"The" Dorado thread....

[DB junkie]

I'd like to try to start compiling info/experience with Dorado.

It's still unclear to me if these fish CAN be housed in a community setting or not. Anyone can do something once, as I have seen a vid of a trio cohabbing with other fish, but this is the only evidence I have seen of adults living with eachother and other fish.

I thought my trio was good to go, but had to move my big one last night after I mistook the Odoe that was smashing into all 6 sides of the tank for someone knocking on my door.

I HAD 4 Odoe and 3 Dorado together no problem. Moved some stuff around and over the course of a week lost 2 Odoes to suicide jumps from my pond in the small 1-2 hour windows it was uncovered. 2 Odoe was huge difference from 4. Skittish wayy worse. After just 2 days 1 Odoe (larger) was shredded. Apex Dorado was removed and the 2 smaller ones, 2 Cynos, and 2 Odoe all seem fine now.

Would like to hear more from other hobbyists thier experience with Dorado..........

Maybe we can learn from eachother's successes, failures, mistakes, and improvements.

 

[DB junkie]

Mad ness..... I know you can help out here, considering you have one of the biggest shoals I know of, have them mixed with other fish and seem to know a lot about different variations.....

 

[vamptrev]

im not a dorado keeper but i see them in comm tanks at zoos all the time.

 

[DB junkie]

im not a dorado keeper but i see them in comm tanks at zoos all the time.

How big are the shoals? How big are the individual fish? Got any pics?
Curious if they can achieve the sizes you see them in the fishing pics, in tanks.... Even the zoo's monster tanks would shed some light on the achievable sizes out of the river.


It's always been speculation they must be kept in groups to be kept with other fish.

I believe the bigger the shoal is, the more room you have for individual specimens' size differences.

My shoal of 3 didn't fail amongst themselves but rather with tankmates. I believe the largest one became apex of the group, then in turn became apex in the tank. If I had a larger group maybe it wouldn't have happened. If the size differences weren't so extreme maybe it wouldn't have happened. When the Odoes outnumbered the Dorado it DIDN'T happen. Maybe it was the fact that before the Dorado were added to the Odoes tank, and this time the Odoe where added to the Dorado's tank.....

Man I hate maybes.....

Half the reason for starting this thread..... I figured lots of MFKers out there have Dorado, and it's got to be getting close to the time where they are the size to start becoming problomatic if we can't figure out how to tame them by keeping them properly. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe we are going to be reading all about them soon.... In the classifieds.

 

[vamptrev]

the ones that stick out in my head are the ones at shedd.

there were about 3 or 4 of them in a HUGE tank with tons of other fish. they were about 3 feet long and they all swam solo not in a shoal

heres the only dorado pic i took, this guy was at least 3 feet

 

[koop171]

this is mine. He's 9"+ I've had him since he was 6" He's housed with a 8" motoro two 8" tor mosal and a 14"+ giraffe catfish.

the dorado Never eats live and rarely harasses the mosal. He has never gave the bottom dewellers and problems. And Has not ever attacked anything just chased the mosal but only when he's hungry.


He's eating anything that will sink to the bottom of the tank. Shrimp, shrimp pellets, Hikari sinking gold and NLS sinking.

And he's already showing his adult golds. Might now be alot of help but that's my Experience.

 

[DB junkie]

3 foot? Oh geez. That's rediculous..... What did I do?

I think experience with a single fish is just as important as experience with a shoal. Not everyone keeps a group, it will be helpful to those that don't. But more importantly it shows they can be mixed without HAVING to have a group.

So once it's fed aggresion drops? I noticed similar results with mine. Seem to have a VERY high metabolism, and get grumpy fast, and hungry fast. See them chasing excessively then seem to calm down after some food. Mine seem to prefer smelt over other foods.....

 

[RADIATED]

i have 4 dorados 7" in size, as of now i dont have problems with them. they swim together and hunt there food as a group. i just dunno how long they will stay like that. i house them in my aqua pond type tank and hoping to grow them like in the wild(30" target size)

no tank mates yet but i will be picking up my hystrix ray to join them also planning to put some cichlas

 

[krichardson]

I started off with two before I knew that such a small number was not the best way to go so I sold one and the one that I have now is in with three eight inch peacock bass and a few other cichlids.My dorado is about six inches in length and from the beginning I have kept its diet varied and now it takes Hikari Arowana pellets from the water surface and also krill.It is not very agressive toward the others in the tank but will chase some fish from time to time.

 

[DB junkie]

I started off with two before I knew that such a small number was not the best way to go so I sold one and the one that I have now is in with three eight inch peacock bass and a few other cichlids.My dorado is about six inches in length and from the beginning I have kept its diet varied and now it takes Hikari Arowana pellets from the water surface and also krill.It is not very agressive toward the others in the tank but will chase some fish from time to time.

Did they begin fighting then you sold one or did you sell 1 before the fighting began?

Does the chasing stop after feeding?