Please post your Raphiodon V. pics and experience.
- Thread starter M.Carfi
- Start date
Just lost mine a while back. Not sure why. Had it since 03 I believe. Lil shy of 14 inches. Rhaphs are by far the most skiddish of all the Payara. Need a huge tank. Very unflexable. They do backflips when they eat. Will smash into the lids more times then not so it would be very wise to keep the water level 3-5 inches below the lids. Grow pretty fast up to 8-10 inches then tend to slow down. I kept my guy in my pond after 10-11 inches as it always had a messed up grill from trying to swim through the side of the tank and that was when it was kept with few tankmates in a 2.5' deep 300 gallon. As far as I know I was the only one to grow one over a foot in a home aquarium. Very prone to damaging their face. I had one that did permenant damage to its face so bad that one tooth never grew in properly. Wore its snout down so bad it never healed. I called him "Poo Bear" lol. Do best in groups. Would highly recommend very carefull selection of tankmates. They need to be docile and seem to do best if they are the dominant fish in the tank.
Good luck! Definetly a challenging yet very rewarding fish to keep.
Good luck! Definetly a challenging yet very rewarding fish to keep.
Have you been to Aquarium Center lately?They had some two weeks ago,from the batch that they got in the summer.M.Carfi;3691240; said:
got mine up to 12 inch before it died. DB has it right very skiddish mine had no front teeth from hitting the lid all the time. I feel pretty bad too it was only in a 125 6 foot for 5 years
db more or less covered it.
the raphs were the first post I made on MFK. that must of been about a year ago. Have had 7 or so of these. Had 4 juvis, and added 3 8inchers later. The photo below is the last of the juvis. The others all died, mostly due to fear/hunger strike or injuries. Injuries weren't from ATF, rather gars I erroneously kept in the tank. The raph that's still with me today gets shanked every now and then but heals fine. It hovers in one spot, does the loop dee loop thing when scared but back to the same spot. Need a big tank sufficient to accomodate it's escape maneuvers and a psychologically well settled fish. The ones i see in LFS's all have "FUBAR" noses (small crowded tanks) but a large size which tells me they can be pretty tough and survive less than stellar conditions. I'd like to try again and grow out a pack of these guys when space frees up.
Carfi, suggest getting larger fish where possible. the 2-3 inch sizes are really really fragile. growing out in species spec tank is safer. They generally aren't aggressive to other fish but will tango within the species.
the raphs were the first post I made on MFK. that must of been about a year ago. Have had 7 or so of these. Had 4 juvis, and added 3 8inchers later. The photo below is the last of the juvis. The others all died, mostly due to fear/hunger strike or injuries. Injuries weren't from ATF, rather gars I erroneously kept in the tank. The raph that's still with me today gets shanked every now and then but heals fine. It hovers in one spot, does the loop dee loop thing when scared but back to the same spot. Need a big tank sufficient to accomodate it's escape maneuvers and a psychologically well settled fish. The ones i see in LFS's all have "FUBAR" noses (small crowded tanks) but a large size which tells me they can be pretty tough and survive less than stellar conditions. I'd like to try again and grow out a pack of these guys when space frees up.
Carfi, suggest getting larger fish where possible. the 2-3 inch sizes are really really fragile. growing out in species spec tank is safer. They generally aren't aggressive to other fish but will tango within the species.
DB said it very well. if u kept them in a very large calm tank they will do great.
i have 2 in a 180 gal right now doing great!!
i have 2 in a 180 gal right now doing great!!
They heal at a very fast rate, and are able to recover from major injurys. I used to have 5 of them, 2 decided that life within the seperator was too boring and both got eaten by rays, the other four are living with a pair of armatus. Although they do get shanked now and then, they seem to survive... I wish I had another tank for them, the armatus have been trying to kill everything lately...
GL with your future Rhaphs!
GL with your future Rhaphs!
Thanks for the great info......I don't think I'm going to go out of my way to get a few, but if I happen to stumble upon them I am def gonna pick them up. I have little to no aggression in the tank, and I do like a challenge so I think I will go for it.
DB and Mad your stocks never cease to amaze me. Even in old pics.
If I'm thinking of picking something up ...... I knew you'd have experience.
DB and Mad your stocks never cease to amaze me. Even in old pics.
If I'm thinking of picking something up ...... I knew you'd have experience.