Monday, December 15, 2008

Osteoglossum bicirrhosum Part 7

A happy Mushu Monday folks..... It's been a long time since I have updated on my Arowana Mushu No. 5.... I received him as a Christmas gift from my family three years ago.... This is how he looked back then when he was only 6.5" long....

mushuno5
Today, he is 18" long....Mushu 231
After his move into his present 75 gallon home, I started feeding him live food again, as you can see from his previous updates... (Warning: do not click on previous updates if you are a goldfish or minnow lover).... I've limited the number of live feeder fish he gets now because it makes him grow so fast, and I can't afford to keep buying him ever bigger homes.... He seems comfortable in this present tank, and I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible, so it's mostly arowana pellets for Mushu.... not that he's complaining, he attacks those pellets with a voracious gusto.... Mushu 256in the summer I gave him a couple of goldfish from the pond as a treat though.... but that's another blog.....

When he was living in his cramped 20 gallon tank, Mushu developed a deformity in one of his opercula, which protruded outward instead of resting flush against his body.... this developed as a result of swimming backwards in such cramped quarters.... that problem has resolved....
Mushu 133
He also chewed his tail off over 2 years ago..... it never grew back completely, but it looks much better now....One problem he has developed however, is a droopy left eye....
Mushu 182
apparently this may have something to do with genetics or a high fat diet.... yet another reason why I should limit the live goldfish....

Oh and remember Phillipe (or as Aiden calls him "Flee-play"), his "janitor" fish? He's gotten bigger too.... after Mushu ate the original Phillipe II, I let Phillipe III grow a bit in a separate tank, before introducing him to Mushu.... I also constructed "caves" beneath the tank gravel, so that Phillipe had a place to hide.... I stuff food into the caves so he can eat in peace.... eventually Phillipe grew big enough so that he can come out of the caves to swim around without the risk of being eaten by Mushu.... he gets nipped occasionally, but he's a tough fish, and I think they're just friendly love bites from Mushu.... ya right.... Phillipe is afraid of the light though, so he only comes out when it's dark.... I had to snap this shot quickly before he scurried back into his cave....
Well, that's all for now folks.... Mushu enjoyed seeing y'all again.... until the next time.... good fortunes in the coming new year....
Mushu 217

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16 comments:

haze said...

Coucou Angelo, buti ka pa you still have your aquarium. My hubby has an aquarium given by his late Mom when he was 16 yrs old. It was only last year that we had a leak problem, and fishes were fighting, yay lahat nangamatay! The last fish we had was the Janitor when we arrived from our Philippine trip, namatay na rin **sniff**! I feel so bad !

Anonymous said...

Haze: Salut Haze, quel dommage that's too bad about your janitor. Maybe you should get your husband an arowana to replace it, they're lucky especially if given.

Anonymous said...

what a beautiful creature. and it seem to have personality all its own.

Anonymous said...

Mahalia: Hi Mahalia, Mushu thanks you... and yes he's got a very interesting personality. he's the most aggressive arowana I've ever had, I'm afraid what he'll do when he gets too close.

MeL said...

First of all, I love those shots you took! Mushu has really grown big over the past years, and he looked fiercer now and more beautiful. Glad to know you have found him a very brave companion in that super huge home. Go Philippe III! :)

My dad is a gold fish lover. He raised all of them very well that every fish in his tank looked like a sumo wrestler, thus naming each of them after the famous Japanese wrestlers. lol. And I'm planning to give him an arowana this Christmas because I've heard they give luck nga. I wonder how much it costs in Cartimar today.. Hmm.. Btw, ano yung mga swerte na dumating sayo since you got him? :)

Puss-in-Boots said...

Hmmm, he looks a scary fish. I like pretty fish, I'm afraid. You know, with lovely colours and wavy tails. And I gather those are the sort of fish your critter likes to eat...

Anonymous said...

Mel: Hi Mel, my friend Neil "totoy" Veloso who gave me the original Mushu No.1 was a goldfish lover too. He raised ping-pongs and got me into them too. We had a total of 4 fish tanks in our apartment!

Back then you could get a good sized arowana for P500 or less at Cartimar. They even had baby ones for P200. I don't think the prices would change that much. It's the red arowana and gold arowana that are really expensive. I like the silver ones because they look more dragon like to me. Your dad will enjoy raising an arowana. It's more fun when you get it small and watch it grow. Live food is also pretty cheap at cartimar, like P10/sandok of kataba. I miss cartimar!

As to the luck he's brought me....hmmm.... I guess I passed all my exams :)

Puss-in-Boots: Hi Robyn, oh yes, Mushu finds those kinds of fish irresistible! hehehe...

Anonymous said...

I'll inform you the prices once I visit Cartimar again. Oh, maybe my dad wouldn't like the idea of live feeding. lol. I remember he also raised 2 janitor fishes. Both looked uglier as they grew older. Eeww. If I had known earlier, I should have given them to you (for Mushu). Haha.

Kudos! You are one lucky guy! lol. I hope he'd give you more luck in the future.

Anonymous said...

Is it true that Arowana brings good luck?:)

Anonymous said...

Mel: You're right, janitor fish get uglier the older they get.... Maybe your dad wouldn't mind feeding his arowana kataba, as long as he doesn't feed it goldfish? Although I used to feel bad for the kataba too... but, that's life I guess big fish eat small fish.... I've seen people feed their arowana mice!

Okay, let me know when you go to cartimar...maybe you can take pics and blog about it, then it'll be like we went along hehe. I miss the Philippines.

Online Casinso Gambling: yes

Dennis Villegas said...

I love this post. Your pet fishes have charm in the way you describe them. Kakatuwa naman hehehe.
I'm sure Philippe and Mushu will be best friends when Philippine gets a little bigger. I never knew Arowanas can live for so long. I learned something today. Thanks Angelo!
Merry Christmas ha?

Anonymous said...

Dennis Villegas: Hey Dennis, Philippe and Mushu thank you. I think Arowana can live up to 10 years, hopefully Mushu will live longer. An advanced Merry Christmas to you too!

Anonymous said...

wow. MUSHU is an arowana pala and Philippe is Janitor fish. I thought they were dogs or cats that can be Nermal's playmates. Now I know why you have had a hard time taking their pics.

We have a huge aquarium here at home, just Gold Fish and a snake. I don;t know what kind of snake though. I dont plan to take pics for now cuz I havent cleaned it yet. hahahahahaha

Watching them I know is very relaxing. You must be very caring to take care of your pets Angelo :)

Anonymous said...

Bry: Hey Bry, a snake? That's cool, you don't keep it with the goldfish do you? I'd like to see that blog post! Let me know if you ever clean their tank, that would be an interesting read.

Anonymous said...

@Angelo: Surely, I'll let you know soon. :) Hmm, arowana can also eat mice? The white one?

Anonymous said...

Mel: Hey Mel, yup the white ones. As long as it can fit in its mouth. My roomate used to feed Mushu No.3 ipis.