ARAPAIMA GIGAS
- Thread starter RedTigrinus
- Start date
Like what was said, at 6" they are very hard to ship, so they tend not to do well.
Tank is too small. Even at that size, they need room to swim and develop. Young are ten times as active as full grown adults. That constant swimming aides in muscle development and will shape the rest of their growth. I'd start them in at least 150 gallons at 6" - if not more. How much circulation does the tank have?
78F should be bumped up into the low 80s. I run mine between 82-84F when they are young. (Of course I keep them above 80 as adults, too.) Warmer temp helps them metabolize the food they are consuming and aides in proper growth.
Feeding may have been an issue. Even when young, I fed 6 days and fasted one. I never let them gorge feed, it was always a controlled amount. I've seen young get over stimulated with live food and eat too much causing various issues in the GI tract, leading to death.
Tank is too small. Even at that size, they need room to swim and develop. Young are ten times as active as full grown adults. That constant swimming aides in muscle development and will shape the rest of their growth. I'd start them in at least 150 gallons at 6" - if not more. How much circulation does the tank have?
78F should be bumped up into the low 80s. I run mine between 82-84F when they are young. (Of course I keep them above 80 as adults, too.) Warmer temp helps them metabolize the food they are consuming and aides in proper growth.
Feeding may have been an issue. Even when young, I fed 6 days and fasted one. I never let them gorge feed, it was always a controlled amount. I've seen young get over stimulated with live food and eat too much causing various issues in the GI tract, leading to death.
the red colour is obtained through genetics......technically the females have a thicker line of red compared to males......besides.....most arapaimas out there are sold with the red colour
To the contrary. I've observe the little ones I purchased are very slow to eating live fish. I placed them initially in the 240 with the ATF's, and the Coreoperca whiteheadi (other chinese perch aka flower perch), and the Hephastus Carbo (coal grunters), and the baby peemas' couldn't compete with the food. This reason, I had to separate them and put them in their own tank, 30 gallon, temp at about 78-80, with lots of water flow, but not powerheads. These little monsters (keep in mind, they are still babies), are flimsy and clumsy and sometimes are not very good hunters. But once they get to 10-12 inches, watch out. Any food in the tank gets chomped down with an explosion on the water level. Fun fish, but gets way tooo BIIIGGGG!!!! The biggest I've seen in an aquarium (not public) is a 24inch specimen in a 240g tank . Beautiful to watch. I was told that fish was two years old...so it's quite awhile before you start to worry about having to find a larger home...gomezladdams said:Seems the secret is not to stuff those baby monsters in a tiny tank
Yeah, ppl here ask all the time about the water and ph and all that crap. Sometimes it's just the stress of being shipped overseas, the stress of limited o2 and varying temperatures during the shipping processes along with the starvation can be very traumatic for many fish. By the way, ph has virtually no effect on fish. I don't care, discus, arowanas. Ph is way overrated. I live in san diego where the ph is 7-8 and my discus are doing great and very big.
Vince said:
Also from the wild a lot of times they come with an internal parasite that needs to be taken care of to ensure survival. this parasite should not go to your othyer fish but needs to be removed from the pima
pH is another topic. it is mostly dangerous when it fluctuates. sudden changes, whether it is pH, temperature, or any other element in your tank can cause stress, disease, and fatalities.
