Moody has a very shallow display which prevents them from jumping too much and pulling the birds in. But anything that hits the surface is fair game. The ones at DWA did fairly well with a bunch of ducks and misc geese and swans on the surface.
Arapaima Gigas Alliance
- Thread starter fire999
- Start date
I picked up a pair from Southland Aquatics. They were about 12" or so at the time, but have grown considerably since then. I've got a 1 meter deep 750 gallon rearing pool for them until the display pool is finished in a month or so. The display is roughly 20,000 gallons. If I had been employed here when it was designed, I would have pushed for something far larger. I know both won't be able to fit, and already have another zoo who is willing to take the second fish when they out grow their space together.
Juv. arapaima do well on live food. I'm giving them a few different minnow species at this point. Once they are older, I'll switch them over to thawed fish. I'd estimate each fish eats between 20 and 30 1" minnows daily. Both are very active, but one is much more interested in people than the other.
Juv. arapaima do well on live food. I'm giving them a few different minnow species at this point. Once they are older, I'll switch them over to thawed fish. I'd estimate each fish eats between 20 and 30 1" minnows daily. Both are very active, but one is much more interested in people than the other.
Thank you for the reply. I am a hobbyist and have had 2 ara's in the past. The first jumped out over 20 years ago. So over the next 15 years I saved and I built 2 large tanks for my future ara and other biggies . I had a problem with the 2nd ara due to a black shark in the tank that harassed the ara inflicting many bites and eventually killing the ara from stress. The shark is only 2 feet long. The ara was 5'5" (126 lbs) and just under 4 yrs when it died. The ara was eating about 150 to 200 lbs of fish a month at that point (Mackeral, freshwater white fish, smelts, shrimps and unlimited african and central american cichlids). The estimate of 150 to 200 lbs was just the fish I bouht each month from a grocery seafood wholesaler.
The tanks I built are 15K and 50K+, The 3 young ones I bought a month ago have grown from 6" to 12" mainly on freshwater smelts, feeders(that I bred and raised myself to avoid disease) and shrimps (the cocktail type). They may have taken a few pellets as well. They are in a 180 gal. aquarium now. 50% water changes every 4 days. They are in with a megalops Irwini (17") 4 10 " goldfish to teach them to eat pellets and 2 baby motoro stingray pups I bred (7-8"). I was planning on moving them to a 800 gal tank when they are about 16". THe tank has a motoro female in it about 20" wide, 2 cuban gars about15", 1 red tail asian catfish about 14".
After the 800 experience, I am thinking of moving the aras to the 15K (L shaped 28x18x6 deep), but you know have me worried that it will be too small, and perhaps I will have to try them in the 50K (L shaped 36x27x9 deep). The shark is still in that tank, I can't catch the shark due to the lava rock reefs I put in the tank (28,000lbs of lava rock).
What would you recommend in diet and future tank moves?
The tanks I built are 15K and 50K+, The 3 young ones I bought a month ago have grown from 6" to 12" mainly on freshwater smelts, feeders(that I bred and raised myself to avoid disease) and shrimps (the cocktail type). They may have taken a few pellets as well. They are in a 180 gal. aquarium now. 50% water changes every 4 days. They are in with a megalops Irwini (17") 4 10 " goldfish to teach them to eat pellets and 2 baby motoro stingray pups I bred (7-8"). I was planning on moving them to a 800 gal tank when they are about 16". THe tank has a motoro female in it about 20" wide, 2 cuban gars about15", 1 red tail asian catfish about 14".
After the 800 experience, I am thinking of moving the aras to the 15K (L shaped 28x18x6 deep), but you know have me worried that it will be too small, and perhaps I will have to try them in the 50K (L shaped 36x27x9 deep). The shark is still in that tank, I can't catch the shark due to the lava rock reefs I put in the tank (28,000lbs of lava rock).
What would you recommend in diet and future tank moves?
i've been a fan of the gigas since the first time i saw on in a zoo acouple of years ago. i pretty sure i'll never have the funds to purchase one, house one, or get all the paperwork done to own one. the monster still facinates me though, can anyone tell me there temperement? are they territorial? aggressive? i know there carnivorous, i've heard that they can grow up to 15' in the wild, and i've seen one up in person that was atleast 10ft. what is the largest gigas ever found? love all the pics you guys have posted, anyone have a pic of an albino? or full red?
heh, weird. was writting up my post about the gigas. i had animal planet on in the background on tv, the jeff corwin experience was showing and guess what they were talking about? the pirarucu (a. gigas)!!!! they caught 2 of them with a huge blue tarp and 2 poles (took like 9 ppl to catch one) anyways, just wanted to share some info i got from the show. the gigas mainly eats bonycatfish in the wild, using there bonecrushing mouth (even there tongue is armor plated) to smash there prey. males tend to be more colorful then females, but the female tend to me alot wider. they have a something bladder or organ that allows them to breath oxygen for short amounts of time. man, wish they focused more on the gigas, the went on to snakes. anyways, just though i'd share this info.
KurseD said:
thanks for sharing man, i learnt something new from your post, the part about them being able to eat bony catfish and having amour plated tongue!
ya man, i wish there are more documentry about monster fishes, rather then the usual reptile like crocs' and snakes. haha
they have the same type of tougne as arowana mmmmm thats why they are called boneytoungezhuangsw said:thanks for sharing man, i learnt something new from your post, the part about them being able to eat bony catfish and having amour plated tongue!
ya man, i wish there are more documentry about monster fishes, rather then the usual reptile like crocs' and snakes. haha
