Need payara info from a reliable source

[channarox]

K guys so how about temp. PH, Hardness, and more on their natural environment. Fast moving white water or slower moving rivers/streams, or fast moving murky water lol??

tank temps should be high as they catch ich easily.
i always keep my tanks at 30 degrees celcius.
fast moving water with lots of oxygen is great for them,and needed in scombs.
ph doesnt really matter but should be around neutral.

 

[Tigriuns™]

haha COOL! nope nvr. it's a one eyed jack? so it's my current armatus?! hahaha cool man. how old is this fish?

About the age not too sure should be 2006 during jason time. up it the same one...I remember seeing 2 big payara at that time still not so sure how to ID. then a group of small armatus look alike and a group of small cuban gar...

 

[R1_Ridah]

Hydrolycus Armatus

ID traits:
they normally swim at a leveled position
have much larger tail
broader bodies
down turned head
Red/orange adipose fin
black slash behind gill plate
white edged caudal fin
clear caudal fin base turning to black(but red varients have been coming out as of late.)

quoting JD7.62 from MFK,
"The key to IDing an armatus vs tat is the adipose fin. That is it. The adipose of the armatus is orange. A tats adipose fin can also be orange BUT it will MATCH the color the the tats caudal fin. In other words, if the adipose fin contrasts highly with the color of the caudal fin, it is an armatus."

Great info... on point

I have learned a lot the past couple of weeks about Armatus from everyone's input.

 

[xander]

a few good points from this thread
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155220

Temp? I heard they like to run hot. Actually one guy who has a 12"er says he always keeps them around 85

PH? I am sure they will be ok with just about anything around avg.

Current and O2?? I heard these guys need a lot of O2. Nothing like a schom., but should I go ahead and get a power head set up? I will probably be running the same filtration as in my 220. An FX5 and an aqua clear 300 with 1800 GPH pump. Think that will be enough current??

i'd suggest not having the plecos. at that size(3 inches), if they get attacked/their slime sucked off by the plecos, it's gonna be fatal.

just remember, warmer water can hold less oxygen, so you want to have that extra pumped into the tank for the armatus. might not be necessary, but then again, it's a worthwhile purchase

They do like warm water. Also the owner likes it too as they(the payara) can get Ich(and the warmer water cures ich). Warm water and salt would treat that stuff
I have a Pacific Imports GX model that pushes 4,750GPH and I am going to add some more current to the tank (not much more). Fish from most Rivers need high currents in their home.
Just know that in about 6-8months you might need to re-locate them or get rid of 2, before they kill eachother. This is the 2nd most aggressive charicin behind the Amari

 

[xander]

Increasing growth rates
quoting R1_Ridah, hope you don't mind. if you do i'll get a mod to remove it.

"I noticed a huge growth spurt on mine was actually when he was in my sump when I was re-doing my 600.
Reason being is that I had my pump (Dolphin Amp 3000) re-directed to my 125 sump. You can imagine the current being pushed through. The Armatus was basically forced to swim against the current. The constant activity helped burn & digest the food faster increasing his metabolism. Soon as I threw Goldfish in their it was quickly eaten. I believe an Armatus does not require heavy current, but helps in his growth since he's constantly burning food faster. Now, that he's back in the 600 he does not strike at goldfish as fast as he use to."

 

[DB junkie]

Water parameters..... I've always kept all my Payara (Armatus, Tats, Scombs, and Rhaphs) in conditioned tap water. PH 7.6-8.0. In my opinion its better to just get them used to what you have rather than trying to make what they like.

 

[channarox]

 

[xander]

pls only add on info, and not stupid posts to increase your post count. thanks

 

[vamptrev]

ive been looking for info on vulpinis and gibbus and found nothing. if anyone finds any please share.

this will be a great id thread. list the species, then a pic of the fish.

xander13, are u gathering all the info for the final draft? then we can have all the posts deleted, then stickied.

all of the info in ur very first post was good.

for rhaphiodon vulpinis-
max captive size 18"
semi fragile
fairly shy, not aggressive
growth rate slow, 0.5" per month

ID traits
silver bodied
?
?

cynodon gibbus
max size unknown
semi fragile
fairly shy, not aggressive
growth rate slow

Id
silver bodied
large head, and jaw.
black circle behind gill plate.
line down center of back

this is off the top of my head. ive owned all of these fish b4. vulpinis and gibbus are very similar in personality. they get chlostraphobic easy, and can be very jumpy. calm or no tankmates are recommended.

first is vulpinis, second gibbus. if anyone has any better pics please share. i can also get better pics of the gibbus, since i have 2.

 

[xander]

ive been looking for info on vulpinis and gibbus and found nothing. if anyone finds any please share.

this will be a great id thread. list the species, then a pic of the fish.

xander13, are u gathering all the info for the final draft? then we can have all the posts deleted, then stickied.

all of the info in ur very first post was good.

for rhaphiodon vulpinis-
max captive size 18"
semi fragile
fairly shy, not aggressive
growth rate slow, 0.5" per month

ID traits
silver bodied
?
?

cynodon gibbus
max size unknown
semi fragile
fairly shy, not aggressive
growth rate slow

Id
silver bodied
large head, and jaw.
black circle behind gill plate.
line down center of back

this is off the top of my head. ive owned all of these fish b4. vulpinis and gibbus are very similar in personality. they get chlostraphobic easy, and can be very jumpy. calm or no tankmates are recommended.

first is vulpinis, second gibbus. if anyone has any better pics please share. i can also get better pics of the gibbus, since i have 2.

great info! thanks for the input!

no i will be using the info from this thread and start another clean thread to be used as proper "care for Payara" thread, or hopefully a sticky. i want to have good info on ID traits, a pictorial ID key(hopefully), water preferences, aggression, growth rates, max size, diet. this's what i've seen in the thread so far, as more info comes up, i'll add it in. so c'mon guys, bump! obviously i'll only use info that has been backed up by reliable sources, or coming from firsthand experiences.

one thing i find common that was initially not the belief, according to many people scombs seem to be way more aggressive than tats, although much more fragile. how true is this?