Tank Size For 2 Ft Fish?

I wanted to get an Asian Arowana, (I know I need the paperwork, I've already looked into this heavily), since they regularly grow to 2' instead of their larger 3' silver cousins, what would be a perfect tank size to keep him happy and well? I can get a custom tank made and 8 feet in length seems appropriate and about 2 and 1/2 feet wide, but how much does height matter? Could I make it 12 inches high and have a happy fish? Also, how many gallons are your arowana tanks? Just out of curiosity. I have heard of people raising them to be between 20 and 50 years old, I would love to have a scaled friend for that long.

 

This might be good reading.
How to keep Asian arowana

 

9' x 4.5' now that's a fair sized tank.

 

Lol, I have an arowana (I believe he is a silver), and my answer is: a very large tank. His is 8ftL, 3ftW, and 2ftT(I will upgrade in the future when space and money allow); it's about 350gallons. For asian arowana, I do recommend something a bit longer and wider; they aren't as flexible as the their silver counterparts and need more turning space. So something like 9ft x 3.5ft x 2ft would be the minimum. And you always have to worry about jumping and make a nice fitting lid as well (I use corrugated polycarbonate)

 

Thanks for the replies, I will definitely look into getting a 300g or so tank. What is the minimum depth they need? With a tank of this magnitude, the height of the tank makes an enormous volume/ weight difference. 2 feet seems good, but what about 18 inches? How will it fare with that 6" change? Or 24" vs 20"?

 

Thanks for the replies, I will definitely look into getting a 300g or so tank. What is the minimum depth they need? With a tank of this magnitude, the height of the tank makes an enormous volume/ weight difference. 2 feet seems good, but what about 18 inches? How will it fare with that 6" change?

Asian arowana get much girthier imo, like I mentioned, 2ft should be the minimum for them, 3 is better The 6in can create a difference on the water pressure a bit, but you are putting a monster fish in a glass/acrylic box, so I think they'd appreciate as much space as they can get/you can give them. And you're always thinking about minimizing the opportunity for him to jump/feel the need to jump

 

My 55 gallon is 21" tall. I can't imagine that fish in there. It would have no room above or below him. I think 24" is pushing it. Certainly not 18".

 

I would guess that you would need a tank 36" tall at the minimum, IMO

 

Alright, I just wanted some confirmation. I have met people with bichirs that are kept in obscure tank sizes, and they seem to do very well in shallow water, less than 2'. Thanks for the information

 

mines has a 8x4x3 to live inits a golden arowana