I finally got a Arapaima (A true freshwater Monster) and wanted to start a thread here to share my personal experiences, lessons learned, growth progress, photos and facts learned on these wonderful monsters. I’ll update this thread with information obtained during this grow out and answer any questions I can that you may have. However, there are some great & informative stickys above that will also help you if you’re looking into keeping a Arapaima gigas. Again this thread will be / is just my own personal experiences with this fish and I recommend you do some serious research as I did before considering this monster as a pet...
Okay, here’s the deal though, this is my first Arapaima and so my first experience with this fish so I’m no Arapaima expert..(yet)..lol but have taken care of many other monster fish and have been a serious fish keeper for over 20 years so I’m no noob to fresh water fish. I haven’t posted in this forum before either but doesn’t mean I’m new here… So with that said, I’m not looking for negative comments or feedback… of course I know how large these fish get & yes I can care for and house these fish appropriately and no I didn’t get this fish to look cool etc…(All garbage I’ve seen on other threads that has in turn ruined them) So with that outta the way please enjoy my Arapaima grow out thread…
I’ve dubbed this lil guy “Juggernaut” he's only about 5" now but will surly live up to his name - Here’s the first few pics while acclimating him. - (I'll post some more tomorrow in the tank)
I’ve read that like most juveniles the Arapaima are quite fragile in their early stages of life, for Arapaima this means until they reach that 8”-10” mark so these first two months will be most critical. Also I have read all kinds of growth rate information that seems to be all over the board really and of course that’s because growth rate is really governed by a number of different factors, however I feel if you have the basics covered it will mostly come down to diet & how often you feed. From what I’ve researched, I’ll expect to see a growth rate of around 2”-4” a month based off the diet I’ll have him on and the feeding schedule I’ll use. Of course the one thing I can’t account for at this time is his genetics but for now will assume the best..
Thx for looking!!
Till the next update -
Okay, here’s the deal though, this is my first Arapaima and so my first experience with this fish so I’m no Arapaima expert..(yet)..lol but have taken care of many other monster fish and have been a serious fish keeper for over 20 years so I’m no noob to fresh water fish. I haven’t posted in this forum before either but doesn’t mean I’m new here… So with that said, I’m not looking for negative comments or feedback… of course I know how large these fish get & yes I can care for and house these fish appropriately and no I didn’t get this fish to look cool etc…(All garbage I’ve seen on other threads that has in turn ruined them) So with that outta the way please enjoy my Arapaima grow out thread…
I’ve dubbed this lil guy “Juggernaut” he's only about 5" now but will surly live up to his name - Here’s the first few pics while acclimating him. - (I'll post some more tomorrow in the tank)
I’ve read that like most juveniles the Arapaima are quite fragile in their early stages of life, for Arapaima this means until they reach that 8”-10” mark so these first two months will be most critical. Also I have read all kinds of growth rate information that seems to be all over the board really and of course that’s because growth rate is really governed by a number of different factors, however I feel if you have the basics covered it will mostly come down to diet & how often you feed. From what I’ve researched, I’ll expect to see a growth rate of around 2”-4” a month based off the diet I’ll have him on and the feeding schedule I’ll use. Of course the one thing I can’t account for at this time is his genetics but for now will assume the best..
Thx for looking!!
Till the next update -
and will try to sway from that for obvious reasons... In the beginning, whenever I get a new predatory fish in the juvenile stages I'm very careful though to make sure it's getting enough to eat but Immediately begin to ween from live... It needs to eat a lot during these stages so sometimes it's tricky but you want to assure what it's getting is the right foods and feeders alone will not cut it. I have pellet trained many predator fish successfully and every fish I currently own is pellet trained, however I still feed much more than just pellets.. Here's an idea of what I feed my fish and what this lil guy will be getting -
