My Banjar Red Arowana not eating

My Banjar Red Arowana stopped eating a few days ago.

At first I was not worried, since my Banjar Red Arowana did have mood when it came to the matter of eating.

Arowana is different from other fish, especially goldfish.

It eats only when it wants to eat.

If it is not hungry, no matter what you throw into the fish tank, it will not eat.  I think the only exception is cockroach.

Apparently Arowana loves cockroaches.  Both creatures have long history of love hate relationship.  They exist since the times of dinosaurs.

When my Banjar Red Arowana continued its hunger strike into the second day, I started to worry.

There was nothing wrong with the water, since I changed 20% of the water every other day.

While most hobbyists change water only once a week, I change it 3 to 4 times a week.

My Banjar Red Arowana grows faster than its cousins.

Every water change brings forth an enormous appetite.

The strange thing about the second day of fasting was that my Banjar Red Arowana was hungry.

I knew that it was hungry.

It jumped at the food, and yet refused to eat.  It threw out the food, and refused to open the mouth anymore.

By now, after a year of keeping the fish, I can judge its mood.

The way it greets me, and the way it wags the tail, tells me a lot about the fish.

When it darts across the water to greet me, and wags its tail like a happy dog, that is a sign of hunger.

My Banjar Red Arowana apparently welcomes the food more than it welcomes me.

On the third day, it still did not want to eat.

As far as I was concerned, there was nothing wrong with the food, the water or the fish.  The Banjar Red Arowana was not ill.

The only change was that my mother went for a holiday.

Our usual feeding routine occurred in the evening, when my mother was watching TV, and me talking to her, while watching my Banjar Red Arowana eat its food.

When my mother was away on a holiday, the TV was not on.

I guess my dear pet fish miss my mother.

I told my dear pet fish that my mother was just away for a trip, and that she would come back.

I also told my Banjar Red Arowana that my mother wanted it to eat, and grow fatter.

Guess what happened?

My dear pet fish seemed to understand the message.  It started to attack the food, and swept the tank free of fish sticks.

No wonder the Chinese has a saying that Arowana, the Dragon fish, has a spirituality aspect to it.

It seems to bond with us even though we do not realize it.

When I think back to the earlier days of keeping Arowana, I realize how true it is.

When my grandmother passed away, our Arowana fish jumped out of the tank and died standing up.
It must have missed my grandmother a lot.

My grandmother stayed home due to limited mobility, and watched the fish swimming the whole day.

When my father passed away, another Arowana fish died.

That fish loved my father more than any of us.  My father was the one who pretended to ignore the fish while secretly loved the fish.

I hope my Banjar Red Arowana live a long, long time.

It is wonderful to keep such a pet.