Piraiba

Oompa Loompa

Polypterus
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Feb 6, 2016
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What kind of care would one be looking at for a piraiba (B. filamentosum)?

Tankmates?
Tank size?
Feeding?
 

Ihsnshaik

Giant Snakehead
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Aug 20, 2015
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I wouldn't keep anything with them maybe other cats.
Tank size probably 5000-10000 gallon pond and or tank for LONG TERM
Tilapia, shrimp, pretty much anything.

 

Oompa Loompa

Polypterus
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Feb 6, 2016
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A real monster fish. If they grew faster they would be the ultimate monster fish. I wouldn't trust them with anything myself actually
 

blackbullhead

Dovii
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I may take some flack for this and that's okay. Also sorry if I'm derailing this thread...I'm really just curious. Brachyplatystoma catfishes are known to make migrations of literally thousands of miles (from the mouth of the Amazon across the entire length of Brazil, for example). What is the justification for keeping a fish like this in a tank?
Not necessarily opposed to it, but I'd like to hear what people have to say.
 

Oompa Loompa

Polypterus
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Feb 6, 2016
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I may take some flack for this and that's okay. Also sorry if I'm derailing this thread...I'm really just curious. Brachyplatystoma catfishes are known to make migrations of literally thousands of miles (from the mouth of the Amazon across the entire length of Brazil, for example). What is the justification for keeping a fish like this in a tank?
Not necessarily opposed to it, but I'd like to hear what people have to say.
Plenty of other animals make migrations in the wild. Tangs swim miles per day. Yet they're far more common than pretty much any other SW aquarium fish. They make migrations to breed and/or because of better temperatures. In an aquarium, you can keep the temperature stable and you don't need to worry about breeding them. They don't just swim thousands of miles to swim thousands of miles.
 

blackbullhead

Dovii
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I don't know that much is known about how much a piraiba swims in a day assuming it's not migrating.
 

Oompa Loompa

Polypterus
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I don't know that much is known about how much a piraiba swims in a day assuming it's not migrating.
Well, there's evidence that they can do fine in captivity, isn't that enough? I mean, obviously there's much more space for them to swim in the amazon, sure. But that doesn't mean they need it. Pretty much every animal out there has a TON of space to roam around. That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep them in captivity at all though.
 

blackbullhead

Dovii
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Jan 5, 2011
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Yeah, I see your point. It does kind of turn into an ethical debate about whether you should keep anything at all. But among freshwater fish, these are huge in size, have tremendous geographic ranges, and have the world's largest river as their native habitat...
Seems to me that perhaps they comprise a special case.
 
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