Arapaima Gigas

[Luc70]

there are no hard rules. twice a day is fine. you will learn to judge how much food by how hungry he is when you feed him.

they grow very fast a 3 to 4 footer may only be two years old.

Thanks, that gives me some guide to keep in mind. Here is a video of yesterday feeding: http://youtu.be/3kTa_Gs4Y-M

He is very easy it looks. Planning on pond now. Max I can go is 20x10 ft. Approx 4 to 5 ft deep.
Square pond, 1/3 covered with a wood deck, rest open.

I am really surprised he is in good condition. He stayed in very dirty polluted standing water for about 5-6 weeks!

 

[Luc70]

I should be ok with the pond size for some years I think from what I have read so far. But in case, I will check with some zoo and public aquarium ppl in BKK when i get a feeling that he is not comfortable anymore. An exit strategy... For now, I am really hooked, this is a beautiful fish

 

[Luc70]

there are no hard rules. twice a day is fine. you will learn to judge how much food by how hungry he is when you feed him.

they grow very fast a 3 to 4 footer may only be two years old.

One more question for you JohnPTC: can you give any estimate on amount in weight of food per feeding?
He had a cup full of prawns 5 hours ago, large ones, about 10 in total. After that he turned away, looks like the feeding was enough.
Now he's very active, chasing around the pond, going after the feeders, so clearly getting his appetite coming back. Good sign, but just curious to your experience with feeding.

 

[Luc70]

there are no hard rules. twice a day is fine. you will learn to judge how much food by how hungry he is when you feed him.

they grow very fast a 3 to 4 footer may only be two years old.

Hello John,

Just to update, not sure if you followed the thread on my Arapaima...He's doing great it looks. Very smart fish, likes attention and his pellets. Currently still in the temporary pond, but putting on weight very fast.
Initial wounds around his mouth are all gone, lets himself touched and stroked over his head. Chases feeders for the fun of it, not really hunting them what I can see.
Initial plans for a pond at home are on hold, but will start digging for a bigger pond at the factory soon. Hope to get about 4x9 meters, (13x30ft) at the surface with 45' slopes to keep the corners ok for him.

But in short, this is an amazing fish. Can now understand the how and what about Monster Fish keeping. Mr.T. as I call him hooked me, after being hooked and caught in a fishing-lake himself many times before...lol.
Food-wise, he's happy with 3x a day a cup of pellets. He chews on them, grinds them, half of it coming out again through his gill-plates, floating up and eaten again..
Nothing beats prawns for him though, but happy my wallet stays ok with the pellets...

Read through the many posts of you and other members about Arapaima keeping... Appreciate the efforts involved. Helped me learn a lot in a very short time... Thanks!

Cheers,

Happy Arapaima-owner in Thailandf

 

[Luc70]

Zoodiver, Johnptc, got a question for you.
I've looked at pictures from Johnptc's tank, and see a lot of 'sharp' objects in it.
Does your Arapaima ever scratch itself?
So far, Mr. T, manages to scratch himself on even the smallest corner of a plastic net that I have around the pump.
He scratched himself again, just at the rim of the eye and I'm worried about it, trying to find ways to avoid him scratching himself...

For the scratch, anything that is possible to make it faster healing?
I'm limited in my resources right now, we're building the bigger pond as fast as possible, but anything I can check or do here, I'll try it.

He still is as normal as he can be, as tame as he can be, comes over and eats normal, lets himself touched on his head and sides...very nice and happy fish. Just worried about those scratches he manages to get...

Thanks in advance.
Luc

 

[Luc70]

Well, not much replies from here. But to close my previous post: I found that Mr. T. likes to dash after smaller fish, (not surprisingly of course), but the smaller fish would hide in a corner behind the pump and the cage around it.
Mr. T. would dash into that net and then get scratches.
So I've for now hung the pump more in the middle of the pond from a steel rack. Free from the bottom, so if he bumps into it, it would swing away.

As for the scratches, 1 is completely gone, the other one is now only a very small mark that's almost gone.
Did almost daily water-changes since my last post, and it seems all is good. pffff.

Mr. T. is as always, begging for food, happy, very sweet and tame. His pond-mate to be, a hybrid RTC is getting more and more used to my hand-feeding, so with luck, that might make a very funny combination in the new pond we're building right now.
Really look forward to have the new pond ready for them, 10 x 5 meters, plenty of space compared to his 2 x 2.5 meters now.

 

[Luc70]

there are no hard rules. twice a day is fine. you will learn to judge how much food by how hungry he is when you feed him.

they grow very fast a 3 to 4 footer may only be two years old.

Quite some time ago I posted here, but my arapaima is doing great. From the initial unknown and insecurity I had on keeping such a big fish, I'm now totally comfortable and very happy with him.
Not sure if you've seen the pond-build thread I kept, but from original 3 foot, he's now a good 4 foot long, strong, healthy and beautiful to look at. The pond we build for him is about 10x6 Meters, 1.5 meter deep. Water is crystal clear with 2 large bogs taking out all the rubbish.

The Arapaima is quite dark brown color over almost his entire body except for his belly.
Amazing thing is, he is very easy and calm with feeding, waiting and looking but hardly ever snapping on the food. He doesn't start eating before I first stroke and pat him a bit or just push him around. He loves it, darting away once I push him in his flank, using my hand/arm as a springboard to dart away. Makes a quick turn, comes back and then starts eating his pellets, but with every mouth full, he rolls over, waiting for me to first push him away for another round.

 

[bmxer4ever]

Just checking this thread out again for the first time in over a year and it's good to see another 'Pima keeper. Just read Luc70s pond build thread - great stuff and some very good ideas. Just shows you that there's more than one way to do something! I thought the filtration/bog system was excellent - borrowing ideas from nature! Fish look very healthy and happy. Result.