Big Big Arapaima gigas or Pirarucu !!!!
- Thread starter mon
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it has been proven that releasing fish DOES NOT KILL THEM IF YOU DO IT RIGHT. you cant cacth a fish, take it out of the water, take a picture, then just throw it back in and expect it to survive. you have to hold the fish by the tail and under the chin with its face to the current and gently move it back and forth so that water moves over its gills. you dont realese it, the fish releases itself. it siwms out of your hands and then swims away. this may take a long time before it is ready to go but it will work. also, if the fish swims out of your hands very slowly, it is not ready to go. you need to grab it and start again. there are two other methods that i know of. 1) stick the tip of your thumb in the fish's mouth (if it doesnt have large teeth) instead of holding it under the chin. the fish usually gently bites down and holds on until it is ready. 2) if you are in a boat, hold the fish the same way only with the boat moving VERY slow. the second method is used with big offshore fish like billfish. like i said, releasing a fish WILL NOT KILL IT. if you watched fishing shows, you would know the right way to release a fish so dont say you cant do it succesfully. you dont know what you are talking about.
it has been proven that releasing fish DOES NOT KILL THEM IF YOU DO IT RIGHT. you cant cacth a fish, take it out of the water, take a picture, then just throw it back in and expect it to survive. you have to hold the fish by the tail and under the chin with its face to the current and gently move it back and forth so that water moves over its gills. you dont realese it, the fish releases itself. it siwms out of your hands and then swims away. this may take a long time before it is ready to go but it will work. also, if the fish swims out of your hands very slowly, it is not ready to go. you need to grab it and start again. there are two other methods that i know of. 1) stick the tip of your thumb in the fish's mouth (if it doesnt have large teeth) instead of holding it under the chin. the fish usually gently bites down and holds on until it is ready. 2) if you are in a boat, hold the fish the same way only with the boat moving VERY slow. the second method is used with big offshore fish like billfish. like i said, releasing a fish WILL NOT KILL IT. if you watched fishing shows, you would know the right way to release a fish so dont say you cant do it succesfully. you dont know what you are talking about.
my 2 cents
my 2 cents
Lizardfish, I don't want to start an argument, I just hate seeing misinformation. These are the facts. I've worked with adult Arapaima in large facilities including Dallas World Aquarium, where I was Freshwater Curator. It is a fact after the struggle these large Arapaima go through inorder to be caught by fishermen, they will die.-without a doubt. I have transported large Arapaima from different public aquarium facilities and even in the BEST conditions the least amont of stess will do in a large specimen. The fishermen shows you state as an example have no relevence with concern to these animals. The amount of struggle it takes to catch a bass doesn't even come close to what it takes to catch an Arapaima. Also the amount of stress is not equated in every species and adult Arapaima have a very low tolerance to these types of stesses. Your guildlines have no stated "facts" on when you released the fish it survived. The only way to know that is to track the animal and record the survivability rates. Which in the public aquarium setting can and has been done. it will always take time for an animal to die from these stesses. The Arapaima will also "swim" away but the effects of the capture are more than just the imediate signs of fatigue.
I am stating this so people can learn from factual experience and learn about these animals furthur. I think you should take a little more time to find research on a matter before saying someone "doesn't know what their talking about.". If you have any first hand experience on the subject I would be glad to hear it. I'm always open to other peoples experiences. Just don't including vague references to fishing show releases that have no statistical successes vs. failures.
BTW, Matt or Zoodiver, what are you doing in Minnasota?? Did you get tired of "Double Work Aquarium"? This is Gary, Gray's friend. I was there before your tenure.
I am stating this so people can learn from factual experience and learn about these animals furthur. I think you should take a little more time to find research on a matter before saying someone "doesn't know what their talking about.". If you have any first hand experience on the subject I would be glad to hear it. I'm always open to other peoples experiences. Just don't including vague references to fishing show releases that have no statistical successes vs. failures.
BTW, Matt or Zoodiver, what are you doing in Minnasota?? Did you get tired of "Double Work Aquarium"? This is Gary, Gray's friend. I was there before your tenure.
Hey, I remember you! I got tired of almost dying all the time while working in the "Shelf". I had two near misses in the same week while my spotter wasn't paying attention. No way I was gonna deal with that any longer. I left right before Gray and the Doc did. Haven't heard the term "Double Work Aquarium" in a long time.
And your right, gigas especially stress out and drop like flies....even after they seem to be fine and swim away. It took 12 of us a better part of a day to catch the 10' gigas at Ft Worth. And it was only in about 35,000 gallons.
And your right, gigas especially stress out and drop like flies....even after they seem to be fine and swim away. It took 12 of us a better part of a day to catch the 10' gigas at Ft Worth. And it was only in about 35,000 gallons.
That's a great website. In my opinion, they shouldn't be catching Pangasionodon gigas because of its endangered status. I hope those pictures are old. Speaking of which, I thought P. gigas was a vegetarian. How are they hooking them?
I agree with the catch and eat method as well, especially for a large food fish like arapaima.
I agree with the catch and eat method as well, especially for a large food fish like arapaima.
ok sorry. there is evidence that these fish did not die because of all of the tagging programs that are around today. most of the fish that are tagged are large open water game fish like billfish, tuna, ect. when i made a reference to the fishing shows i did not mean bass fishing. sorry i did not clarify that. i did a google search for the survival rate of catch and realese arapiamas and did not find any thing. if you could post a link about it i would greatly appreciate it. are gigas endangerd? if so why are people allowed to fish for them. when jewfish (huge grouper) became endangered, they put out so many laws that protected the species. why dont they do it far gigas?
also, please dont think that the fishing shows that i watch dont care about fish because they do. sorry i said that you didnt know what u were talking about. i just said that because i dont ike it when poeple say that catch and release doesnt work.
didnt mean to offend you sorry.
also, please dont think that the fishing shows that i watch dont care about fish because they do. sorry i said that you didnt know what u were talking about. i just said that because i dont ike it when poeple say that catch and release doesnt work.
didnt mean to offend you sorry.
I do release a lot of fish that are to small and a few like sturgeon that are to big, I think most survive, I either use very heavy gear for the fish so I can "horse it "in or very light gear and a quick net so that the fish barely knows it is hooked. Using "correctly" sized gear leads to a protracted fight and some fish will die from fatigue shock that way, I have had sharks and flatfish do tis. I also read that survival rates for large nile perch being released were quite low, under 50% though they did not define large. I have never seen it written but I bet the same holds true for large payaya. Some fish are more susceptable than others and even taggers prefer darting sticks when possible for large fish.
Lizardfishman, hey man no problem, disscussion is one of the greatest ways of furthuring knowledge. On tag programs, usually the method of tagging is suited for the targeted species. Sensitive species are usually tagged in the least stressfull manner possible, like pole tags. As far as Arapaima endagerment, no one has done a definitive wild population assessment. The general consensus is they are being over fished in their natural habitat and need furthur restictions on game fishing. The dwindling sizes of wild caught specimens is a clear indication to support this theory. Unlike the asian arrowana the Arapaima have no farm raised facilities yet, which means they have more pressure from over-fishing than Asian Arrowanas. The ability to govern restrictions on any animal depends greatly on where they are found in the wild. Jewfish, as you stated are much more visible of a species and found in more accessable areas. This makes them easier to manage or control overfishing. The Arapaima are found in less developed nations and in their accessablity is very difficult, all of which make restirctions or protection more of a piece of paper vs. actual managment.
In my opinion farm raised Arapaima is the probably the best choice to help keep the species from extinction. Unlike the marget for farm raised Asian Arrowanas, which is the aquarium trade. The Arapaima would probably be raised as a food fish, since few people can house an adult Arapaima. At least this way the wild populations would recieve a break as the only source. It would also provide knowledge on the general husbandry and reproduction of this animal and provide brood stock to subsidize the wild populations that are under threat.
HTH
In my opinion farm raised Arapaima is the probably the best choice to help keep the species from extinction. Unlike the marget for farm raised Asian Arrowanas, which is the aquarium trade. The Arapaima would probably be raised as a food fish, since few people can house an adult Arapaima. At least this way the wild populations would recieve a break as the only source. It would also provide knowledge on the general husbandry and reproduction of this animal and provide brood stock to subsidize the wild populations that are under threat.
HTH
