Aimara Behavior

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nzafi

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2008
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Do aimara every do weird things? I couldnt find my aimara the other day at first and discovered him in the corner of the tank, next to the filters/heaters with his face to pointing to the bottom and tail to the top of the tank. I literally thought he was dead, but he clearly was not after I poked him. Water parameters are fine also.

I am a little concerned because he went from eating like a champ every day and gobbling food in front of me, to not eating every day and refusing to eat in front of me. I had to fish some food out the tank like a week ago and it was the first time I had to put a net next to him. He went batsh!t and since has stopped hitting food when it hits the water.

Curious if he is still stressed or maybe they just change behavior. When I had piranha they were known for just doing weird crap all the time.

He is in a 180g by himself and is probably between 8 and 9 inches.
 
nzafi said:
Do aimara every do weird things? I couldnt find my aimara the other day at first and discovered him in the corner of the tank, next to the filters/heaters with his face to pointing to the bottom and tail to the top of the tank. I literally thought he was dead, but he clearly was not after I poked him. Water parameters are fine also.

I am a little concerned because he went from eating like a champ every day and gobbling food in front of me, to not eating every day and refusing to eat in front of me. I had to fish some food out the tank like a week ago and it was the first time I had to put a net next to him. He went batsh!t and since has stopped hitting food when it hits the water.

Curious if he is still stressed or maybe they just change behavior. When I had piranha they were known for just doing weird crap all the time.

He is in a 180g by himself and is probably between 8 and 9 inches.
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Red Aimara Red Aimara
 
Aimara are known to go on fasting periods sometimes for months once in a while but that's usually at larger sizes above 1'. As for the way it was resting, Ive had wolves do that, it's not out of the ordinary ime wolves lay in very awkward ways sometimes thinking they're blending in they won't move or jump if you tap on the tank or anything. That being said they don't like changes so maybe you changed something that could've caused him to lose his appetite.
 
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nzafi said:
Do aimara every do weird things? I couldnt find my aimara the other day at first and discovered him in the corner of the tank, next to the filters/heaters with his face to pointing to the bottom and tail to the top of the tank. I literally thought he was dead, but he clearly was not after I poked him. Water parameters are fine also.

I am a little concerned because he went from eating like a champ every day and gobbling food in front of me, to not eating every day and refusing to eat in front of me. I had to fish some food out the tank like a week ago and it was the first time I had to put a net next to him. He went batsh!t and since has stopped hitting food when it hits the water.

Curious if he is still stressed or maybe they just change behavior. When I had piranha they were known for just doing weird crap all the time.

He is in a 180g by himself and is probably between 8 and 9 inches.
Click to expand...

My Aimara is in a community tank and goes on eating strikes all the time for even two or three weeks at a time. Just like Moe said most wolves are weird like that.
 
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This guy is irritating me. He continues to not eat. I have even tried leaving shrimp or silversides in the tank for prolonged time periods. I am guessing the continue major maintenance on the tank is what is stressing him. I did a full breakdown of all filters over the weekend plus deep clean of the interior, heaters, powerhead.

I kept piranha for so many years that I was confident in behavior, changing to an aimara is unchattered territory and most of all, I just want this guy to thrive and grow. He was eating so much, daily and in front of me I did not expect this to happen.
 
Just give it time bro. This isn't unheard of, wolves, especially wc, tend to not like change.
 
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moe214 said:
Just give it time bro. This isn't unheard of, wolves, especially wc, tend to not like change.
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Understood. I think I am just disappointed in the personality, which I am guessing will change as he gets out of the juvenile stage. Then I will start seeing the "dont put your hand in the tank behavior". I actually don't care if he is "super" aggressive. I just want to see him swim a bit and come out and eat in front of me. I go into his room to check him out and he literally was in the exact same position from last night around 8pm to this morning around 11am.

Right now he has one large piece of driftwood to give him some hiding spots. I was thinking of removing it as another member on this site did that and it resulted in their aimara coming out of their shell.
 
In the wild aimaras are found in high current areas so adding current may help, of course the fish will have to e comfortable with the tank to swim around and then comfortable with you for you to see, I used to walk in my room and see a black shadow zip to cover, took months for my city to get comfortable with me in the room and then longer to get comfortable with me up close. Now he flares at me most of the time. Also, by some of the old guys experiences, wolves are always more active the more space they're given and as they get confined they get less active. Aimara is an ambush predator though, you won't see it swimming back and forth much but more cruising and hovering if it ends up being an active specimen, I've only had one active mala out of maybe 8 I've had throughout the years, that fishes personality was the best, I was able to pet it and even hand feed it, it hovered at the top all day long and would follow me back and forth, wasn't overly aggressive to tankmates, and never aggressive to me. You might have lucked out and gotten a ash specimen. If activity is what you want though and you want a wolf, golds are your best bet, I got mine and he was all over the first two days or so but was constantly chasing the odoe, now he's all beat up and the odor wouldn't let him move for like a day or she'd attack him. He's recovering really fast though. For Hopkins city pita and aimara are your best bet for activity, my city used to hide a lot till he got comfortable with me now he's all over the bottom and at night all over the top and sometimes he coasts back and forth throughout the tank in the light. I'm sure you were asleep at some point, they pick out a spot they like to stay in to relax, he probably swam around at night and went back at some point. You can remove the dw if you'd like, but it may just prolong the behavior you're seeing as now he'll have nowhere to hide, or it could make him feel like he has nowhere to retreat to and he'll start flaring at you. Wolves are very unpredictable lol, I'm sure he'll come around
 
Yup. My guys used to be all over the top. I'd hear him from the other room splashing at the top and when if come to the room he would cruise around before settling somewhere. He's just returned to that hiding behavior like the first 2 weeks that I got him.
 
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