Armatus

[mike C]

yahoo!!!!!!!! I get an Armatus delivered tomorrow, I can't wait, I will post pics tomorrow.Thanks R.W.
Mike

[mike C]

Well right now the Armatus is on it's way to me as I type this. I can't wait to get it home.I've been waiting a very long time for one of these. He's going into a 33 gal to gain 2 or 3 more inches and then into a 230 and bigger next year. I currently have an 8'' ATF (vitt) and an 8'' redtail Tat. and 6'' motoro in the tank Do you think there will be problems? I know the ray could grab it if it's too small.My concern is the Tat and the Vittatus. Any opinions? Thanks all,
Mike

[vamptrev]

when i got my armatus my redtail was bigger and tried to take him out. so i took out the redtail. once the armatus got the same size i put him back in and now they are ok. they fight every once and a while. be very careful and if anything happens get the redtail out asap! my armatus didnt like my atf at all, and tore him up. now u know ur armatus is going to grow very fast compared to the fish u have now so u will have to get a bigger tank sooner then next year. wait u said a 30 gallon? bad idea!!!!!!!!! way too small!!!!!!!! especially for two vamps, it wont last long at all. u dont want to loose that armatus!!!!

[mike C]

It will be in the 33 alone until it grows 2 inches or so and then it goes into a 230 gallon. with the other fish. I might put the redtail in a 125 just to be safe.

[vamptrev]

good, you will love the armatus if u like ur redtail. they are more outgoing. post pics when u get him

[mike C]

The Armatus arrived last night and I got it at midnight. This is how it goes:nilly: I get to the cargo place and the guy tells me it never made it here. So I freaked....I told the guy I had a tracking number and all and have been tracking it online.The description of my package stated tropical fish on his computer and he didn't realize. So I mutter in a sad tone what a same..my package contained a live animal....then his lights go on and decides to go into the back where they keep incomming packages. He returns saying it's not here. Finally he checks the computer again and notices it was sent as a perishable item and they are kept elsewhere. Then he tells me I have to go somewhere else to declare it at customs....so I do that and that was loads of fun with a million questions. :eek: So now I have my customs papers and can finally pick up my fish. I present the guy all the paperwork and pay what I owe and am sent to the pick-up area the get my little buddy. I give the guy the paperwork and I see him go grab my box and he has a strange look about him. He then blurts out that the bottom of the box is soaked and there is no water sound in the box.:eek: :eek: :eek: I snatch it out of his hands and start trying to open the box ,but the f@#*ing airport mega taped the box so I ask the guy for a box cutting knife and he couldn't find one ( sad ) so I finally get the tape off to see that they did the same with the styrofoam box..so I just punches holes through the top to my terror of seeing an empty fish bag.There was maybe 1'' of water left...but the Armatus was ALIVE. I had my wife hold the bag in a way that the Armatus was in the water and I drove home at warp speed. I hope I dont get a ticket in the mail. Naturally you're supposed to aclimatize your fish but when you have almost no original water left what do you do? I had to dump him in the tank right away because he was gasping for air. Ofcourse he's in shock as well and goes straight to the bottom and sits there for a while getting air but still breathing super fast.After an hour of this I lightly tap his tail with a piece of bamboo and wham, he's up and swimming. He is still breathing fast but not like last night. I hope he makes it. His tail and fins seem to have paid the price a bit. I don't blame River Wonders for this as I know the last people in the box were the airport people so thier to blame... idiots probably put the bag back in the box upside down or it was tossed around. Pics will follow tonight.
Mike

[JD7.62]

Oh **** man I hope he makes it!

[mike C]

Oh **** man I hope he makes it!

You took the words right out of my mouth.
Mike

[mike C]

Here is a quick pic of him. He is a bit skinny but I'll take care of that. How long about before they start eating?
Mike

[vamptrev]

he will be fine, they are tough compared to other payara. throw in a little salt just to be safe. he should start eating in no time. keep two or three roseys in with him and they will be gone b4 u know it. sweet pick up, u got lucky. if he made it in a little puddle of water he will deffinatly make it now.

[mike C]

Yeah, I think he will be o.k. I'm very happy they are as tough as redtails. I'm so happy to have finally got one. Already my favorite fish.

[vamptrev]

just wait, they get more and more aggressive and eat more and more as they get older.

[mike C]

just wait, they get more and more aggressive and eat more and more as they get older.

I can't wait!!!!:)

[jelly]

Looks good considering the journey, i think he will defenatly pull through.

I have just started getting into these guys with a Scomb and a Tat. When I have setup my fish house I will look into getting my own Armatus. How much are you guys paying for a small Armatus over in the US?.

[Fishes33]

this might sound stupid, but whats the different between an armatus and a payara?

Armatus is just a type of payara? or just a scientific name for payara?

[jelly]

this might sound stupid, but whats the different between an armatus and a payara?

Armatus is just a type of payara? or just a scientific name for payara?

There are four species currently.

Hydrolycus scomberoides, The common one. Been available for years, The one that usually dies for no reason at around 12".

hydrolycus tatauia, Redtail Payara. Fairly common, cheap and hardy can be kept in groups, 18".

hydrolycus Armatus, The expensive one everyone is after. 24" probably bigger. Aggresive, one per tank only. all the pictures of really massive ones in fishing pics seem to be Armatus.

hydrolycus wallacei, Not a great deal known, Darker than the others. 12"-13"

All sizes are based on fishbase info.

[eman b115]

WOW nice pick up.... I want one of those.....BAD!!!!!

[DB junkie]

Mine didn't eat for almost a week. So don't get worried till it goes longer than that.

[DIESELMACK]

What a pick-up story...been there and worse...lol. I am glad to see it all worked out...once he starts eating for you he will gain quickly...mine packed on an extra 2" in less than 2 weeks...best way to get your boy on the snack truck is put a bunch of small feeder guppies in with him and let him eat at will...you will notice when it happens as he will stalk the guppies...also keep the tank dim so he feels more comfortable...I actually put a black trashbag under my light so it was very subdued lighting,but still enough to view the tank and the fish...also keep your temp up around 84-85*F.
keep us updated.

[mike C]

Mine didn't eat for almost a week. So don't get worried till it goes longer than that.

Thanks for the info.
Mike

[mike C]

What a pick-up story...been there and worse...lol. I am glad to see it all worked out...once he starts eating for you he will gain quickly...mine packed on an extra 2" in less than 2 weeks...best way to get your boy on the snack truck is put a bunch of small feeder guppies in with him and let him eat at will...you will notice when it happens as he will stalk the guppies...also keep the tank dim so he feels more comfortable...I actually put a black trashbag under my light so it was very subdued lighting,but still enough to view the tank and the fish...also keep your temp up around 84-85*F.
keep us updated.

"mine packed on an extra 2" in less than 2 weeks" Are you serious???? That is amazing!!!! It's funny, I had some leftover feeder guppies from my ATF when he was like 4'' and I threw them into a huge rubbermaid container with some live plants...no air...no heater... and they did amazing I had over 100 in no time and just let them keep breeding so my Armatus hs a gang in with him already. Thanks very much for the tips bro.
Mike

[mike C]

This is what I came home to today:( I am starting a pimafix treatment. Any suggestions?
Mike

[mike C]

He is DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1:nilly: :nilly:

[jelly]

Sorry m8!

I wonder if it was the journey that did it, Will you try to get another

[Superlaz]

crap....my stomach flipped when I saw that pic.. :( Sorry man...

[DIESELMACK]

Man that sux, after all the hassel!! it was probably the trip and the stress ect from the bag ordeal :( sorry to see.

[VVateverzYo]

who an armatus crazy

[mike C]

Thanks everyone. I really feel bad. Such a loss of a specimen I've wanted for years and just for what it is as well. All day long it was in my head while at work, made for a long crappy day. Thanks again.
Miike

[eman b115]

wow sorry for your loss man........

[I31]

real bummer, that sucks $ down the drain.
did you get it to eat and was it in the tank alone or w/others?

[milokai]

that's sucks!!!! sorry bro..it's the journey, I heard they are hard to ship they die easily but once they are used to the tank they are hardy. I would try again.

[baracuda]

Dude that sucks man!!! i bet it was all the stress from shipping....try again man....that picture hurts!!!

[fugupuff]

you should ask for the shipper to give you a discount on the next fish, if it was packed real well, it wouldn't have leaked out, no matter what. how many layers of bags did he use? for a long trip, it should at least be double, probably triple, depending on the thickness of the bag.

doesn't matter how airport, cargo, take them out of the box, it shouldn't have leaked, unless they literally played football with it.

[vamptrev]

shoot!!! sorry man... he had to have been rely rely stressed. dont give up, just because u had bad luck w the first one.

[mike C]

I can't believe it. I sent an email with a pic as per their request ( R.W.)and He's doing the nicest thing by replacing it next week.This is great news. I feel like doing backflips:) Thanks R.W.

[mike C]

you should ask for the shipper to give you a discount on the next fish, if it was packed real well, it wouldn't have leaked out, no matter what. how many layers of bags did he use? for a long trip, it should at least be double, probably triple, depending on the thickness of the bag.

doesn't matter how airport, cargo, take them out of the box, it shouldn't have leaked, unless they literally played football with it.

It was double bagged and maybe should have been triple. It was such a sinking feeling in my stomach when the guy at the airport said there is no more water in the box.Thanks,
Mike

[Fishes33]

I can't believe it. I sent an email with a pic as per their request ( R.W.)and He's doing the nicest thing by replacing it next week.This is great news. I feel like doing backflips:) Thanks R.W.

Grats :D

[vamptrev]

sweet!!!!! this time you should be able to acclamate him right. and do a 25% water change at the time of arrivial. and a little salt wouldnt hurt either. i hear that some armatus owners keep salt in their tanks 24/7

[mike C]

sweet!!!!! this time you should be able to acclamate him right. and do a 25% water change at the time of arrivial. and a little salt wouldnt hurt either. i hear that some armatus owners keep salt in their tanks 24/7

Will do and thanks for the tip.

[Aquaman_95]

Nice!

[mike C]

sweet!!!!! this time you should be able to acclamate him right. and do a 25% water change at the time of arrivial. and a little salt wouldnt hurt either. i hear that some armatus owners keep salt in their tanks 24/7

What salt and what ratio? I have the Hagen aquarium salt or marine.Thanks
Mike

[jelly]

Good news.

I am assuming the hagen stuff is the medical salt. in which case I would use that.

[mike C]

Good news.

I am assuming the hagen stuff is the medical salt. in which case I would use that.

Will do, but how much per gallon?

[vamptrev]

i do 4lbs for every 100 gallons. i know this seems like alot but that is the nessessary amount. now with vamps since they are silver scaled i use just a little less. in my 140 gallon i use 4 lbs.(now this is if my fish get a bacterial infection) now u probably dont need that much just to acclamate a fish. ask a few more people. i would do about half of the nessessary amount.

[mike C]

i do 4lbs for every 100 gallons. i know this seems like alot but that is the nessessary amount. now with vamps since they are silver scaled i use just a little less. in my 140 gallon i use 4 lbs.(now this is if my fish get a bacterial infection) now u probably dont need that much just to acclamate a fish. ask a few more people. i would do about half of the nessessary amount.

Thanks for the info. Is it normal then for my redtail to be fine in total fresh? It is doing amazingly.Thanks

[vamptrev]

i think 100% fresh is the way to go because thats what it would be in the wild. keep us posted on the new guy

[mike C]

i think 100% fresh is the way to go because thats what it would be in the wild. keep us posted on the new guy

Will do and thanks to all.
Mike

[mike C]

I can't believe it. I sent an email with a pic as per their request ( R.W.)and He's doing the nicest thing by replacing it next week.This is great news. I feel like doing backflips:) Thanks R.W.

Still no news of fish.

[vamptrev]

so whats happenin? any news? its been awhile, thought id bring back some of the good threads

[mike C]

so whats happenin? any news? its been awhile, thought id bring back some of the good threads

Nothing yet bro. Supposed to be sent tonight or tomorrow but I'm not holding my breath.I'll let you know.
Mike

[mike C]

Got my replacement last night. It was is rough shape again and I thought I was going to loose it. I gave it a 50/50.The Armatus was breathing really really heavy and literally popping it's head out of the water when it was in the bag but I think he was running short on air. He then proceeded to stand kind of tail down which I didn't like and had opaque eyes. It's really wierd, has anyone ever seen things comming out of a fishes gills? They looked like a mass of skinny little intestines so I scooped out the Armatus and removed as much as I could. It was now 1:00am and I had to crash. I reluctantly turned off the light and crossed my fingers.Well I went down into my fish/spider room this morning and he is still alive and now swimming straight and no more foggy eyes.I think this one will make it. He came really close though. For those who just bought some of the small ones like mine, are they skittish in your tank and how long did it take for him to adjust? I have no lighting on the tank and I'm keeping the whole room dim for now. Here is a quick pic .It's not that good , I just didn't want to freak it out with all kinds of pics. Thanks,
Mike

[jelly]

Congrats, good to see you got another. Has it eaten anything yet?

[DB junkie]

Mine was crazy skittish. So bad I ended up pulling out the divider that was in there cause it kept smashing into it. It's now holding its own with the other payara in the tank. Grown almost 2 inches allready.

[aro-man]

Good luck with this one! Yeah mines was skittish for a couple months as it got used to the tank. Now he comes to the top when i open the lid cause he knos hes getting fed. dont worry, this one WILL make it;)

[mike C]

Congrats, good to see you got another. Has it eaten anything yet?

I don't know if it's eaten yet as I only had 3 female guppies in there with him and there is lots of floating plants.He does look a bit more filled out he was very skinny. I will be adding 25 or so tomorrow.It's funny,the guppies are left overs from my ATF when he was like 4''. I basically threw all the guppies into a big rubbermaid container 40 gallons I think with some live floating plants for air in the water and they were breeding like flies. So now I have lots of guppies all from an experiment that went well.

[mike C]

Mine was crazy skittish. So bad I ended up pulling out the divider that was in there cause it kept smashing into it. It's now holding its own with the other payara in the tank. Grown almost 2 inches allready.

" Grown almost 2 inches allready " How long have you had it? I understand that they grow very fast.

[mike C]

Thanks for the replies.

[vamptrev]

hey mike did u get my pm yesterday?

[mike C]

hey mike did u get my pm yesterday?

yes I replied last night.

[DB junkie]

" Grown almost 2 inches allready " How long have you had it? I understand that they grow very fast.

had it for about 6 weeks.

[vamptrev]

hey mike is he hangin in there?

[mike C]

had it for about 6 weeks.

Amazing growth rate.

[mike C]

hey mike is he hangin in there?

Seems to be doing good. He is even started to calm down. I can't wait to get him into the big tank.

[vamptrev]

Seems to be doing good. He is even started to calm down. I can't wait to get him into the big tank.

big tank? how big?

[DIESELMACK]

Hey mike, glad to hear he is doing good for you. keep a good shoal of feeders in with him and he will grow like crazy given good room and water....my guy is a little over 6" already and I got him as soon as I saac advertised them...he is in a 220gal by himself and shoals of food...he is not skittish and is actually very territorial and aggressive...he was only skittish when the tank was kept too bright...I keep him in a natural light room and only put a flourecent on him maybe 4hrs a day but keep part of the top blocked out so he can retreat from the light if he wants....he now attacks the glass if you get in front of the tank and will attack feeders if they come within his resting territory....he has shed his teeth now 3 times, this last set is a big set as you can see in the pics at the link below..they are pure white now and just massive compared to his previous two sets...he has also grown 2 fangs dead center on the top that close down between his two bottom when his mouth is closed...a note on color ect at about 5" he has gotten more black and a white edging on his fins as you see in the pics...before this size they were rather transparent with just a hint of color to come.
keep up the updates with these guys ;)
here are the most recent pics of my armatus from river wonders...growing super fast and a beast of a fish already:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89736

[mike C]

big tank? how big?

Right now in a 33 until he grows 2'' then into a 230.And he has eaten and I noticed he was missing a fang yesterday and today it's there. So he probably will resume feeding tomorrow I hope.It came in a little skinny for my liking. I do already notice that they are bolder then redtails and come right up to you.I'm so happy to own one.

[mike C]

Hey mike, glad to hear he is doing good for you. keep a good shoal of feeders in with him and he will grow like crazy given good room and water....my guy is a little over 6" already and I got him as soon as I saac advertised them...he is in a 220gal by himself and shoals of food...he is not skittish and is actually very territorial and aggressive...he was only skittish when the tank was kept too bright...I keep him in a natural light room and only put a flourecent on him maybe 4hrs a day but keep part of the top blocked out so he can retreat from the light if he wants....he now attacks the glass if you get in front of the tank and will attack feeders if they come within his resting territory....he has shed his teeth now 3 times, this last set is a big set as you can see in the pics at the link below..they are pure white now and just massive compared to his previous two sets...he has also grown 2 fangs dead center on the top that close down between his two bottom when his mouth is closed...a note on color ect at about 5" he has gotten more black and a white edging on his fins as you see in the pics...before this size they were rather transparent with just a hint of color to come.
keep up the updates with these guys ;)
here are the most recent pics of my armatus from river wonders...growing super fast and a beast of a fish already:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89736

I'm keeping atleast 25 feeders in with him so when ever he's ready he's got them. Yours is really nice. Would you trust an 8'' ATF in the same thank if your Armatus was say 5" ? Thanks

[vamptrev]

i would say it might be ok. if the armatus was bigger then i would say no. my armatus tore up my atf, but my armatus was bigger. alot of people say that armatus and atf's just dont mix. be careful!

[mike C]

i would say it might be ok. if the armatus was bigger then i would say no. my armatus tore up my atf, but my armatus was bigger. alot of people say that armatus and atf's just dont mix. be careful!

Thanks for the info.

[mike C]

My Armatus just replaced his fangs and are they ever bigger! :D They are also as white as snow.Now I expect to see some good feeding. I'm glad I have a redtail, it has given me loads of experience with which I can apply to the Armatus. Well the Armatus' stomach isn't sunkin in anymore and he looks alot better.

[vamptrev]

sweet, he will be as big as mine in no time!!!

[mike C]

sweet, he will be as big as mine in no time!!!

I can't wait till he's that size,they look nuts.