Hydrolycus Tatuaia and the great mystery?

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hybridtheoryd16

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 28, 2007
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OK well there has probably been 25 or so threads all over the internet on most popular fish sites from people looking for any proof of larger tatuaia over 12". Etheir in the wild or in a tank or from a fishing trip.

And no one has ever been able to provide any pics or proof that these fish get to the 18" size that most characins experts suggest.


But now i have a new question?

Does anyone have any pics or any footage of a small Tatuaia? Like under 4-5''?

We have all seen armatus and scombs and raph's that are pretty small in the 2-3" range, but for me never a tatuaia.

Most people think that the reason we may not see the big ones yet is because they haven't been kept as pets for that long yet. And that may be right.

But that doesn't answer why we don't see any little ones.

So does anyone have any insight on the small or big Tatuaia mystery?
 
I think it is not a popular sale for most part, so they sit for a while cause most people don't even go looking for them, when the vendor gets it it may be small, but I think it's because the most rapid growth period for these is between 4" and 8" and I'm pretty sure the growth rate at that period is a half inch per month. That is really fast to me. So it's like oh there's a tat, and oh there it is again like 4 inches bigger, wow that thing grew fast.
Another thing is that these are wild caught right? It amazes me how these things are caught at such a small size anyway, (meaning scombs and armatus). I'm pretty sure these fish are caught by net though am I right? Somebody please clarify the methods used to fish for these.
 
I've only owned 2 tat's for a few months now, but theres a LFS that has all predatory fish, especially marine nocturnal and the store owner gave me what info he had on tat's from keeping a school for over 8 years when i found my second one at his store.

Mr. Shumi theorizes that;

question #1: Under 3-4"s its necessary to school them or they wont eat and will die. but i dont know why theyres no pics...conspiracy maybe?

question #2: for growth...to get them big it takes about 2 years to hit 11-12 inches after you hit 8" they like retarded strong current and a few other fish in their tank. If your tat has to try to compete for food he just wont eat, so dont get aggresive fish and your tat should grow pretty fast.

for food, i got live and store bought cocktail shrimp, vitamin bloodworms, goldfish that i fatten up for 2 weeks before feeding with the good stuff, my first tat grew an inch in 3 months and my rescue tat grew 3/4" in the same time so hopefully we'll solve the big myth soon.
 
Check out the photos from Pedros collecting expedition in the Aquascape vendor forum.There is a shot of a nice sized tat.
 
krichardson;3330760; said:
Check out the photos from Pedros collecting expedition in the Aquascape vendor forum.There is a shot of a nice sized tat.
Click to expand...


If your talking about the one where there is a peice of a tape measure in the shot?

It looks to be around 8-9" IMO.

I have one that is 9" but growth is very very slow. I got it a year ago at 8".
 
there are a few pics of larger tats, ill dig them up...

i dont think many people have the patients for a tat, but i believe there are alot of people tryin to grow them out now.
 
mshuangchao;3331690; said:
http://www.opefe.com/images/HtatuaiaBaby.jpg
Here u go, should be the pic you're looking for!
Click to expand...


that pic is definetly interesting. Thanks alot

Someone out there must be awesome at IDing hydrolycus species cause I could not even give a good guess on a 1" fish.

I wonder how they could tell the ID? Or what specifically goes onto IDing a tat at that size?
 
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