baby Hoplias aimara ?

[peter predtank]

little update on these guys the smaller feistier guy ended up killing the sun fish that were sharing his tank . the other bigger more reserved one didnt bother his sun fish at all . i am trying them together again in a 180 for now . when i netted them to my surprise the calmer fish totally attacked the net , flaring up and striking the net hard a couple times .

im still monitoring them in the 180 . its the smaller one that is proving to be a bit of a problem . his fins are fine but , the larger one has a coupe splits in his fins .
i havnt seen the smaller one do any biting but the split fins are there and i know hes more aggressive . its funny because they swim around the tank together almost like they have formed a pair . they lay together and even almost seem to play , following each other all around the tank . if one emerges from under the leaf cover the other is right behind it .

i almost wonder do fish have the capacity to play ? like rough house like cats or dogs and other warm blooded animals do ? if i didnt know better i would say thats what it looks like they are doing lol

 

[nzafi]

How big are they and what's their growth been like?

 

[peter predtank]

there about 9 inch now , so they have grown about 3 inches maybe 3.5 since june . i havnt been power feeding , but they are fed fairly good i would say .

 

[moe214]

They look good. Filled out nicely. Love the green hues. It isn't just the two of them though right? I don't see it working if so, just my opinion though. Maybe the little guy had little man syndrome lol. He's smaller and takes everything as More of a threat maybe.

As for them being capable of playing, I suppose it's very possible. They are capable of determining friend from foe, or what's a threat and what isn't, they definitely can develop dislikes for certain specimens, and protecting something that isn't their mate or spawn ( my curu has proven this to me by flaring at me when I get to close to the bichirs and he'll throw his body in front of them and cover them, even the endli which is bigger than him in length lol ). I watched a video where a female umbee who was paired with a male for 10+ years seemed to mourn when her mate passed; she wouldn't eat for weeks and wouldn't leave the spot where he died, prior to the removal of the body she was laying on it and didn't wanna move when the owner tried to remove it.

 

[peter predtank]

hey moe , yes it is just the two of them . well other then the payara that i hoped was a army . but turned out to be a tat .
so i moved him cuz i dont think he will really make it with the two wolves . i have soo much oak leaves in there that it seems to help with keeping just the two wolves together . my plan is still the same i will eventually just settle with one wolf which ever i like the best after a while . and sell one .

that is a cool story about the umbee and your curu . maybe they are capable of behaviors we would consider a little more advanced then what we may think of for fish . as i type i watching what appears to be play between these guys they are swimming together now

 

[moe214]

hey moe , yes it is just the two of them . well other then the payara that i hoped was a army . but turned out to be a tat .
so i moved him cuz i dont think he will really make it with the two wolves . i have soo much oak leaves in there that it seems to help with keeping just the two wolves together . my plan is still the same i will eventually just settle with one wolf which ever i like the best after a while . and sell one .

that is a cool story about the umbee and your curu . maybe they are capable of behaviors we would consider a little more advanced then what we may think of for fish . as i type i watching what appears to be play between these guys they are swimming together now

I made a thread of the curu coming across the tank to defend my ornate. And the video of the umbee was by a guy named skip, his name on youtube i believe is fishlaw, might have two ones at the end. I think they are smarter and more capable than most people give them credit for.

If so it would surprise me that two solitary fish are doing so. It'd make sense for schooling fish to but not solitary ones.

 

[peter predtank]

i do remember reading about your curu a while back . got a couple more pics of the wolf fish snuggling lol

 

[moe214]

It'd be cool if you had male and female, they look great

I know mala has been bred but that's it AFAIK

 

[peter predtank]

i have been wondering if these could possibly be male and female , could maybe explain the size and personality difference ... i would say if so , i might have really lucked out on these guys . would need a in ground pool to house and breed them lol

although i did see the thread with the guy whos mala bred and they were very small compared to the potential size that mala can reach if i remember correctly .
maybe these guys could breed at a small size as well

 

[peter predtank]

by small size i mean maybe 20 inch or so