tapajos I rio arupians

koltsixx

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Very cool! My experience in pikes is really limited but I have to say my own tapajos I is quickly becoming a favorite. Bold and not afraid to surface, recognizes me as a food source and begs incessantly when ever I look in his direction. Yet is peaceful enough that right now he's comm'd with Tetragonopterus Argenteus, Electric Blue Acara's, Papyrocanus Afer and Ptychromis Tarantsy with no issue at all thus far(knock on wood).

Mine started out feeding on small pieces of shrimp stuffed with pellets and has now moved on to eating pellets straight. Can I ask what's your guy eating right now? And how big was he sold to you as?
 

mrrobxc

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Very interested to hear your thoughts on the Tetragonopterus Argenteus. I almost bought a group myself but opted against it given the bill for the pikes. How do you like them and what size did you get?

As for mine, I feed them on Freeze Dried and Frozen. I like the idea of stuffing pellets into some shrimp. I have to wean them over to pellets too. I just got mine on Friday so its only been two days but they are already bold and coming out. I keep mine with 2 C. Myersi and 1 small chocolate cichlid.
 

koltsixx

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The tetragonpterus are great dithers, had 5 but lost 2 so am down to 3. I bought the smaller size(2-2.5inch) and they easily put on I'd say anywhere from .75 inch to 1 inch in a month. Don't know if the growth will continue like that but I was happy to see them put on such size because they where small when I got them. They're aggressive eaters and semi aggressive among each other but ignore everyone else. They don't damage each other but do this weird thing where they seem to take turns chasing each other with none showing a clear dominance. The chaser and chasee seem to change roles the minute the end of the tank is reached. A bit on the bolty side but they're still fun to watch as they tend to run away easily from your approach but run just as quickly back once they realize it's you and your their source of food. They haven't eaten from the surface for me so I've been feeding them 1mm sinking pellets and they also eat shrimp they manage to snatch away from the pike and papyrocanus afer. They eat like Piranha or bucktooth tetra swooping in snatching grabbing it's chaotic but very cool to watch. The other thing that makes them great dithers is they really move non stop. Silver Dollars will chill often with one another and many fish will kind of hover or slowly cruise but these guys are non stop movers bolting here and there so far. They add a lot of high energy activity to the tank.

I never tried freeze dried since I feed my Trachy's, Apu and some other fish shrimp so when preparing to feed the others I just made some for the Tapajos. I started stuffing the shrimp slivers with pellets but it's tedious because of the size of the strips and pellets. I eventually just started rolling the shrimp in 1mm pellets they sticked well enough that the pike consumed the vast majority and anything that fell of was picked up by the other tankmates. I think that's what actually helped get mine onto pellets. The pike got used to the feeling of the pellets in it's mouth. Between that and watching his tankmates eventually he started eating pellets on his own so now I feed 4mm pellets to the pike straight. I love the fact that the Tapajos is usually out and about and if he does disappear among the deco my approach always brings him running to the front. Those are some nice colorful tankmates you've got with yours. Since mine has been alright I think yours will get along fine with your choice in tankmates. I also have to say I find it amazing that my pike only shows aggression only to the other cichlids, he shows no interest at all in the Tetragonopterus or Afer.

Good luck with your man, can't wait to see who gets the faster growth out of them. :D
 

mrrobxc

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Thanks for the info. I knew I should of gotten a few as my tank feels empty without something at the middle/top of the water. Leporinus, Silver Dollars, and most other characins that are readily available eat plants which is a problem. Pink tailed Chalceus are out of season.

I should of bought 6 of them myself!

I keep my water in that tank at 80 F and do 50% WC a week with tap. I'm curious to see if there is a better approach to them.
 

koltsixx

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They are pretty cool, but I don't know if they would eat plants on you or not. A group of 6 would be an awesome addition as they'd add a lot of activity to all levels of the tank.

I keep my tank around the same temp and do the same amount of water changes but that's been because of my broken back decreasing my usual maintenance schedule. So after I heal I may go back to my normal 30% water changes every 2-3 days. The growth rate would also be subject to feeding, when I feed frozen I feed twice a day or more but pellets usually only once; as I'm feeding a very high protein pellet geared toward juvenile fish and don't want to cause any accidental swimbladder or constipation problems due to over feeding.
 

freebyrd

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Love love love this!!!!

I got two from Jeff as well and I fattened them up on freeze dried jumbo krill and just now finally got them on hikari pellets and they love them. I keep mine with severums and geophagus and so far haven't lost any fish. They simply could care less about the other fish.

I got the smaller size (not knowing how they'd do with geophagus) and I'm glad I did because they still have most of the juvenile lugubris spotting, and I will get to see them transform :) let's keep in touch with how they grow! Crenicichla fever!

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mrrobxc

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Definitely will! One of mine had a deformity on its gill plate with in curving in exposing a portion of its actual inner gill. I'm wondering if Jeff will help me figure out a solution given the cost if them. Any idea how I can find a solution?
 

freebyrd

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Just call and speak with Jeff or if its more comfortable send him a picture of the fish in an email he will surely work with you. How bad is it? I had gotten a baby arowana with gill curl and after a few months it filled out and was hardly noticeable

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