Care Sheet for Payaras
Co-Authors: Xander13 (Alexander), Vamptrev (Trev), DB Junkie, Chicxulub
Photos by: Xander13, Vamptrev, Tigirinus
Edited, Arranged, and Referenced by Alexander, Chicxulub
General Housing Requirements
Payaras can be a very challenging fish to keep successfully in an aquarium. They are large, dynamic, active predators who are capable of a stunning turn of speed.
In the wild, payaras favor warm, well oxygenated, fast flowing rivers and areas of large, open rivers and lakes. In order to properly care for these fish, it is important to closely replicate the conditions that this fish favor in the wild. Should one fail to do so, it is entirely possible that you could have a very expensive dead fish on your hands. As we all well know, conventional wisdom is that an environment in which most aquarium fish can thrive requires no more flow and aeration than that which is provided by the tank's filters and possibly a bubbler. Unfortunately, this is simply not the case with payaras.
In order to provide your payara the conditions it needs to thrive, you need powerheads, a bubbler, a bubble stick and a very big tank. Payaras are incredibly sensitive to their environment. Anything short of pristine water will cause SERIOUS issues for the health of your fish. There is also a distinct possibility that there is some factor in water quality that has not yet been discovered that affects the health of these fish. This is supported by the wide variability of experienced keepers to successfully keep the fish, the only difference being the local water conditions. These conditions can all be 'perfect' by our water tests, but something that we can't test for or don't know to test for is apparently quite detrimental to their health.. An ideal setup would involve violent current with several areas that are calm. You will find that the fish often seeks out eddies at the edge of the highest flow when it is not parked in front of a powerhead swimming energetically to exercise.
Payaras are extremely susceptible to catching Ich if they become stressed. It is absolutely vital that their needs be met as these are delicate fish and they have trouble dealing with Ich, especially if they're weak from just being shipped.
Having a high level of current creates violent flow that does several things for your fish. First, it simulates the natural areas of strong current that these fish favor in the wild. As such, it helps your baby payara to feel more secure. Further, the strong current, if arranged in the tank properly, will simulate "riffles". Riffles are used in the wild as cover by riverine fish such as payara. A happy, content payara is quite content to spend all day parked in front of a powerhead and they can be surprisingly inactive. To keep an adult specimen of payara, I feel that the minimum footprints are as listed below. Remember, these sizes are for a tank configured as described specifically for the needs of the fish. If you are trying to mix your payara with other fish that have more conventional needs, you will need a MUCH larger tank. Regardless of if you're specializing your tank to the needs of the payara or trying to mix him with something else, remember that bigger is always better!
H. armatus- 8x4
H. tatauaia- 8x2
H. scomberoides- 6x1.5
H. wallacei- Unknown, likely the same as H. scomberoides
Rhaphiodon sp.- 8x2
Cynodon- 6x1.5
At the time of this writing, sexual dimorphism isn't conclusively know in payaras. However, most South American tetras, to include the other large, dynamic South American predatory tetra the dorado, are. As such, we can conclude that it is likely that males will have a noticeable hook at the front of their anal fin while females will have a straight fin.
Feeding
Payaras can be one of the most frustrating large predators to get eating prepared foods. They are notorious for practically starving themselves to death before taking live food. Below is a wonderful write up by DB junkie on how to get them eating prepared food.
Breaking Payara off live food, by DB Junkie
I would recommend attempting to train your payara off live food at an early age. I have had better luck with them learning this at a young age. It seems the older they get the more stubborn they get. The last batch I have obtained was a pack of 5 Armatus at roughly the size of a quarter. They were actually to small to even eat rosies (or tuffies) so they were fed guppies up until about 2 inches. At that point they were switched to rosies. Kept on rosies for about another 1-1.5 inches. I believe I made a mistake in how long I fed rosies. I believe you may have better luck getting them off live if you are to start feeding goldfish as soon as they are big enough to eat them. This will greatly increase your chances in getting them to go after krill as they are both orange in color, and the shape of freeze dried krill has more in common with goldfish then a rosie does.
I believe with Artmatus as soon as they have been on goldfish for a few weeks they are ready to be trained completely off live. This coincidently happened to be the same time the white edging began showing up in my little guys..... If I was to have another attempt at this I would actually start them as soon as the adipose fin was bright enough to be 100% armatus or about 4 inches. I believe they are hardy enough at this size. Although I didn't start mine till about 5-6 inches just to insure they were hardy enough. I began thier training with the same methods I used to break my Rhaphiodons, Scombs, and Tats. Now I had already transfered them from thier 75 gallon growout tank to a 180 gallon tank. They had been in the 180 and on goldfish for about 3 weeks. I believe I would have seen better results if I began trying to feed them the krill while they were still in the growout 75.
First method was to simply drop freeze dried krill into the output of the hang on back filter. I run AC 110s on my tanks so this was enough water movement to make the krill dance around and mimic a live feeder goldfish. This was done every morning and at night. By about the 3rd day of this they began rushing or charging the krill. But NO attempts to eat it were being made. By this time they were allready looking a little skinny but likely due to the rapid goldfish eating they were used to. I decided to try another means of feeding. I took a normal fishing hook and clipped the barb off the end and straightened the hook. I then took a piece of thawed smelt and cut just the tail end off (about an inch) and put it on the hook. It looked suprisingly like a rosie. So this may be a way to skip the goldfish all together. This would seem to me to be ideal as feeding a payara krill will get VERY expensive very fast. The smelt was dangled in front of a powerhead to make it "dance" around and mimic a live fish. they pretty much ignored this the first few days but soon the same charging began. But like the krill no attepts were being made to actually eat it. The same charging went on for around a week.
So here I am about a week and a half in from the last time these lil buggers ate. they all looked really skinny now and I decided to take another course of action. A "teacher" fish. I couldn't understand how my other payara would just take the krill and these guys wouldn't. I believe this reason was the absence of another fish in the tank swimming at the same level in the water column and eating the krill in front of the little Armatus. Showing them it was food. So I brought up my 12inch Rhaphiodon Vulpinus from the pond. This very fish was always in the tanks with my other payara when they began eating krill. I belive it attributed to the breaking of not only other Rhaphs but Scombs, Tats, and my first Armatus. Now that the Armatus were roughly 5 inches I felt it was safe enough to add the big Rhaph. It did not eat the first day due to the stress from moving. The second day he began eating krill. I believe Rhaph make exceptional teacher fish cause of the "backflip" they do when they eat. Very difficult for this to go unnoticed by the other fish in the tank. During this time the Armatus began biting the krill but quickly spitting it back out. I then fed the Rhaph a huge piece of smelt. It took him about 5 minutes to get it down. During this time it swam the entire tank while trying to swallow it. The next attempt with the fishing hook and a small piece of cut smelt for the Armatus was a success.
They are just now (2 weeks later) starting to catch the pieces of smelt on the way down (without the fishing hook/line) and 1 of the Armatus is still refusing to eat. I'm sure after watching his other 4 tankmates devoure smelt he will quickly catch on. So in my case I believe I confirmed that a "teacher" fishes' presence is a huge asset in breaking payara off live food. The "teacher" fish was only in the tank for a few days and the Armatus began eating. I have also used Dats and even made an attempt to use a small silver dat in breaking these fish. Dats work well I believe for the same reason the Rhaphs do, when they charge the surface from the bottom it is very fast and again hard for other fish to ignore. But I ended up moving this particular dat in fear of it snatching the eye of one of the Armatus. It has a history of pecking feeder fishes eyes out and after it took the spotted gars I wasn't going to risk it happening to an Armatus. I have also heard silver arros work as well. I believe West1 used one as a teacher to break his Tats. I hope my experiences with getting these fish OFF live food can be an asset to people who are trying to achieve this same difficult task. As many of you keeping payara know that ich and possibly other diseases can be easily transfered from feeder fish to your prized specimens. Soon your payara will recognize you as a food source and will happily greet you when you enter the room in anticipation for a piece of food. Good luck and happy payara keeping!
An excerpt on increasing growth rates-
"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."-R1_Ridah (2007)
In a payara tank, minimal furniture is ideal. Payaras are fast, powerful open water fish who are capable of incredible speeds. If there is too much in their tank, they are quite capable of damaging themselves on the decorations in the tank. Very little can compare to the sight of a large, healthy payara patrolling his tank. It would be an injustice to your fish to crowd it with too much furniture. If you choose to decorate your sufficiently large payara tank, a low profile 3D background and a river stone substrate would be attractive without the risk of causing undue harm to the fish. Large pointy driftwood and similar items upon which the fish could be impaled are strongly discouraged. Payaras are also capable of a sufficient turn of speed in order to be killed by running into the glass. Should they spook and run into a pointy piece of driftwood, the results could be catastrophic.
Compatibility
Compatibility with a payara is a troublesome subject. There are two problems with cohabitating them. First is the obvious problem of the payara's incredible ability to eat tankmates that are up to half their size. Second, we have to consider the previously mentioned delicate nature of these fish. They are predators, not brawlers. As such, large, aggressive fish will likely stress and eventually kill the payara. Large, aggressive cichlids and other fish with a similar disposition are to be avoided. Obviously, it would be a bad idea to try to keep your new payara with a large catfish or a school of small tetras. In most instances, peaceful schooling fish that are at least as a the payara in question will work well. Fish that work well include, but are not limited to, the following: tarpons, arowanas, barbs, mahseers, most small to medium catfish, rays and African tiger fish. One must plan the tankmates for their payara carefully. Many fish grow slower than armatus do and many grow faster than the other species. Please do research the fish you're considering and make sure no one will outgrow anyone else and end up as a snack!
Plecos are to be avoided. The well documented tendency of plecos to suck the slime coats of their tankmates would be catastrophic to a payara.
