20 inch ex-Cichlasoma festae

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RD. said:
David, I think that difference between you & I is that you are basing your comments on your personal opinion, where my comments are based more on facts, and real world experience.
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Correct, I am simply stating my opinion and certainly am not trying to pass off my opinion as fact.
I have no doubt CLs and oscars both have the potential to grow to over 12" long, however I find it strange that despite both species being well established in the hobby for decades and sold in their millions world-wide, photographic evidence of enormous examples seems very scarce. I've often seen 'Large Marge' being passed off as a much bigger fish than she actually was, and looking at some of the pics of her it is almost believeable:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...Ever-Seen!!!&p=5027264&viewfull=1#post5027264
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...lown-Loaches&p=4161747&viewfull=1#post4161747

I asked Emma if she had measured her when she died and she was 12" from her nose to the very tip of her tail, and yes she has pics but at the time couldn't even bear to look at them let alone post them online (link).

Sorry if my scepticism doesn't sit well with you, and in hindsight that old post you quoted comes across somewhat rude and that certainly wasn't my intention. I wouldn't want to go as far as saying someone is outright lying about the size of their fish, but it would be foolish to think people don't over-estimate or over-exaggerate too.

That was an interesting link to the article about the different geographic populations of CL, I think I have read it before but enjoyed reading it again. I have no doubt wild caught XL sized clowns would have great potential for obtaining massive sizes if housed and cared for properly, and I can only dream of being able to obtain such fish here. Seems how this thread is now completely off-topic, I'll post the pic of what looks like the biggest CL I've ever seen;
LargeCL.png


Based on my experience with asian aros, the red has the look of a good size fish, certainly over 12" and probably more like 14-18". How the CL compares to that I'm not sure, I'd be surprised if it wasn't pretty close to 12" though, and wouldn't be surprised if it were larger, but how much larger I couldn't guess...
 
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I agree David, some people do over estimate the size of their fish, and sometimes some people are just plain full of BS. :)

But sometimes people can underestimate sizes as well, especially with big fish, in monster tanks. That is exactly what I believe you just did with that Asian aro. In my experience I would be willing to bet that aro in your photo is a min 4-5 yrs of age, and is at least 24", and possibly a few inches more. There is absolutely no way that aro is in the 14-18" range. I say that as someone who over the years has seen many Asian aros close up, and held scores of them in his hands, including some true monsters in the 24+" class, and one that was over 30". I have two friends in town that have kept Asian aros for many years, one was an importer who brought aros in from Singapore on a regular basis. Below was one of his tanks in the past, and for scale that tank was 244 cm long, and 102 cm tall. The green aro in those pics was just under 32", the largest red was 26 inches. (both measured with tape) I actually assisted the owner in removing each & every one of those fish using a salmon net, basically 2 long poles with a net running between them. We got some wet that day! lol

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?255867-Some-pics-of-my-Arowana-collection

So, if that Asian aro in your pic is closer to 24", now how big is that CL? I guess we'll never know, but I would guesstimate its TL at 14" or better, which is what I believe the ones that I previously mentioned were. No question in my mind they were all well over 12".

Thanks for posting that pic, it reminds me of the Asian red aro & monster CL tank that the store previously mentioned had set up for many years.
 
I had a red Oscar at 13" measured with tape but it was dead when I measured:)
Give me your email and I'll send you the pic and for loaches yes I've seen a loach size of a football 12" no prob and that pic looks like it is his ( the guy with the 12" loach) I might be wrong of the pic. But I can still get a pic cause he still has it.
 
That's the biggest clown loach I've ever seen from what I can tell!

I've seen many many 12" oscars (I actually have seen more 12" oscars brought in to pet stores than the 8-11" range haha), haven't seen many giant clown loaches. I think the biggest was probably around 10".


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
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The Capitol Aquarium in Sacramento (which closed a couple of years ago) had a 1,000 tank that had some 30+ year old clown loaches (and Synodontis cats, if memory serves).

The biggest clown loaches were ~12+" and some didn't seem to get bigger than ~9-10". They were all pretty thick, though...

Matt
 
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RD. said:
Just bumping an old thread that I thought some members might be interested in reading. At least some of it. lol
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I don't know a great deal about festae but this is a great read, thanks for bumping it Neil.

What does amaze me though is that this thread was started 7 years ago and even back then people just loved to lock horns with you. It must be exhausting sometimes.
 
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