Arowanas, also known as aruanas or arawanas are large freshwater bony fish of the family Osteoglossidae, sometimes known as “water monkeys” or “bony tongues” (the term bony refers to the structure of their head) . In this family of fishes, the head is bony and the elongate body is covered by large, heavy scales, with a mosaic pattern of canals. The dorsal and the anal fins have soft rays and are long based, while the pectoral and ventral fins are small. The name ‘bony tongues’ is derived from a toothed bone on the floor of the mouth, the ‘tongue’, equipped with teeth that bite against teeth on the roof of the mouth. The fish can obtain oxygen from air by sucking it into the swim bladder, which is lined with capillaries like lung tissue. The arapaima is an “obligatory air breather”.
There are six known species of Arowanas, and all of them can grow to be more 36″ long. So these are fish for very large aquariums. Arowanas are often called Dragon Fish or Arrowanas.

Arowanas are highly regarded by many Asian cultures to be lucky. This comes from their unique appearance. Asians cultures regard them as under water dragons, as they display many traits of the Chinese Dragon. These “Dragon Fish” are thought to bring good luck to their owner.

Recommended Diet
When they are small, Arowanas should be fed live and frozen brine shrimp, black worms, and a few small fish.
Arowanas are well known as carnivores, they will eat crickets, cockroaches, mealworms, centipedes, krill, shrimp, prawns, frogs, and pellets.
When feeding your Arowana crickets, mealworms, or centipedes it is highly recommended that you buy them from a reputable dealer that specializes in raising this type of feed for fish or reptiles. Live food is considered to be a favorite among many Arowanas. It is recommended that all feeder goldfish or frogs be quarantined for at least a week. This helps avoid harmful parasites.
Silver Arowanas have been seen leaping out of the water to eat insects from trees. African Arowanas will survive and grow on the diet given above, but this fish is also a filter-feeder, and feeding filter-feeding fish in aquariums is usually very difficult.
Overfeeding of food should be avoided. Twice a day is more than reasonable in most cases.

Aquarium Decor and Cover:
Arowanas act very uncomfortable in bare tanks. They might knock some of their decor around, but they act much calmer in a decorated tank. It is recommended to put small artificial plants within the tank to make the Arowana feel more at home.
Arowanas are known to be tremendous jumpers. Fully grown they can jump up to 2 meters (over 6 feet) While Arowanas are young an aquarium cover is recommended but the likely hood of them making it out the tank is low. As the Arowana matures very strong lids are needed to keep the fish from knocking the lid loose and bailing out of the aquarium.