I wanted to know who else on MFK kept these fish, I have one that is about 13-14 inches currently who was named "Ghengis the Golden Dorado" because he never stops fighting with the pack of peacock bass that share the tank with him currently, he never stopped fighting with a 16 inch Gold Clown Knifefish that he was with before (the same 16 inch GCK OSA has for sale at $90.00 and is a steal great fish eats out of your hand and grew 10 inches since september), the only fish he ever slightly cowered from for some reason was the smallest fish I ever put him with which was a 7-8 inch Nile Perch. I've also noticed how depending on what lighting feature I'm currently using his aggressiveness towards tank mates changes as well. He is a very personable fish and eats out of your hand...(although his teeth that are coming in have been making that difficult..), he is also not a picky fish but he is also not as "food aggressive" as I originally had thought he would be. I got him from Jeff Rapps in February when he was 8-9 inches so they grow fast, he also never stops moving but is very comfortable when their is a current in the tank as he likes to get right up in the current and just swim into it calmly kind of like the bagarius sp.'s do when you turn off the lights. People say you can't keep these fish with anything but so far that is hardly my experience at all, that may change when he's older faster and has bigger teeth however, but thus far I can say Bass-Bichir-Dorado combo has worked out well, it worked fine with the perch too until he died unfortunately, but the combo I have now is good the dominant peacock bass which is the peruvian fights with the dorado from time to time especially when only the backlights on for some reason but due to his tough fighting back he doesn't get the same occasionally torn fins that the two new CB mono's I have get. He does go after the bichirs when they go up for air and at feeding time (which is because oddly he prefers to eat off the bottom if not out of my hand and will almost never go after anything alive or that I just drop in..has to be out of my hand). He never really hurts the polypterus though because they are too tough scaled and his teeth really aren't much right now.He also sheds his teeth twice a month from what I've gathered and won't eat for 2-3 days during that process and only starts eating more gradually daily after that for the next two weeks, its as though its a painful process or something. He is an absolutely stunning fish with developing "vittatus tigerfish stripes" on his body a head thats turning gold and a set of tail and fins that are turning bright gold and in the tail red enveloping jet black throughout the middle of his tail. He has so much character which surprised me though, when he's calm and well fed and the lights are off he even lets me pet him in between his runs at the peacock bass and the bichirs as they lazily swim up to gulp air and don't even consider the fact that he's biting them.... I feed him mostly silversides,krill, occasionally goldfish, and his favorite are live earth worms which he basically jumps out of the tank for when he see it in my hand...( but even then he'll only get it when it hits the bottom or if I hold it and let him bite me...never when I just drop it and let it fall down). Now on tankmates in the future truth be told I'm still looking for some guidance, the tank is 220 gallons as you can tell from my signature and I know he'll get pretty big and I know he's fast the footprint is 72" length 30" width and 24" height. my hope is that the peacock bass will "pack up" like they tend to do once they get more comfortable with each other and then they will be able to fend him off some, the bichirs should be find with him for life IMO as they all get pretty large (Ornate,Endlicheri,Palmas) but if the bass dorado combo doesn't work long term when the fish grow I'll have a tough decision but I'll likely keep the dorado and add a curupira wolf fish and see how it works out if the wolf can lie comfortably with the bichirs. I keep the temperature at around 82-86. As a fan of native tanks and knowing they're resemblance to trout I wondered if trout's aggressiveness in a community tank would match that of the dorado. I have never seen a golden colored on in captivity either so if someone can find a picture of one I'd love to see it because I've never seen another fish that actually can't reach its same color potential in captivity except for this one, thats how unique the dorado is in the aquarium hobby. I also want to know if anyone has kept any of the other Salminus sp.'s as well and if so if they had seen a difference in the two. Has your dorado killed any tank mates? How did yours die? What are they vulnerable too in terms of parasites and light related spaz attacks kind of like ATF's? Or, what other fish have your successfully kept with Salminus Maxillosus? These are questions this impending sticky would need to answer if week can get some people who have kept them before to share a bit.
This has been my experience with Salminus Maxillosus in the last 5 months, I want to know what I can expect from long time keepers, I want pictures and most of all I want your experience with these fish and possibly collect enough on them through MFK's experience with them to get a dorado sticky done. I will add pictures very soon, most likely by the end of this week and hopefully a feeding video. Thanks for reading.-Ryan
This has been my experience with Salminus Maxillosus in the last 5 months, I want to know what I can expect from long time keepers, I want pictures and most of all I want your experience with these fish and possibly collect enough on them through MFK's experience with them to get a dorado sticky done. I will add pictures very soon, most likely by the end of this week and hopefully a feeding video. Thanks for reading.-Ryan
I think the most important thing with toning down the dorado is to have many fish in the tank... otherwise i'd say the Dorado has to be added after the Armatus, so the Dorado doesnt have a territorial response immediatly ... people think big teeth are thus the more dangerous fish, but its not true, although if they bite it can be all over... in my experience its the constant badgering of 1 fish to another that causes death, and from seeing my Dorado, thats unfortunately the category he falls under