Aba aba clean up crew?
- Thread starter Tramonte172
- Start date
Arapaimag, Mine is growing at about 1" per month. Is that normal? How large is yours? He looks awsome.
Tramonte172;4499889; said:
Thanks,
Mine never grew that fast and has had an interesting history. I bought him from John and Fred Kick at Pets Plus in Lockport New York in 2000. He had been a pet of John's for a couple of months before he returned him to the store to resell. He was 7" long and cost $40.
I am a bit conservative on fish sizes and although friends think he is maybe 42" I feel maybe 34" to 36" is more like it. (But I was a foot short on my Arapaima arapaima in picture below that died in 2003-------thinking it to be about 54" when it actually measured 65 1/2")
So he has only grown 27" to 29" if I am correct in his size over the past 10 years.
I admit I very seldom fast grow fish because I have always thought that growing them slowly allows them to live a longer life.
I grew a couple of fancy goldfish very fast in 2006/2007 that I bought from Dragon Aquaria in Mississauga Ontario in December of 2006 at 2". By May 2007 they were monsters and actually placed first and third in the Canadian Association of Aquarium Clubs annual convention against some pretty good competition including 8 koi entered by koi guru Ed Champigny of Feeding Hills, MA (Who got a second with one of his fish).
Both goldfish died within the next year and I blame myself for growing them too fast.
I've owned only a few Gymnarchus niloticus but did find a very slow growth in mine over 20" and an even slower growth over 30".
Only one fish that I watched over a 20 year period acheived the huge size that they can achieve. It was a fish in the store of Jim Clark owner of Annette Pet Shop on Dundas Street in Toronto. He raised it in a 150/180 and then sold it to the Toronto Zoo where it was placed in an appropriate size tank and grew to my estimate of 54" and lived about 20 more years before it died.
Thanks for the advice Arapaimag, I appreciate it. I do not want to shorten any of my pet's lives.
Here is my little guy. He has a 75 gallon to himself but will move into a 300 when he outgrows it.
Here is my little guy. He has a 75 gallon to himself but will move into a 300 when he outgrows it.
Tramonte172;4501738; said:
He looks excellent and the tank is beautiful.
My guy has a bad attitude when it comes to decor. He tears apart everything including chewing on the FX5 Fluval taking apart the strainers and trying to dislodge the intake and output hoses.
The 810 he will going into is decorated and I'm hoping that with the larger area he will be OK with it. The fluval intake/output in that tank is protected by large rocks.
Some people like to put other large fish with there aba aba I'm happy to note you don't. My experience has been they are happier and don't either get attacked or attack the other fish when housed by themselves (not counting small dither and target fish).
Some people have had success? by crowding their aba aba. I am happy to see you have a more sensible approach to keeping this monster fish.
I will add a small breeding shoal of african malawi cichlids (mostly Aulonacara) with mine and a few guppies/fat head rosy yellow minnows when he goes to the 810 and they will have the decor to hide in at times. I am hopeful that their presence will keep the aba occupied and keep him from tearing apart the tank while providing an excellent food source.
Keep up the good fish keeping and all the best with your beautiful aba.
arapaimag;4504423; said:
Thank you very much. It means a lot to me to get the input of a very knowledgable and experienced keeper such as yourself.
