Hey Questions About Indo Pacific Tarpon

P

Pazzoman

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Apr 5, 2009
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Hey Everyone, I posted a thread about indo pacific tarpon awhile ago to gather research about them. Slowly getting the 210 gallon tank together... hopefully tomorrow will be picking up the stand and canopy then going to wait a month or so to find the best priced tank with overflows. So here are my questions:

If I was to purchase an Indo Tarpon at 4 inch, well fed and appropriate water changes given what would be the growth rate till about 6-7 inches? As I feel this would be best appropriate to avoid being eaten by future hystrix or motor rays (which I know can't last forever).

Pretty sure the info is a middle dweller of the tank, I currently have a group of orange head goes at about 2.5 to 4 inches will the indo be tempted to eat them even tho I heard they have a peaceful reputation?

Would Orange Head Geos and the Indo Tarpon work together?

I also have some silver dollars as well as 2 yellow severums however will probably be giving them away....or the the silver dollars to try and get different colors going any suggestions of tank mates with numerous colors will be appreciated.

Also if you have a sump, what size and set up are you using for your indo or just heavy bioload.



Any tips for keeping indo tarpon?
 
aldiaz33

aldiaz33

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Yoimbrian

Yoimbrian

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I put tarpons in the same class as Red tailed cats, arapaimas, etc.

They are too large for any normal sized aquarium. They get 4 feet easy and are extremely active, anything less than a few thousand gallons they will be stressed and cramped.

There is a sticky in the general chat called "mini monsters". There are TONS of really cool fish that can actually be happy in a 210.
 
aldiaz33

aldiaz33

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Pazzoman said:
Thanks defiantly big, but wonder if they got/caught it that big as well as how long they had it/
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity, why would it matter if they obtained it at that size or how long they have had it?

We don't see many achieve that size in aquariums for the same reason you rarely see full grown Pimas or GATFs...99% of people cannot properly care for the species to adulthood, so all we always see is pix of little babies. I agree with Yoimbrian, it's a species that should be left to public aquaria or people with tanks in the thousands of gallons. This species probably needs even more space than a Pima or RTC since they are fast open water swimmers.

If you are looking for good tankmates for some Geos, I think Filament Barbs would be a good choice. They grow to 6-7", swim at all levels of the tank, but in my experience mostly in the upper half and are constantly on the move.
 
P

Pazzoman

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Hey I will check out the mini monster thread, also aldiaz I said that just out of curiosity as well lol. I know many aquariums especially for large exhibits catch wild large fish to skip the process of waiting for it to grow. I said this in case if really interested, could possibly call the aquarium and ask how long have they had it to see if it grew to that size from being a baby or it simply was caught when it was mature. Also since wild specimens normally grow large then captive ones...so like you just curious lmao

Also I will check out filament barbs as I also thought of the indo tarpon simply because i come from a background of fishing... and i love fishing so have a fish like a tarpon is just something I think every fisherman would love to have...but then again like mentioned if it get to big and not easily sold to other members likes rays or black aros then maybe it's not for me.
 
shookONES

shookONES

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I've had both Atlantic and Indo Pacific Tarpon and can say one thing for sure: they grow incredibly slow. Mine eat like bigs but have only put on an inch or two in the last 6 months.
 
Chicxulub

Chicxulub

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OK we need to clear a few things up.

First, the fish pictured above is M. atlanticus.

Second, a five foot long M. cyprinoides is older than most of the people on this site. Both tarpons achieve sexual maturity at about two feet and three years old. The remaining size in an artifact of the fact that these fish will grow- slowly- until they die. For a fish that can live for approaching a century, they have the capacity to grow quite large.

Third, freshwater specimens do NOT grow as large as saltwater specimens. While all tarpons are anadromous, adults tend to live either in the ocean, estuaries or pure freshwater. Oceanic and estuarian adults feed largely on large schools of plentiful baitfish. purely freshwater wild adults never transition away from the juvenile diet of crustaceans. The result of their feeding on this less available food source is a smaller size at maturity and an ultimate size that us much smaller than oceanic and estuarian specimens.

This same phenomenon has been reported in M. atlanticus as well; though a smaller, freshwater M. atlanticus is still a huge fish.

In conclusion, a purely freshwater M. cyprinoides is a viable member of a truly MONSTER setup.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
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crenicichla444

crenicichla444

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Chicxulub said:
OK we need to clear a few things up.

First, the fish pictured above is M. atlanticus.

Second, a five foot long M. cyprinoides is older than most of the people on this site. Both tarpons achieve sexual maturity at about two feet and three years old. The remaining size in an artifact of the fact that these fish will grow- slowly- until they die. For a fish that can live for approaching a century, they have the capacity to grow quite large.

Third, freshwater specimens do NOT grow as large as saltwater specimens. While all tarpons are anadromous, adults tend to live either in the ocean, estuaries or pure freshwater. Oceanic and estuarian adults feed largely on large schools of plentiful baitfish. purely freshwater wild adults never transition away from the juvenile diet of crustaceans. The result of their feeding on this less available food source is a smaller size at maturity and an ultimate size that us much smaller than oceanic and estuarian specimens.

This same phenomenon has been reported in M. atlanticus as well; though a smaller, freshwater M. atlanticus is still a huge fish.

In conclusion, a purely freshwater M. cyprinoides is a viable member of a truly MONSTER setup.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Click to expand...
Appreciate it when someone Who is an expert steps up, thanks chix. Anyways for the OP My indo is very skittish until I moved him to a less trafficked area so be mindfu of that just in case yours isn't. He would build up ALOT of speed when running into the acrylic is was very concerned and was going to move him to a smaller tank for his health. I had ALOT of trouble getting him on krill took a solid month and a half of starvation. I have a 9 inch albino Senegal poly, 4 inch sd, 5 inch vennie pike cichlid and a marbled gar (characin). He got on krill because of the cichlid not sd surprisingly. Very peaceful with pike unless within his strike range like 1 inch in front of him. However with a lot of cichlids not just one idk about that...my tank is 5 feet long so plenty of room to run...


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