Hi there

[dragonfish]

hello,

new to this forum and to the octopushobby in general.

I've got 10 years of experience in f/w aquariums with the more unusual fish. arowana, f/w stingray, ...

I don't have any "in home" experience with salt water, but untill recently I've worked in a public aquarium. It was there that I fell in love with cephs.they keep an Octopus Vulgaris. I really liked the little guy and I think the feeling was mutual, when I came near the tank he always came out to say hello. hardly ever did that with my collegues.

So now I'm determined to get an octopus of my own. Literature on keeping them seems to be very rare. but while surfing the net for info, I stumbled on this forum. lucky me :jester:

[Colin]

welcome to tonmo.com!!!!!!

do you have pics of said vulgaris??? :) :) :)

[Colin]

just had a look at your site too :) especially like the eartheater (satanoperca mapiritensis) been looking for them ;)

[cthulhu77]

Welcome!
Do love arowanas...dream of having a pond with a breeding pair someday! Look forward to hearing more from you!
Greg

[tonmo]

Hey dragonfish, glad you're here! Welcome to the community!

[joel_ang]

Hi and :welcome: to TONMO.com Dragonfish!!

Arowana rock!!! Though I only have a pathetic jardini now, what aro's do you keep

we'll be glad to help you in setting up an octo tank, you can also read other member's posts to answer some of the questions you might have, for the rest, just shoot :wink:

[Colin]

Do love arowanas...dream of having a pond with a breeding pair someday! Look forward to hearing more from you!
Greg

might as well go for a pair of arapaima if you are going that far :)

[dragonfish]

already found tons of info on the forum guys. if I need more, I ll know where to find you :D

my arowana is a silver aro. osteoglossum bicirrhosum. I used to keep a black one too (osteoglossum ferreira). I'm planning to keep 3 or 4 aro's but first my big tank has to be ready. the current tank is just to small.

as soon as this big f/w tank is up and running, I'm starting to work on an octo-tank. as you see, I'll be quite busy in the future :)

btw, most of my website is still under construction. so feel free to check in on it once in a while to see the changes.

[Melissa]

Welcome, Dragonfish!

Your pictures are fab.

Melissa

[dragonfish]

Welcome, Dragonfish!

Your pictures are fab.


no sweet talk please :oops:

I hold the record for "worlds lousiest photographer"
I have to take tons of pics to get a few that are half decent.
:bugout:

[Melissa]

If it makes you feel better, we can say that your subjects are wonderful. We wouldn't want to embarrass anyone new to TONMO. :)

Melissa

[cthulhu77]

Heck no, we will wait at least a week to embarass you! :oops:
Funny thing, we can't have arapaima's here in AZ...they are listed as a "dangerous species"....yeah, like they pop up so often on wholesale lists anyway... :shock:
A guy in town has a breeding pair of silver arowanas...neat fish...he also breeds all those funky plecos (#147, 153, etc...) Way too much time to spend on fish! (I know, I am just jealous!)
Greg

[dragonfish]

so I'll prep myself for next week then!!!! :D

as for arapaima's, they're not a dangerous fish as such. but the buggers grow over 2m in length (7ft for you guys) that's a pretty big fish.

I know a zoo in Germany that keeps 5 of them. they want to redo the tank because it is in the same state as it was in when they got the fish.

their arapaima's are over 30 years old and they're to big to get them out of the tank ( a little under 10ft or nearly 3m!!!) do you really want to keep that? compared to that a 2ft aro is peanuts to keep!!!

but we're getting of the subject, this is after all an octo forum. for those interested in aro's and such I recommend www.arowanaclub.com

[cthulhu77]

Cool link! Thanks! Nope, I (we? keep on forgetting that I am now a married person...yikes) don't have room for arapaima's...I am currently trying to build up a breeding population of ornate bichirs (ornatapinnis) , who eat me out of house and home, and take up most of the available space in the house...
Who needs a wave machine when you have so many tanks????
Greg

[dragonfish]

Who needs a wave machine when you have so many tanks????


with a remark like this, I take it I'm not the only one who can't remember the color of his livingroom walls because they are covered by fishtanks.

[joel_ang]

Is it legal to get asian arowana in Belgium? Those are magnificent and are what I consider the prettiest fish. I want to get a silver but since it grow to about 1.25m max, I don't have enough space. Same for black arowana.

[dragonfish]

asian aro's are CITES I. They do turn up every once in a while, but they are much more expencive than the australian or S. american and you have to make sure you get the CITES papers with it.

i've seen asian aro on sale twice the last 6 years.

if you get a baby silver, it rarely will grow over 80cm. the biggest one I've seen was around 75cm. he was kept in a 3000 liter aquarium.

black aro's are smaller in the wild too. I've never seen a captive black longer than 60cm. they are more nervous and jumpy than silver though

[cthulhu77]

This rather unscrupulous dealer in California obtained some red dragon arowanas a few years ago, and I got a chance to see them...WOW ! Of course, now he is out of business and paying a heavy series of fines...but they sure were pretty!
Greg

[joel_ang]

Can't blame the authorities on the fines, there were only 4000 wild asians 10 years ago. I don't know but for some reason, asian arowana are not allowed to be brought in the US.
Yea, even here where there are a few aro farms they can be quite pricey. A nice 20 inch fish for $40000 + would you buy that?

[dragonfish]

A nice 20 inch fish for $40000 + would you buy that?

maybe if I were bill gates and didn't care about the money. But since I'm still myself I'd have to work over a year to get that kind of money. so no thanks.

funny story: I help out in an aquariumshop once in a while. And we had a woman come to the shop who was obsessed by feng shui. she wanted an asian golden aro. which is about the most expencive on the market. through my contacts at arowanaclub, I got the email of a farm in singapore that breeds and exports asian aro's.

I asked them prices transport included. called the lady up to tell her the amount (I think it was around $10000, it was a babyfish) and to ask for an advance. needless to say we never saw her again.

[cthulhu77]

Yeah, they are pricey! These little jobs (3-4") were sold for 20,000 each...to undercover feds !
Someday....sigh.
Greg

[cthulhu77]

Here's a pic of one of my females..."piglet"...
When we move this summer, I am going to have to buy some more 125 gallon tanks...they are starting to outgrow the 75's!
Greg

[joel_ang]

Was the farm Dragonfish Industry or Panda Aquatics.

Is that a Dragon Bichir Greg? nice :) How large is it now?

[dragonfish]

I contacted both. but only dragonfish farm sent a reply.

[joel_ang]

I know this thread is drifting but just a few pics courtesy of Dragonfish Industry. The first pic is a 7inch fish and costs $15000 :)

[dragonfish]

now those are gorgeous fish. especially the first one.


I know this thread is drifting

it's not so bad. we're still under water :wink: and we're introducing our knowledge of aro's to eachother :mrgreen:

anyway if it goes to far, I'm sure they'll tell us.

[cthulhu77]

I have a bunch of growing Ornate bichirs...growing soooooo slowly!
Those are some nice arowanas...wish we could get them!
I am not sure where the two I saw came from, they were imported via the black market...bummer.
Greg

[joel_ang]

I would keep ornate bichirs if I could find them, unfortunately they only have dragon bichirs which are either not as colourful or albino. :?