African Odoe Pike or Schomb Payara?

[RocketGarStar]

That's an armatus... lol. Take a look at the sticky. Odoes don't get much bigger than a foot. They're not super active they hover majority of the time. I'll agree they like company.

Curious have you kept either? Or done much reading on them?

I have kept hydrolycus sp. of a few varieties and was hoping to keep odoes in the future. Sadly, I just don't think that they are very suitable for home aquaria at all. They (payara in particular) die off young, don't eat, or grow too large. Even if it does grow to adulthood - both species are dangerous and once again, payara in particular need fast moving water and massive MASSIVE tanks. No, I have not done much reading on odoe pike, but I intend on doing so, especially now.

 

[RocketGarStar]

That's an armatus... lol. Take a look at the sticky. Odoes don't get much bigger than a foot. They're not super active they hover majority of the time. I'll agree they like company.

Curious have you kept either? Or done much reading on them?

I have kept hydrolycus sp. of a few varieties and was hoping to keep odoes in the future. Sadly, I just don't think that they are very suitable for home aquaria at all. They (payara in particular) die off young, don't eat, or grow too large. Even if it does grow to adulthood - both species are dangerous and once again, payara in particular need fast moving water and massive MASSIVE tanks. No, I have not done much reading on odoe pike, but I intend on doing so, especially now.

 

[moe214]

I have kept hydrolycus sp. of a few varieties and was hoping to keep odoes in the future. Sadly, I just don't think that they are very suitable for home aquaria at all. They (payara in particular) die off young, don't eat, or grow too large. Even if it does grow to adulthood - both species are dangerous and once again, payara in particular need fast moving water and massive MASSIVE tanks. No, I have not done much reading on odoe pike, but I intend on doing so, especially now.

Seems the payara you have in mind is armatus. I can agree they aren't really suited for aquariums due to their adult size. They do like current but it isn't necessary by any means. Odoes are very suitable for aquariums imo. Not demanding, hardy, not hard to get to accept pellets, not much for aggression. Biggest I've seen reported is 14".

When you say payara you are mentioning more than one species so generalizing isn't advised. The sp the op is asking about us scomb. Don't think anyone has reported keeping one over 2 years before "sudden death syndrome" occurs. And no one has grew one past a foot for sure. And isn't aggressive. Armatus on the other hand plenty have grew to 2'. Don't think anyone in the US has kept one for more than 5 years or so, but over seas they seem to not have the issue. Armys are also aggressive as they grow.

I'd suggest reading the sticky to get general knowledge and also learn the difference in identifying each. For odoe, you'll have to use the search function or start a thread.

I'm sure the main reason odoe was suggested over scomb is due to being longer lived than that specific sp of payara. Probably activity level and likelihood of defending itself. Also as it grows it gets nice coloring on its fins and a sheen on its scales.

 

[HarleyK]

I’ve bred Odoe in a 6 ft tank.
Wouldn’t go smaller on length
They live in still waters, absolutely no current.
Cohab with oscars has been successful, including by another guy who bred them.

 

[PYRU]

My vote is for odoe in this case and they don't get that big. I'm not sure why they're not suitable