Cites & Certificate
After mating a brooding male can be identified by a distended operculum and its swimming behaviour. They don’t seem to feed and look more placid than at other times.
A brooding male can also be recognised by a remarkable brood pouch located at the underside of its mouth. The incubation
period (time from fertilisation until the fry are released) is normally about 8 weeks. To shorten the period the fertilised eggs can be hand removed from the male’s mouth on the 30th day after spawning. The brooding male should be carefully caught with a fine net and covered with a wet cotton towel to avoid injury and struggling.
The females arowana will lay eggs on the floor of the pond. The male will then collected the fry into the mouth to fertilise them, where they will develop for 4-6 weeks before being released as young fry into the pond. The number of the fertilised eggs collected in a single brood is usually about 15 – 50 larvae.