My new monster
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What a REAL monster!!! Can't imagine how big it'll get, another tank buster!
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Posting again in your thread =( jelousy jelousy jelousy!
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I feeding him guppies right now. But I'm going to switch to reg goldfish feeders b/c I bought 25 feeder guppes for $5 when I got him and he eat all in one feeding! I'm trying very hard though to get him to eat shrimp and other foods like that.
lol
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the mbu doesn't seem to bother any of its tankmates, which is weird. But I bet the Datnoids would get into a scrap with a African Tiger..
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That's going to be a seriously big tank upgrade when it grows to adulthood!
http://makeu4ia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/nile_perch-1.jpg
http://makeu4ia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/nile_perch-1.jpg
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http://www.cichlidae.com/author.php?id=37
If you are into Nile Perch as well as social issues, an excellent movie to watch is Darwin's Nightmare.
I remember back in the early 1990's Dr. Paul Loiselle gave a talk at the Vancouver Aquarium Club about attempts to save various speicies of Victorian cichlids that were being driven to extinction by the Nile Perch. He was encouraging hobbyists around the world to maintain breeding colonies of vulnerable fish so that they would still exist in the future. The problem was that the fish in question were not very attractive compared to Lake Malawi or Tanganyka fish; I don't know what became of the project.
The Nile Perch is indeed a monster. Good thing it is tropical and can't live in our waters.
If you are into Nile Perch as well as social issues, an excellent movie to watch is Darwin's Nightmare.
I remember back in the early 1990's Dr. Paul Loiselle gave a talk at the Vancouver Aquarium Club about attempts to save various speicies of Victorian cichlids that were being driven to extinction by the Nile Perch. He was encouraging hobbyists around the world to maintain breeding colonies of vulnerable fish so that they would still exist in the future. The problem was that the fish in question were not very attractive compared to Lake Malawi or Tanganyka fish; I don't know what became of the project.
The Nile Perch is indeed a monster. Good thing it is tropical and can't live in our waters.
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No a god idea Ben. When the ATF grows big it might trash the puffer and both fish could die as puffer have toxic.nice monster man! im glad to see your taking on the challenge!!..im thinking about a African Tiger with my Mbu...dont know if its a good idea though?!?!
@snow
Nice monster! You will need lots of food for it when it grows.
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ive seen darwins nightmare, good movie, but made me hate the nile perch, and what we do to our fellow man.
"The Nile perch was introduced to Lake Victoria in East Africa in the 1950s[3], and since then it has been fished commercially. It is attributed with causing the extinction or near-extinction of several hundred native species, but as Nile Perch stocks decrease due to commercial fishing, at least some of them are making a comeback. Initially, the Nile perch's diet consisted of native cichlids, but with decreasing availability of this prey, it now consumes mainly small shrimp and minnows.
The fish's introduction to Lake Victoria, while ecologically negative, has stimulated the establishment of large fishing companies there. In 2003 Nile perch earned 169 million euro in sales to the EU."
snippit from wiki
however since yours wont be committing genocide, congrats on the new monster!
I'm having a hard time imagining an aquarium for a fish this size that would fit in the average home, where do you live???
heres a pic of a full grown specimen http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Lates_niloticus_2.jpg
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Upon posting this on MFK they told me that infact this is a royal nile perch, not a nile perch. They still get large, around 4 ft but not that big. And yes people have been showing me that pic and NO it will not get that big, thats like the first picture you come across when you google image this fish, really turns people off of this because they are such a nice fish, even a reg nile perch will not get that big, that's a close to record size. Fish never get as big in an aquarium as they do in the wild. For example an arapaima will get usually 1.5ft smaller than that they would in the wild, they would also grow slower....well depending on how much you feed.
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The Nile Perch has been my dream fish for years, I never found the opportunity to buy one or could talk myself into it. As far as sizes go, all tankbusters can get huge in the wild, but not all do, like said above. Think of all the alligator gars people own in the hobby that don't reach 100 lbs! The only problem with the Nile Perch is that it is extremely fast growing, so the tank buster status really applies. That and the size of the mouth on the thing and its voracious appetite means a lot of normally compatable fish of similar sizes become meals quickly. Everything else about the fish I love though! Too bad they don't hold that cool mottled/ banded colour for life.
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So just an update. Tonight he began to eat shrimp, not just once but about 6 or 7 times. I only starved him for 2 days before he gave in. I think he has put on a solid inch and has become thicker. I will post pics up when I have a chance.
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