So i went to the National Zoo last weekend and i absolutely love there amazonia exhibit. Last time i was there was just before their massive ray die off. I was a little Dissapointed at the ray exhibit this time but it was still awesome, unfortunately i forgot to get pictures of this. They didnt have the two arowanas that they had the last time, but they did have a few large motoros and one small black diamond. The tanks really cool, only about 3 inches in depth and its in some odd trapazoidal shape with plants planted along the back and their roots going into the tank. they also have numerous school of smaller fish in the tank which im assuming are feeders.
Now time for the big exhibit. In here they had two large RED tails 1 large arapima a ton of huge, and i mean HUGE pacus and much to my surprise an RTCxTSN hyrbid. i thought this was odd because most zoos dont stock hybrids. In addition they had a few oxydoras nigers. What i thought the oddest thing was was the number of small cichlids they had in the tank, infact some of the cichlids had fry. My assumption was that these were originally inteded as feeders and just established themselves in the tank. I am no means a master at identifying cichlids but they also had what appeared to me to be a large flowerhorn which had an established territory by a sunken canoe in the tank, it would even chase off the large Pacus and Red tails.
They had another large tank behind that with all sorts of varying flag tails and plecos and other cichlids. there were also a number of fly river turtles in there, own of whom showed particular intrest in my girlfriend. i didnt get any pictures of this tank either. In another room they had numerous smaller quariums stacked on shelves with all sorts of plants and plecos in them. As you went upstairs they had a huge open area planted with all sorts of amazon flora where the animals were free to roam, they had numerous colorful birds, a few monkeys, and even a two toed sloth as well as turtles, all of whom were free to roam the tanks as they please
Ill attach two of the photos i took on here and im currently uploading a youtube photo of the large tank from my phone so its taking forever but ill be sure to link that on here onces its uploaded as well
this is the picture of the large tanks with red tails and if you look in the center by the canoe you can see what i believe to be the flowerhorn
This is a picture of one of thecichlids in the large tank, idk what species, but what you cant see is the batch of a couple hundred fry right next to it
Now time for the big exhibit. In here they had two large RED tails 1 large arapima a ton of huge, and i mean HUGE pacus and much to my surprise an RTCxTSN hyrbid. i thought this was odd because most zoos dont stock hybrids. In addition they had a few oxydoras nigers. What i thought the oddest thing was was the number of small cichlids they had in the tank, infact some of the cichlids had fry. My assumption was that these were originally inteded as feeders and just established themselves in the tank. I am no means a master at identifying cichlids but they also had what appeared to me to be a large flowerhorn which had an established territory by a sunken canoe in the tank, it would even chase off the large Pacus and Red tails.
They had another large tank behind that with all sorts of varying flag tails and plecos and other cichlids. there were also a number of fly river turtles in there, own of whom showed particular intrest in my girlfriend. i didnt get any pictures of this tank either. In another room they had numerous smaller quariums stacked on shelves with all sorts of plants and plecos in them. As you went upstairs they had a huge open area planted with all sorts of amazon flora where the animals were free to roam, they had numerous colorful birds, a few monkeys, and even a two toed sloth as well as turtles, all of whom were free to roam the tanks as they please
Ill attach two of the photos i took on here and im currently uploading a youtube photo of the large tank from my phone so its taking forever but ill be sure to link that on here onces its uploaded as well
this is the picture of the large tanks with red tails and if you look in the center by the canoe you can see what i believe to be the flowerhorn
This is a picture of one of thecichlids in the large tank, idk what species, but what you cant see is the batch of a couple hundred fry right next to it
