Payara

[HugeGhost]

Show pics and videos of large Payara in fish tanks with a description of the setup, what your feeding, how old they are, and any advice on keeping the bigger ones! Lets see some full tank shots along with fang closeups of one of the coolest predators on earth! Here are some of the greatest pics i have saved searching the forums.

WTB Payara over 10 inches!
FS Payara deals on 6 or more all over 6 inches!

[piscavore pisces]

i love that second pic:headbang2

[Whoreny]

Very nice. Mine killed itself, one night with no covers om the tank.:cry:

[fisher12889]

Payara are awesome fish, I would love to have one but I hear there hard to get over 10" or so.

[rallysman]

Payara are awesome fish, I would love to have one but I hear there hard to get over 10" or so.

Thats when I hear that they usually die off, I wish I knew why. I'd love to have some of these beasts as well.

[paintboi101]

shooot, they are pretty big.

[IMFishHead]

Nice Payara ! Thanks for sharing!

[HugeGhost]

Found these pics on the boards, that pic is from the Georgia Aquarium they have a school of Payara there! Cant wait to see that one day! The small pic is Armatus from what i read because of the high back, they are the biggest , most hardiest and fastest growers from what i heard. Also i have been hearing that they dont need the fast moving water setup, since there has been reports of 2 footers now in captivity that grew from a 4 inch baby in 3 years. I also saw Fear's Video of him catching a Payara in a mellow lake that was probable 2 feet just like that. The 2 footer was housed in a 10 by 4 by 4 with huge rays, and the rays were having babies and stuff. No special current for the guy either, Well everybody keep in touch and lets see some huge Payara in the home aquarium or pond!

[odalisay]

Found these pics on the boards, that pic is from the Georgia Aquarium they have a school of Payara there! Cant wait to see that one day! The small pic is Armatus from what i read because of the high back, they are the biggest , most hardiest and fastest growers from what i heard. Also i have been hearing that they dont need the fast moving water setup, since there has been reports of 2 footers now in captivity that grew from a 4 inch baby in 3 years. I also saw Fear's Video of him catching a Payara in a mellow lake that was probable 2 feet just like that. The 2 footer was housed in a 10 by 4 by 4 with huge rays, and the rays were having babies and stuff. No special current for the guy either, Well everybody keep in touch and lets see some huge Payara in the home aquarium or pond!

I think I may have seen the Armatus in a lfs that I frequent here in NorCal. I was wondering why it looked different than other payara that I have seen. From what I remember it was about 7-8" and it was definite thicker than most payara I have seen. Hopefully they get more in so that I can jump on it. Thanks HugeGhost for the info.:D

[focker]

alright my payara is back on track.. sucked down 2 fat minnows just now.. thought he quit eating on me.

[lil neet]

Woodysun was your payara normal type when small and do you have picture when small?Thanks

[HugeGhost]

alright my payara is back on track.. sucked down 2 fat minnows just now.. thought he quit eating on me.


Glad to hear he is eating, any pics bro! I have gotten only two out of 10 to eat silversides tied to fishing line! The rest will only eat feeder fish , so are costing me a fortune! All of my payara are haning under java ferns even my 2 10 inchers and none have ever hung out by my powerhead! I was thinking that if i see the biggest guy go over to swim in the current BAM i would setup the fast moving stream on one side for anybody that wants more oxygen. Would love to get them all on silversides, my cool method is tie the silverside by tail and let fly out into the tank on a powerhead to look very real. Last night i stuffed a silverside with bloodworms and shrimp and he grabed it i was so happy.


Woody please show pic of your guy he is a legendary fish, has he grown alot and does he eat silversides bro thanks in advance Howie

[HugeGhost]

Also one of my boys has not closed his mouth, like his fang is stuck or something, i am waiting and hoping when he eats again it will work out!

[HugeGhost]

Found this video on the net so cool Georgia Aquarium school of Payara along with some other rad monsters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0DX7rF1aAQ

[odalisay]

HugeGhost I was at a lfs in SF. I snapped some pics of some payara they had. They had two kinds there. One was looks like the ones you have on this thread but some had yellow on tail fin and some had red on tail fin. The other one has a more elongated body with a pig type nose. I took pics with my camera phone I will try to upload the pics. Is there a way to tell if it is an Armatus? Thanks.:D

[odalisay]

HugeGhost I was at a lfs in SF. I snapped some pics of some payara they had. They had two kinds there. One was looks like the ones you have on this thread but some had yellow on tail fin and some had red on tail fin. The other one has a more elongated body with a pig type nose. I took pics with my camera phone I will try to upload the pics. Is there a way to tell if it is an Armatus? Thanks.:D

I did a little research and I believe this it the other Payara looking fish that I saw. Here is the link to the web page.:D
http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=8697&genusname=Rhaphiodon&speciesname=vulpinus

[odalisay]

Here are those pics I promised. They suck because I took them with a phone camera.

[HugeGhost]

Cool pics i like them! I think that Payara is armatus since it has the cool back, hopefully someone can id the pics for us!!!! how big was he did they have alot and how much
the other looks like the vulp one and i heard they were really cool fish but not true payaras!

[odalisay]

I believe they were going for $48 dollars a piece. Is that the usual price? I think they were that high because it had "Rare" in front of the name. It's a conspiracy I tell you!

[dacox]

That's about the price that they go for around here - somewhere in the 40-50 dollar range.

[Stone Like Fish]

HugeGhost, have you got vids of yours :drool:

[thefishofdoom]

i have one payara so far i try and upload feeding vids soon k. mines 4 to 5 inch eating feeder fish but soon on silver sides

[HugeGhost]

This Payara is huge, just found this pic on the boards the coolest Payara so far i ever seen, a huge 2 foot long, heard he was raised from a 5 inch baby!

[HugeGhost]

I was talking to a guy in Peru and he said that Hydrolycus scomberoides only get to a max of 10 inches!
And the Armatus and the Tatu... get to 3 feet. So i was also told i have Hydrolycus scomberoides and only 2 Armatus, and it is starting to look that way, my Scom.... are growing slow and just getting stockier but my 2 red tails or armatus are growing very fast and staying slimmer like they are still babies. Is this info true, since i have been trying to grow these all out to 18 inches will my Armatus end up eating the others by this winter!!!!!

[odalisay]

I was talking to a guy in Peru and he said that Hydrolycus scomberoides only get to a max of 10 inches!
And the Armatus and the Tatu... get to 3 feet. So i was also told i have Hydrolycus scomberoides and only 2 Armatus, and it is starting to look that way, my Scom.... are growing slow and just getting stockier but my 2 red tails or armatus are growing very fast and staying slimmer like they are still babies. Is this info true, since i have been trying to grow these all out to 18 inches will my Armatus end up eating the others by this winter!!!!!

Hey HugeGhost,

Do the Armatus and the Tatu need that fast moving current to survive in the home aquarium? I need to hurry up and buy some at the lfs that I saw them at.:drool: The lfs had lots of red tails and yellow tails.

[lil neet]

Hugeghost do you have a picture of your armatus ?

[rumblesushi]

hugeghost - to be honest I doubt you have an armatus, for a start they have yellow tails, like that shoal you posted, not red. Tatus have red tails, so you must have scombs and tats.

[rumblesushi]

lil neet is that you in the pic? :D

[HugeGhost]

Thanks man i think you are correct since i dont see any yellow on the ones that i think are Armatus just have a red tail. So are the regular Scom.. grow to only a foot and the rest get big!
Also what is the last pic i posted is that an Armatus!

[rumblesushi]

Yeah hombre I'm pretty sure that's an armatus :)

HOw do you find the tatus compared to the scombs? Any different in behaviour/feeding?

[HugeGhost]

Big difference in behavior, the tatus are eating silversides tied to fishing line, i tie the line to a powerhead then let the silversides go! The tatus aggressive and seem even territorial claming little areas under java ferns as there own and chasing away anything that comes. They have never actually bite there other shoalers though and when they chase they never open there mouths. the scomp are all very mellow and always hang out together. None have ever stayed for long by my powerheads all choosing to hang under plants and picking off mollies one by one swimming ontop.
I have this cool little circle that flaots where i put food in and all the feeders go to it, it keeps the food in one area and gut loads them. Some of my Payaras are hanging under the flaoting circle waiting for easier pick offs.

[mike C]

WOO-HOOOOO,

I got an Armatus today. It is about 6'' and is eating like a monster.:) I hope it makes it past 12 inches. I wish I could post pics but they keep being refused because they are too large. I hope I can figure out the prob so I can share with you all.

Mike

[odalisay]

nice pick up mike c!

[mike C]

Yeah I'm really happy. I'm going to try HugeGhost's fishingline feeding method. It seems to be a good idea.You can really see its teeth well even at 6''. I cant wait til it's like 12'':)

Mike

[KRSwop1]

Any pics MikeC? You too HG.

[mike C]

I'm trying to figure out how to size my pics?
Mike

[HugeGhost]

Looks like all my Payaras are Scomberoids except 2 that are Tatus! Those 2 red tails are very mean and continue to chase the Scombs around! I am going to sell all my Scomberoids and just get red tails and try to get Armatus. I think aquascape has Armatus they have the yellow fins did you see them Neet i think they are but there backs dont look very high for the 9 inch size and they are 100 each!

[lil neet]

I did see and they are just Scomb..Nice size but still just common.