Wild Max Sizes vs Aquarium: What is actually seen in an Aquarium?

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dbcb314

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 4, 2007
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Tallahassee
This was taken straight from Anne's primer.


Species and sizes
maximum known sizes often smaller in captivity


P. palmas palmas.................................13"
P. palmas polli.....................................14"
P. palmas buettikoferi...........................13"
P. ornatipinnis.....................................27"
P. delhezi...........................................14"
P. senegalus senegalus.........................12"
P. retropinnis......................................14"
P .mokelembembe..................................?
P. weeksi...........................................20"
P.teugelsi...........................................16.75''
P. endlicheri endlicheri..........................32", possibly more
P. endlicheri congicus...........................39"
P. Bichir lapradei..................................24"
P. bichir bichir.....................................30+ ''
P.ansorgii...........................................28-30+''


As with most wild maxes, I would assume this is based off of the biggest one they have caught in the wild. But what have you guys noticed/seen as max sizes or typical max sizes in an Aquarium?

I am especially curious about the bigger species... the ornates, weeksi, endli, congs, and lapradeis. Many people here have these species, but I haven't noticed any 3 foot long congs and 30 inch endlis posted online.
 
I've seen 30" congis here :naughty:

But I believe they were wild caught.

I consider between 24"-30" to be the average.
 
JohnPTC has a large endli that's probably about 28" or so if I remember correctly. Also Ashdavid used to have a congicus that was around 30". It could have been larger but it died prematurely. Ornates, I've seen 3 of them at an LFS that were close to 24". For the Ansorgii, there was a pic from Japan that was probably 30" or so. Ashdavid's bichir bichir is still a juvie but chances are it might just pass the max recorded size based on its growth rate. To achieve max size, the bichir has to have the right genes and also the space to grow to its full potential. Except for the ornates, these large bichirs are housed in very very large tanks.
 
another thing we need to keep in mind when talking about sizes in aquarium is whether the fish was IMPORTED at that size or GROWS to that size. I think dbcb314 is interested in the latter.

While wild max recorded size for congicus is 38", i have yet to see or hear one this big, so the 38" one that the measurement was based off of may be more of an exception than the rule. In captivity, i believe it can grow to 24"-30" (for a greedy feeder and with a bit of help from good genes). From what i've read, once over ~24", growth slows considerably.

as for lapradei (all variants), the largest i realistically expect in aquarium is about 18", and already that will take a very long time. Usually they're stuck at a smaller size. Largest wild caught specimen i've seen is 24".

Largest endli endli i've typically seen in aquarium is ~24"+. johnptc's would be biggest i know of. In typical aquarium, they may not even reach 24", typically more like somewhere between 20"-24".

largest ansorgii i've seen is ~30", wild caught. Not sure how big a small one will get in aquarium.

i have a palmas polli that grows to 14"-15", and a palmas palmas that grows to just under 13" from about 8".

So yes in general, i do believe the average max in aquarium (and in the wild) is smaller than what's listed, at least for some of those species.
 
Very well explained, thank you Inf! :headbang2
 
Hello,

i want to do a correction about the size of Polypterus teugelsi in captivity ...

My Polypterus teugelsi is 19,68 inches long (50cm) and it seems he do not want to stop growing!
It's not a mistake from Anne ... she only had dates from a time when Polypterus teugelsi was a real newbie in aquaristics.

Greetings

Uwe
 
uwe;1833047; said:
Hello,

i want to do a correction about the size of Polypterus teugelsi in captivity ...

My Polypterus teugelsi is 19,68 inches long (50cm) and it seems he do not want to stop growing!
It's not a mistake from Anne ... she only had dates from a time when Polypterus teugelsi was a real newbie in aquaristics.

Greetings

Uwe
Click to expand...

I got my teugelsi at 16" last Sept, and it's over 20" and is still growing too. There's another teugelsi same batch imported in a school lab is already 24".
 
infblue said:
another thing we need to keep in mind when talking about sizes in aquarium is whether the fish was IMPORTED at that size or GROWS to that size. I think dbcb314 is interested in the latter.
Click to expand...


yep thats what i am talking about... someone taking a fish and raising in captivity to max size. not taking a maxed size fish from the wild and saying "grew it to this size" thing

thanks for the responses so far

and about the teugelsi... it has been mentioned before than Anne made the primer when the species was still new and that was the biggest at the time.
 
I've got a 12" Palmas Polli, that's the max aquarium size i think!
it was 2 years old last april!
Teugelsi gets up too 25" ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
 
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