disease. So I feed them a lot of feeder fishes to recreate their natural habitat allowing them to catch their own fish. As they grow, the color turns into a dark olive color. And they grow really fast. In twelve months, they hit 12 inches. So I moved them in with my two silver arowanas in the 125 gallon tank. I feed him beef hearts and squid to give him a lot of protein to bring out the color in the tail. With all those food, it grew really fast, from 12 inches to 30 inches. It was getting to big to handle so I had to sell it to my friend. From my past experience, the Arapaima is truly a feng shui fish. The night I sold it, the 125 gallon tank starting leaking and the canister filter stopped working along with the air pump. I would say, if you want to have good luck and fortune, you need to be mentally ready to keep it for life. If you sell it or die it will bring bad luck.

My Silver Arowanas

One of the first fish that I bought was the silver arowana. I bought a pair to be exact. The arowana resembled the chinese dragon and it fascinated me. I love the way it calmly swims. They have that majestic look to them. Many feng shui experts say that arowanas bring good luck to the keepers and their family. In fact they say it is bad to sell your arowana because that is like giving your luck away. And I can attest to this. The last time I sold one of my arowanas my car immediately broke down, my tank cracked, and my filter died on me. It's even been said that if you have raised an arowana for a long time they would die to shield their owners from really bad accidents. However, that is simply a superstition and I have no idea if that is true or not.

When I bought my silver arowanas they were about 6 inches. At that size they are extremely fragile until they hit 12 inches where they become stronger and hardier. One of the most important thing about taking care of arowanas is the water quality. The acid and nitrate needs to be low. I keep my tank around 75-80 degrees. I don't want to keep the temperature too high because the fish will become more active, eat more, and grow out of the tank faster.

My Silver Arowanas with dropeyes. His eye is faced downward.

Silver arowanas are known for having drop-eyes where one of their eyes will face downward. There are no cures for drop-eyes. Some experts believe that it is most likely genetics, due mass breeding. It can also be due to the pressure of the tanks and constantly searching for food at the bottom of the tanks. But overall, this defect won't affect their growth or health in general. Many hobbyists don't like the fact that Silver arowanas have drop-eyes and would prefer to raise other arowanas, such as black arowanas or australian arowanas. Other kinds of arowana like the asian arowanas don't normally have drop-eye symptoms because they are not as mass breeded as the silver arowana and their genes are selected with more care. The silver arowana is the most common of the arowana species. Even both of my arowanas have drop-eyes but they are still perfectly fine.

For food, I give my arowanas a variety of different foods to help bring out the color of their scale. I normally feed them beef heart to help bring out their colors because beef heart is packed with the right nutrition and minerals to make their scale vibrant. I feed them squid and shrimp because it contains potassium, a necessary nutrient for their health. I feed them feeder goldfish and cockeroaches (yes you read right. Cockeroaches) as treats because these contains the proteins to help recreate the  eco-food chain found in their natural habitat.  

Currently my arowanas are 24 inches. I have raised them for over 3 years and they are not quite fully grown yet. The adults can reach up to three feet. But unfortuately my 125 gallon probably won't support that kind of size. I'll be upgrading my tank to 180 gallons.