How many people here have experiencing raising AbaAba's? I've tried unsuccessfully to raise one 5 times now, the fist 3 times were failures due to my own stupid mistakes (put them in established aquariums with established hierachys) For some weird reason when you put an Aba in a tank they drive all the other fish crazy, don't know if it's because of the electric pulses that they emit because they have that radar thing going on for them, or if it's because they (the other fish) sense that if they let that Aba live, it will probably try to eventually kill them. The first 2 died from stress because #1 was constantly pestered by a royal knife of the same size (around 5 inches) that it shared the tank with (100 gal.), #2 was suffered a similiar fate because all the fish that it shared a tank with hated and attacked it every chance they got (all the fish in that 100 gal. tank were around 5 inches as well). For number #3 I shelled out some more dough to get a bigger Aba that was around 10 inches, and put in a 150 gal. tank with a gator gar and an australian arowana between 9 and 11 inches long, this lasted around 2 weeks until I woke up one morning with the gator gar parading a half swallowed Aba around the tank. The real issue I have is with the deaths of Aba's #4 and 5, I purchased them (around 5-6 inches long) put them in a 100 gal. tank with a Golden Shark roughly around the same size as their only tank mate. Aba #4 lasted around 2 days, I woke up one morning to see the Aba dead by a rock with it's stomach slit open. Went out got another Aba around 2 months later, put it in the same tank with the golden shark, which was still roughly around the same size as before. #5 lasted around 3 days, when I woke up in the morning I saw that #5 had suffered the same fate (stomach slit open with no other cuts or scrapes other than that one). I refuse to accept that the golden shark did this, frankly because I think it's impossible (I'm no pro, but a golden shark just isn't equipped to do that to an Aba thats around the same size) but it's the only common denominator. This is a grow out tank that usually has a strong current, and is well stocked with guppies (that the golden shark doesn't touch). For Aba #4 I shifted the spray of the powerhead upwards so there wouldn't be much of a current, but didn't have any feeders in there (I was letting the Aba get settled in and was going to wait for 3 days before feeding him). For Aba#5 I left the powerhead how it usually is so the tank had a strong current, and stocked it with feeders a week prior to the Aba's arrival (because I thought that #4 may have died from eating gravel or something and it needed a diversion). Anybody have any ideas how this happened twice? Sorry 'bout the rather long explanation.
AbaAba Question
- Thread starter Jungle
- Start date
i have the Clown Knife and Black Ghost knife and i had another rare type knife but never had the AbaAba ..so it will be interesting for me to know too..
Sometimes I think that the AbaAba's just died and that maybe the golden shark dug into it's stomach, but I don't know if that behavior is in a golden sharks makeup. But it was a clean top to bottom slit in both cases.
alot of it is stress related i think .... abas are extremely sensitive when young i heard. hope u find luck in raising one. i think ill wait till i get another 150 for i try one.
I guess letting it grow out in a tank all by itself is the best thing to do, but I honestly thought that the golden shark wouldn't count and would become food at some point.
They have a couple at my lfs. I'm tempted, but I don't think I can do a single fish tank...especially for a full grown Aba Aba.
i was able to raise my aba with my gator and rtc before DESPITE ALL THE DANGER OF KEEPING THIS FRAGILE AT THE SAME TIME DEADLY FISH WITH TANKMATES. i don't know... when he was young, he usually hid under his drift wood. untill he eventually grew it out and started hanging round the power head.... they grow really fast. at a point mine grew just a bit faster than my gator which was of course to my surprise. he'd take a shot at my gator's tail from time to time but nothing so serious happend to cause me to separate em....
anyway, i would suggest the community tank is a really risky set up for an aba aba. if u can't pull it off, try growing him alone. pristine water parameters.
anyway, i would suggest the community tank is a really risky set up for an aba aba. if u can't pull it off, try growing him alone. pristine water parameters.