Anybody ever raise payara's ?

[SIM]

Some fish stores call them barracuda's, which they arent.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience taking care of these amazing fish.
Im looking to learn as much as i can about raising them but info is hard to find.

thx

 

[Gibbo]

You must be mad m8! They get to over 3 feet and are open water predators that cannot be maintained in home aquaria!! They're like a cross between a Salmon and a Piranha with the dentition of a Tasmanian devil. Plus they're bound to be lone predators, such as Pike are, or Wels catfish. How experienced are you in fishkeeping?

... for the curious...

How big are the ones in lfs SIM? Do they really have a clue as to what monsters they have? If you want to keep 'em dig a huge pond and lock away the household pets (before they become lunch)!! And get some chain mail armour for feeding time B)

 

[cichlidmaster]

I agree with Gibbo!!!!!!!!!!!

A local shop by me has one. It is around 3" and it's fangs are already HUGE!!!!

Don't do it!! You are sure to lose a finger or worse a small child!!!

These things in the Amazon are responsible for missing pets and humans!!! NO KIDDING!!!!!

CM

 

[semper fi]

hey cm, who has the payara? would like to go and see it.

maggie

 

[cichlidmaster]

Maggie,
It would be "OUR" favorite cichlid shop!!!

CM

 

[semper fi]

you mean i got to go there?

 

[semper fi]

okay back from a day of cruising all of the local fish stores. went to one and thought that they had a statue of a tortoice in their shop. my daughter sat on it and it moved! seems they have a galapagos turtle for their mascot. just kinda cruises around. pretty cool. thinking of trading in the black lab for one of those bad boys. j/k!

the paraya did not look so mean though! of course he did not have the fangs that the one in the pic does. 75.00! out of their bloody gord!

maggie

 

[cichlidmaster]

Well it seems you forgot to stop at the "BEST" one!!!

You probably couldn't see the fangs on the payara cause it had them retracted into it's upper jaw. Seems this fish has, for lack of a better term, pockets that the fangs fit into when it closes it's jaw!!

CM

 

[Gibbo]

Yep, CM's right (when is he not?). They have fangs the like of I have never seen before. And they're a relative of the Neon Tetra, believe it or not!!!

 

[Gibbo]

On a 'dangerous fish' related note, is this guy small or are these man sized catfish?

 

[Gibbo]

And what about this tiddler.....

Fishbase

 

[sheenzorz]

Those are some large catfish..wow.

 

[redbelly]

Payara also called Vampire tetra are commonly kept in aquaria and are very awesome fish. For some unknown reason though, they very rarely live past the 12" mark. Seems that as soon as they hit that size they die for no apparent reason.

 

[Gibbo]

There seem to be 3 types that are in the hobby, the big guy (3ft+) and two species that reach about 10" - 1ft long. May be these you've heard about....