Aba Aba
Gymnarchus niloticus (Cuvier, 1829)
Temperment - Aggressive
Sociability - Solitary
Min. Tank - 300 gallons
Availability - Semi-Rare
Area - Bottom-Middle
The Aba Aba is fairly peaceful when young, but as it matures, it will bite anything that moves and ask questions later. The body is a dull grey-black and the fish has a long tapering body with a long-based dorsal fin, but lacks ventral, anal and caudal fins. They almost resemble Electric Eels, and can produce the same type of electric shocks, but not as powerful. This fish navigates by creating an electrical field around it's body. Albino varieties also exsist.
Don't aquascape with too much care, just put in some nice rocks. Hide your heater behind them. Broken pieces of equipment are not uncommon. Keeping these aggressive fish with others is not recommended, even with other Aba Abas.
They can be fed bloodworms, killifish and frozen food when they are young for rapid growth. As large carnivours they must be fed accordingly with a constant supply of meaty and live foods.
Due to their large size and predatory nature, Aba Abas must be kept in large aquariums. No special requirements are nessasary, although they prefer a slightly alkaline pH.
They are breedable in only very large aquariums; the male Aba Aba carries the young in his mouth (mouthbrooders). They are impossible to sex, and do not tolerate conspecifics. Their large adult size plus the problems mentioned before keep them from breeding successfully in anything smaller than public aquaria.
