Vampire Tetras?

S

StevieM

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Nov 29, 2002
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I was in my LFS a couple weeks back and noticed they had some of these cool looking fish. I did some research on them but i was wondering if anyone had any experience with these? From what I found the pictures didnt look exactly like what I saw at the fish store. The ones i saw were almost head standing with what could grow into massive jaws with what looks like fangs. I've been in there several times and have never seen them swim only sit there like bats....the picture i found on the web had the fish horizontal and i didnt see the pronounced jaw...soooo, if anyone could fill me in a little I would appreciate it!! thanks.

steve
 
The lfs is calling them vampire tetras? I've never heard that before. Do they look similar to piranhas? How big and what color are they? Need more details, please.
 
I believe you are talking about payara...

http://www.acuteangling.com/Payara/payjaws.JPG

I believe there are 2-3 species. I think the max size is ~2-3 feet, although there is 1 problem. Aquarists have a problem of payara dieing mysteriously around 9 inches. They occur in rivers in the wild, so they need pristine water conditions. They need a lot of space. I haven't heard of anybody who was able to wean them off of feeders, so therein lies another 2 potential problems: diseases introduced by feeders and vitamin deficiencies from feeders.

Anyway, it would be awesome to grow one out to 3 feet if you have the room and means to do it.

Heres another good pic
http://www.ibweb.com/uraima/uraima10.jpg
 
Wow, I didn't realize the tetra family was so varied, I thought pirhanas and bucktooths...teeths...teeth... Anyway, were the biggest and meanest they got.
 
that looks like them....only bigger. The ones my store has are about 5 inches at this point and I thought they would be a nice "nasty" reason to get another tank going! After doing a little research on here on the species profile they had them listed as "vampire characin's" growing to about 36" and a recommended tank size of at least 250 gallons. Just a biiiiiiit out of my league... thanks for your replies

steve
 
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