Arapaima Pond size???

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lungfishlover

Feeder Fish
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Jan 25, 2010
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i am contemplating an indoor pond build and would like to know if i wanted to house an arapaima, what size would be sufficient - im talking bare minimum. what sort of fully grown size are we talking about? i've heard 10ft is what to expect. is this true?

any help/ experience appreciated! :headbang2
 
10 ft could be a pretty long time, a 8 feet arapaima could be well over 10 years old. 15 x 15 footprint and at least 2 feet deep could hold 1 or 2 for quite a few years!
 
Just to give you an idea, I had a 6 foot arapaima after two years. Asking for the 'bare minimum' could be the wrong way to approach these animals.
 
dont go bare minimum for arapaimas... they have massive power and could jump right out of a small pond, they can get to 10 ft but i think (not sure if it was arapaima) i seen on tv that a arapaima was at record length of like 15 ft and 250 pounds so id say bare minimum would be a footprint of 15x15' they do need more than 5' to swim so they dont feel cooked up and fee the need to jump.. maybe like 20'x15 or x20 somthing like that remember these beasts get huge and powerful
 
ROCKY-101;5143535; said:
dont go bare minimum for arapaimas... they have massive power and could jump right out of a small pond, they can get to 10 ft but i think (not sure if it was arapaima) i seen on tv that a arapaima was at record length of like 15 ft and 250 pounds so id say bare minimum would be a footprint of 15x15' they do need more than 5' to swim so they dont feel cooked up and fee the need to jump.. maybe like 20'x15 or x20 somthing like that remember these beasts get huge and powerful
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lungfishlover - ROCKY-101 is spot on. When you buy a house, do you go for the smallest house you could possibly find? Going for bare minimum means barely being able to house them especially in the long term.

However, it's rare for Arapaimas to reach anywhere near 15ft and all the figures being quoted have no real basis because to my knowledge none have been caught in the wild anywhere close to that size and in captivity well, its impossible they'd grow that large I believe.

Zoodiver would definitely know more about these beautiful fishes. I'm just a beginner and barely know much but I'm learning with each passing day.

Currently have a couple of juveniles approximate 20in long but will be moved to one of my ponds - currently have ten with the smallest being approximately 6000 gallons but on average they are mostly tennis court sizes. Not for commercial purposes but just as part of house landscaping. A couple are empty at the moment and I was considering setting up a fish rescue for those who would otherwise release into the wild but the mentality here in Malaysia is different - most want to profit from their mistakes not realizing that people who rescue fishes are doing them a favor housing and feeding their giants for the next few decades.

Locally our scene is still pretty rubbish. The ones who do discover MFK I consider the well informed ones but the rest are typical of what you guys see in the US who go to Petsmart or Petwhatever your pet store chains are called
 
i really don't understand y people want to buy huge fish then ask minimum size tank and people give sizes the fish will be cramped in.... realistically i minimum size tank should be the smallest size tank that the fish can have space to swim so with that said would say length wise the pond should be at least 3x the adult length and 1x adult length at a minimum other wise the fish will be cramped. so IMO a 10' fish should be in no smaller than a 30'x10' foot print
 
you have all raised valid points - i think my question should have been what size can i expect an arapiama to grow in captivity? people quote 15ft but realistically i dont think ive ever seen/ read of one reaching that size in the wild let alone 'at home'.

are we talking 7ft/8ft/9ft or.....

maybe there should be a thread documenting peoples fish size/age/tank size/diet etc so that all the info for them can be found on one thread to help people better understand the requirements for this fish.

it seems like there isnt very much good solid info on these fish - just the same generic stuff you see on every forum.

maybe its time to lead the way MFK!!!!!
 
I had the same thought while showering earlier today - yes I know its pretty random but really the much quoted size of 16ft or whatever the Arapaima is said to be capable of growing to is probably based on one specimen over a century ago and since then nothing near that kind of size has been caught or raised in captivity ever since.

It's like meeting the tallest man in the world who IIRC is from China and making assumptions that if we were to go to China, we'd be sat on by giant men. So I agree its not a fair assessment of true Arapaima sizes but even so, could the current size be an already stunted version considering the lack of food or space most are kept in?
 
Hello anyone im new . Interested to buy 2. Is it ok can live in pond in north California winter maybe 50-55f ..! My pond 10x30 x4.5feet with filter 10k gallons
 
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