Full grown Adult Blue Acara, any pics?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

glenbo

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2008
853
1
0
England
Hi i have never seen a 8" Blue Acara, the biggest i have had is around 4", does anyone have any pics?
 
I had one that got killed by a tankmate last year, and at 4 years old was nowhere close to 8"...biggest I've seen are maybe 6"
 
Yeh people keep saying to me they are a guaranteed 8" fish, but i have kept loads for years and never seen one past 4"...maybe 5" max

I'm just trying to work out my eventual stockign in my 120g

My stock is..

Rotkeil Sev
Red Spot Sev
Gold Sev
Blue Acara
3 x Tapajos
Jurupari
Angel
20 Colombian Tetras
2 x Silver Dollars
BUlldog Plec

Although i am considering offloading the Tetras and Bulldog plec later on to get a wild Oscar.
 
I think in the wild you can find 8" blue acara but 6" for males and 5" for females seems to be the norm. Mine female is a year and is 4" but I think she is still growing. Once they hit 3" the growth slows down.

Here is my 4" female
PB191430.jpg


here is a photo I found of a big male. They can or should get 8" but our tank bred mutts don't normaly. Yes most of our blue acaras in trade are not pure Aequidens Pulcher
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2259/2320067209_d15c80752e.jpg
 
I've only seen two 6" SL males before in person. I suppose like oscars they can grow larger in an aquarium than they do in the wild though ... or maybe people think they are fishermen and are using TL (counting the tail fin as well).
 
Naw, I've seen quite a few that still use SL here ... mostly the old timers that have been keeping aquarium fish 15-20+ years.
 
I don't think an 8" Blue Acara exists, unless it was mixed with some other Aequidens sp.
 
When I first got back into fishkeeping, I had my heart set on blue acaras. The guy at the fish store assured me my 37 gallon tank was too small for even one. I wish I had known about MFK then. I'd still love to have a pair of these amazing cichlids.
 
Diogenes - I've kept a breeding pair in a 40 gallon breeder (36"x18" footprint) twice along with a school of medium sized tetras. Never had any issues.
 
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