Alright this may not be the best place to do this but I am still learning how these forums work and my intent is to post hopefully helpful info after raising Uaru for about a year. I use these forums for info so I thought I would share...
Over the last year I have raised 2 different groups of Uaru I purchased over the internet, 10 total. Beginning size as small as a quarter ~1".
I have found these fish easy to keep and interesting to watch. I have them in a sand bottom tank with basic filtration (wet dry sump overflow, UV) and I have not experienced any real problems. Size varies through the group and it does seem to correlate with dominance and diet. I feed them cichlid pellets Hirkari gold, but they also take massivore and will take cut shrimp and TIlapa (this stuff is not intended for them but they get it).
They like romaine lettuce best but they do crap a lot more when they eat it compared to other foods. One of them is really focused on the tilapia chunks looks kind of ugly compared to the others that eat mainly pellets and lettuce, no surprise there.
After about a year they are 5-7" long
One of the most interesting things I see about them is when a larger fish comes after them they go broadside to it (I have a large pike that attacks them occasionally) and take away angles where they could be bitten. Pretty cool. They don't run away from stuff they should. they just get sideways and hold their ground. Seems like an intelligent choice compared to running where the tails would get bitten or worse. They seem to understand their shape and are smart enough to use it to their advantage. Thats my observation anyway.
I have had a few ph crashes and noticed that the slime coat kind of balls up on them when the ph drops to around 6, you can see white clumps that clear up quickly with a water change. They fight a little amoung themselves but it dies not get too serious. They also seem to carry parasites but they don't get too bad. One of my largest has an small area behind the pectoral fin that is red and white without scales. A few of the others have the same kind of thing in their armpits sometimes and it seems to come and go .
I run the temperature high at ~ 82. As they get bigger I am weeding them down to a smaller group, the plan is to end up at 5 total.
Summary: they eat anything and everything, can hang with large predators without getting injured, really like lettuce but crap a lot when they eat lettuce. Seem to be intelligent and come right up to me when I look into the tank, not skittish, mellow slow moving cool, large chiclids that are cool to watch, hardy and do not cause trouble.
Thats my story, I hope someone who is considering Urau finds this helpful at point
Over the last year I have raised 2 different groups of Uaru I purchased over the internet, 10 total. Beginning size as small as a quarter ~1".
I have found these fish easy to keep and interesting to watch. I have them in a sand bottom tank with basic filtration (wet dry sump overflow, UV) and I have not experienced any real problems. Size varies through the group and it does seem to correlate with dominance and diet. I feed them cichlid pellets Hirkari gold, but they also take massivore and will take cut shrimp and TIlapa (this stuff is not intended for them but they get it).
They like romaine lettuce best but they do crap a lot more when they eat it compared to other foods. One of them is really focused on the tilapia chunks looks kind of ugly compared to the others that eat mainly pellets and lettuce, no surprise there.
After about a year they are 5-7" long
One of the most interesting things I see about them is when a larger fish comes after them they go broadside to it (I have a large pike that attacks them occasionally) and take away angles where they could be bitten. Pretty cool. They don't run away from stuff they should. they just get sideways and hold their ground. Seems like an intelligent choice compared to running where the tails would get bitten or worse. They seem to understand their shape and are smart enough to use it to their advantage. Thats my observation anyway.
I have had a few ph crashes and noticed that the slime coat kind of balls up on them when the ph drops to around 6, you can see white clumps that clear up quickly with a water change. They fight a little amoung themselves but it dies not get too serious. They also seem to carry parasites but they don't get too bad. One of my largest has an small area behind the pectoral fin that is red and white without scales. A few of the others have the same kind of thing in their armpits sometimes and it seems to come and go .
I run the temperature high at ~ 82. As they get bigger I am weeding them down to a smaller group, the plan is to end up at 5 total.
Summary: they eat anything and everything, can hang with large predators without getting injured, really like lettuce but crap a lot when they eat lettuce. Seem to be intelligent and come right up to me when I look into the tank, not skittish, mellow slow moving cool, large chiclids that are cool to watch, hardy and do not cause trouble.
Thats my story, I hope someone who is considering Urau finds this helpful at point
