Got my Greater Siren!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
J

jewbo

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 18, 2010
64
0
0
Florida
Just wanted to tell everyone that i got 5 baby greater sirens and one 1.5ft long siren!
Thank you to all who helped me out on trying to obtain these beautiful creatures. I named the big one Reptar who is missing his right foot. I mostly got him because no one would want to take something home with a missing foot. Anyway if someone knows anything at all about greater siren care and can give me a few pointers let me know.

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Sweet! I've got two greaters about the size of your big one. Care is easy. Ambient temp is fine. Mine eat sinking shrimp pellets, nightcrawlers, and f/t shrimp from the grocery store (the more intact the shrimp the better). They like tunnels and caves. I had to separate mine because they bite each other during feeding.

And the good news: that foot will grow back.
 
I had no clue they could regenerate their limbs. Thats fantastic news!
I do have a problem with the big one night really eating, I give it blood worms and shrimp pellets every day, he has no clue that there is food right in front of him. Should i try something else? and do they like crickets at all? and what plants did you put in your tank? I dont want to get a plant that he cant eat. Thanks.
 
Those foods should be fine. He may take a while to settle in. Don't worry if it takes a while for him to start eating- they can go a very long time without food. Just keep offering food every few days until he eats. They seem to be smell-based feeders and will usually become active and start prowling around when they smell food in the tank. They have poor vision and will often swim right past a food item if their snout does not actually contact it. I haven't tried crickets, but I think the sirens would have trouble finding them (not that they won't eat off the surface- my lessers eat floating flake food).

I keep my tank bare-bottom with only PVC-pipe hides for decoration. These guys are bulldozers and most plants will be destroyed. A drifting mass of hornwort or moss is probably your best bet, or a massive potted plant with heavy pebbles guarding the substrate. If you must have small rooted plants, the only thing I would suggest is to avoid aroids (crypts, anubias, pothos, philodendron, etc.) as they are known to be toxic to some animals. Big sturdy aroids that he couldn't ingest, like a potted peace lily, should be fine.

Forgot to mention substrate. These guys inhale anything that's in the general area when they detect prey. If you don't go bare, opt either for sand (which will mostly go right back out the gill slits, and is easily passed if ingested) or pebbles larger than the siren's head. Smaller gravel will be ingested and could possibly cause medical problems.
 
Thank you so much for your help Noto, I really appreciate it.
I decided to go to my job and pick up some plants (two melon swords and 1 telanthera), they go great with the tank and i also got some large gravel that he wont be able to digest, i may need to replace the gravel to a bigger size once he gets larger though. I actually just put in a snowflake eel into my tank too (brother got him and had no tank to put it in) and they seem to be getting along just fine but now i have to wait longer to put the baby sirens into the big tank. I do have a question though, how long should i wait before putting baby sirens into the big tank? I currently have a red belly pacu, a 6inch jade goby, 2 3inch peacock bass, a 10inch snowflake eel, the greater siren, an unknown puffer fish (its not figure 8 or green spotted its just plain brown and tiny), and a couple feeder fish and ghost shrimp with 3 crayfish. and the tank is currently 40 gallons, I cant upgrade the tank till a customer special orders a 125 gallon tank.

and to answer xenia's question i got them shipped to me from salty city from the guy named Leonard who was really great and answered most of my questions and actually gave me an extra greater siren =D!
heres his official website http://www.freewebs.com/saltycity/animalsavailable.htm
heres the one i found on kingsnakes http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=126&de=857410
 
Thank you so much for your help Noto, I really appreciate it.
I decided to go to my job and pick up some plants (two melon swords and 1 telanthera), they go great with the tank and i also got some large gravel that he wont be able to digest, i may need to replace the gravel to a bigger size once he gets larger though. I actually just put in a snowflake eel into my tank too (brother got him and had no tank to put it in) and they seem to be getting along just fine but now i have to wait longer to put the baby sirens into the big tank. I do have a question though, how long should i wait before putting baby sirens into the big tank? I currently have a red belly pacu, a 6inch jade goby, 2 3inch peacock bass, a 10inch snowflake eel, the greater siren, an unknown puffer fish (its not figure 8 or green spotted its just plain brown and tiny), and a couple feeder fish and ghost shrimp with 3 crayfish. and the tank is currently 40 gallons, I cant upgrade the tank till a customer special orders a 125 gallon tank.

and to answer xenia's question i got them shipped to me from salty city from the guy named Leonard who was really great and answered most of my questions and actually gave me an extra greater siren =D!
heres his official website http://www.freewebs.com/saltycity/animalsavailable.htm
heres the one i found on kingsnakes http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=126&de=857410
 
You've got some serious issues with your stocking. I would absolutely not put these with your fish, especially a puffer. If it's brown, it is probably one of the target species, which are particularly vicious fish. ID here: http://www.**************.com/forum/ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/

Those sirens are going to put a TON of waste in your water--keep alone.

The pacu grows to 4'. Find another home for it. The Snowflake eel is a high-end brackish fish that will prefer marine conditions. What's with the feeder fish???
 
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