Red tail payara care

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I would advise a powerhead but they can suvive with a filter with a strong current. You'll need a tank way bigger than a 150 to hold all those fish though. Perhaps a 350 gallon tank will do.

I would suggest a powerhead. Not only does it increase flow, but gives your fish a workout swimming in the current. Helps burn off and metabolize their food. Plus stirs up debris so it doesn't settle. Down the road you will definatly need to upgrade that tank with those fish. The sooner the bettter.

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the biggest armatus comes from a lake i've heard
 
holy crap. i stopped getting notices for updates on this thread months ago and never released all this had happened but i might as well update y'all.

ok so i ended up getting my RTP at 6" for $90. he had dull colors and only ate live food. here are some pics the day i got him.
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now, thanks to dammitkhoa who has helped me a lot with tips for my RTP, my RTP is developing some nice colors. he won't eat pellets but he loves various fish fillets and i stick mega fish formula NLS inside the pieces of fish. now he has colored up nicely. also from personal experience, my RTP hates current. my output on my filter is pretty strong so i set that to make a nice flow for my payara and he does everything he can to get out of it. he even stayed away from it when the lights were off. he stayed hidden behind the same rock for around 6 days and didn't eat. so i turned the nozzle so there wouldn't be any current and he is doing much better(although my gar wasn't fond of this choice as he did enjoy swimming against current). i've also discovered that they are more hardy than people say they are. i had a very busy time period this year and forgot to do a water change for almost 4 and half weeks and nothing phased him(i also do have pretty good filtration though). he didn't lose color or stop eating(which people have told me they would). he even eats right after i do a water change.

PLEASE READ: SLIGHTLY MORE INTERESTING
my RTP is also not skittish as people often say this about them. he follows me around the tank, is response to my movements, eats right out of my hands, will also jump out of the water to get food from my hands, and he will allow me to pet or stroke his scales without him frantically swimming off. he has become when of my favorite fish even though the rest of my family hates him.

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and yes, about today days after i originally posted in this thread(which was still months before anyone had) i had read that sticky over and over and over again.

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lol why does your family hate him?

Because it looks "gross, mean, prehistoric," and was fairly expensive for a fish in their eyes. Although I really like the look of its tan/gold colors my family doesn't.

Also I have to add on a side note as far as tank mates I've had success with these

-Florida gar(no interaction ever)
-Marble sailfin pleco(no interaction)
-Lima shovelnose(slight aggressiveness from Payara)
-ornate bichir(no interaction)
-rope fish(slight aggression from payara)
-jack Dempsey(usually fighting, including a lip lock which didn't end well for either, puncturing JD mouth tissue and ripping out a tooth from the payara and dislocating the other but both healed up)
-red blood parrot cichlid(aggression from cichlid)
-Convict(lunch for payara)
-channel catfish(no interaction)
-Sun catfish(no interaction)
-four line pim(slight mutual aggression)

And that's all I can think of. All these fish were in my tank at some point in time with my payara but never all at the same time.





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nice info! looked like an armatus when you first got it!
 
Actually guys i dont have a payara YET but i really want one. Also anybody with ATF experiance? I want both but idk if the ATF would be all good with my jardini (aggressive as all hell). For sure buy a larger tat then i would buy like a 2-3 inch armatus and grow it up to move in the main tank.. But the plan is to get the biggest tank i can buy (used) with $1000 and build a sump for it. So far a 200 gallon so ya. I had a red tail payara before at like 10 inches and died:(, ill put up a pic here in a second of it. Thanks everyone for the help, lets keep this thread goin!
-Dean
 
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