# Predatory Fish



## Keister (Apr 23, 2012)

Hello all! This is a thread where you can show off your predatory fish! Pics and vids are more then welcome! I just thought it would be interesting to see everyones predatory fish! I currently have a African Butterfly fish (Pantodon buchholzi), and a Amazon Leaf fish (Monocirrhus polyacanthus). I have another Butterfly and two more Leafs on order. These are all in a 29 gallon aquarium. I hope everyone enjoys this and I can't wait to see what everyone is keeping! Pics of the aquariums are more then welcome as well!


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## Hayden (Apr 23, 2012)

Oh man, I just deconstructed my predatory tank, but I used to have needlenose gars, Shovelnose cats, upside-down cats, oscars, parrot cichlids, leporinus, pink kissers...


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## GiantVinegaroon (Apr 23, 2012)

I have an American eel


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 23, 2012)

I used to keep alligator gar. My absolute favorite fish, and probably the only fish i would ever get again. I also used to have some freshwater barracuda.


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## pitbulllady (Apr 23, 2012)

I've never been good at keeping fish, but if I had the space, I'd love to keep a large predator tank.  One of my professors back in the post-grad days kept a big male Bowfin(_Amia calva)_ in a 250-gallon tank in the Biology room, complete with all sorts of warnings on the tank for people not to put their hands in the tank.  The fish's name was "Hannibal".  As in "Lector".  He ate large f/t rats and Hikari Carnivore pellets and the occasional chicken leg.  Once, the professor forgot to thaw up Hannibal's chicken leg, and had to feed it to him still frozen.  NO problem; the big boy just crunched it up like somebody eating a bag of chips.  Nothing like keeping a big prehistoric carnivore for a pet!  I almost got attacked by a big male in a drainage ditch when I was a kid, when I apparently got too close to his fry, and I have seen males of this species charge at and successfully drive off good-sized alligators.   I'd love to be able to keep one of these myself.

pitbulllady


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## Keister (Apr 23, 2012)

My plan when I get older and I get a ouse is to get three 1000 gallon tanks made for fresh water predatory fish, a fresh water planted aquarium and a salt water reef aquarium. I know there has got to be some people on here with big predatory fish! Start showing off your stuff! Here's mine!

Pantodon Buchholzi









Monocirrhus Polyacanthus



My 29 gallon predatory aquarium.


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## Shrike (Apr 24, 2012)

I've always thought arowanas were amazing fish, but I know I don't have the experience or space to keep them.  Anyone out there have one?


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## Keister (Apr 24, 2012)

Shrike said:


> I've always thought arowanas were amazing fish, but I know I don't have the experience or space to keep them.  Anyone out there have one?


We have them in all the time at our store. They are extremely jumpy expecially when they are small. One of ours about a foot long would jump straight out of the tank every time you would open up the glass canopy. You have to be ready for it too. We picked that fish up off the ground at least a dozen times. They look for any gaps in the lid and jump for them. Anyone I have ever talked to who has them said they have terrible problems with them jumping. They are extremly agressive too in the fact that they will eat anything that they can fit in their mouth.


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## dtknow (Apr 25, 2012)

PBL: Its curious that bowfin would try to drive off large alligators-who I don't think pose much threat to their fry.

It could be they are just programmed to attack anything. Bowfin are badazz. They are the only fish recorded to willing leave the water in attempt to attack people.


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## Deroplatys (Apr 25, 2012)

Im in the process of trying to set up a 30 or so gallon for a pair of dwarf snakeheads (they are legal here). Finding it hard to find a decent tank and stand though.

I did have a pair of spotted bush fish which i loved, one day the heater went crazy and boiled every fish alive, but amazingly my Senegal bichir was the sole survivor.


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## Keister (Apr 25, 2012)

I picked up another African Butterfly and a Silver Needle Nose Gar (Xenentodon Cancila) yesterday and I am thinking about getting a 2nd needle nose gar when I go into work today.


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 25, 2012)

I think snakeheads are one of the most gorgeous fish. I would love to have one, but all the states around me are going crazy over them. Maine is now offering a $200 gift certificate per killed snakehead. 





Deroplatys said:


> Im in the process of trying to set up a 30 or so gallon for a pair of dwarf snakeheads (they are legal here). Finding it hard to find a decent tank and stand though.
> 
> I did have a pair of spotted bush fish which i loved, one day the heater went crazy and boiled every fish alive, but amazingly my Senegal bichir was the sole survivor.




---------- Post added 04-25-2012 at 02:49 PM ----------

Do you know how to pack and ship fish? I am getting more interested in these needle gar. Mine was a alligator gar. Not sure more than that. He was black, and had a regular gar mouth. So awesome to keep. Since he ate live goldfish, the tank almost never needed cleaned. 





Keister said:


> I picked up another African Butterfly and a Silver Needle Nose Gar (Xenentodon Cancila) yesterday and I am thinking about getting a 2nd needle nose gar when I go into work today.


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## pitbulllady (Apr 25, 2012)

dtknow said:


> PBL: Its curious that bowfin would try to drive off large alligators-who I don't think pose much threat to their fry.
> 
> It could be they are just programmed to attack anything. Bowfin are badazz. They are the only fish recorded to willing leave the water in attempt to attack people.


Bowfins(which are known by the inglorious moniker of "Mudfish" around these parts, far less exotic-sounding than their Cajun name: "Choupique") don't care if something is a threat to their fry or not.  These are seriously the Honey Badgers of the fish world!  Yes, they will fling themselves onto the shore to clamp down on someone's unsuspecting foot, too, and they can do some major damage that will require stitches at the very least...once you manage to pry the fish's jaws loose, that is.  A Mudfish is the only animal I've ever seen that could make an Akita dog scream in pain.  One of my closest friends from years back had a big male Akita she got from me, and when she, her boyfriend and myself went fishing, the dog would go along.  Keep in mind that this dog had nearly killed one of my Eli-bred American Pit Bulls and survived a gunshot wound to the head and neck when he stopped a burglar and never so much as whimpered(the Japanese would behead fighting dogs that whimpered, yelped or even barked in the pit, thus removing the wimps from the gene pool).  The boyfriend hooked a big Mudfish on his Bass rig, much to his dismay, because he knew the thing would demolish the rig(and it did), and would be inedible, and would not be easy to remove from the hook(left the needle-nose pliars at home, did we?)without risking losing a digit or two.  The fish had been fighting like crazy for almost half an hour, and the kept telling us, "watch your feet; these things will take a running start and then charge at you full-speed and try to lunge up onto the bank and attack you!"  We were both skeptical, to say the least.  Then the fish apparently got tired of this tug-of-war game, and it started to run towards the far bank, the line nearly smoking as it went out, in spite of the brake being on the reel.  Then, just short of the far bank, it stopped and just sat there under the water.  The bf said, "alright, he's fixin' to come at me, just watch him!"  What followed was like a scene from "Jaws", when the barrels that were attached to the shark would stop and turn and start plowing towards the boat, only it was a bright orange bobber that came hurtling across that farm pond like a torpedo.  The fish never slowed down, but flung its nearly three-foot body right up onto the bank, snapping.  The Akita decided to go check this thing out, and made the mistake of sticking his nose right down where that mouth was...and wound up with a 3-foot, 15-pound piece of muscle and attitude clamped on his nose for his curiosity.  The dog went crazy, running through the woods trying to shake the fish off, to no avail, with my friend trying to catch him and her boyfriend laughing his butt off.  After about 10 minutes or so of having this fish attached to his face, the dog started hollering.  My friend and I were finally able to catch him and hold him down while her boyfriend had to cut the fish's head off with a Rambo knife(easier said than done)and still had to pry its jaws open with the blade of the knife.  The dog wound up with one big nostril that stretched across the front of his nose instead of two and bled like the proverbial stuck pig, messing up the car on the ride home.  The fish's headless body was slithering around like a snake, while the jaws continued to snap at anything that got near the head.  Those fish have been around for at least 100 million years.  They were badazz when T. rex roamed the earth and probably clamped down on more than one dinosaur toe or snout back in the day, and they're still here, while T. rex and the Velociraptors are all gone, so that oughta tell you something.  They have some serious teeth, and big ones will actually made a growling sound when hooked and landed, leading the folks up around the Great Lakes to call them "Dogfish".  There have been some nasty attacks on swimmers by "unknown" fish in many bodies of fresh water around the US, including Lake Erie, resulting in injuries that required reconstructive surgery, and many ichthyologists have matched tooth marks left on the victims to Bowfin teeth, so they are no joke.  There is actually a video of one on YouTube trying to leap out of the water to attack the camera man, filmed here in SC, in Congaree National Park, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QxD8jDeW5g.  Here is what the business end looks like:http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/43261164_a06ac9d9b8.jpg?v=0 .  You wouldn't want to try to hold this by the lower lip like you would with a Bass!  Gotta love 'em, though!

pitbulllady


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## Keister (Apr 25, 2012)

GiantVinegaroon said:


> I have an American eel


I would like to see some pictures of that! 

Catfishrod- I do know how to ship fish, but I don't think these are too hard to get ahold of?


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 26, 2012)

I have never seen needlenose gar in person. I dunno if my petstore can order gar or not. But im sure i will figure it out. Now i have a 75 gallon that im going to start investing in things for a gar. I am going to try and get another black one like i had.


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## RS4guy (Apr 26, 2012)

I used to keep a Northern snakehead, along with a african cichlid tank, and an amazon cichlid/arrowanna tank. I also had a small school of red bellied pirahannas, but was forced to get rid of them.


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## Robotponys (Apr 26, 2012)

pitbulllady said:


> Bowfins(which are known by the inglorious moniker of "Mudfish" around these parts, far less exotic-sounding than their Cajun name: "Choupique") don't care if something is a threat to their fry or not.  These are seriously the Honey Badgers of the fish world!  Yes, they will fling themselves onto the shore to clamp down on someone's unsuspecting foot, too, and they can do some major damage that will require stitches at the very least...once you manage to pry the fish's jaws loose, that is.  A Mudfish is the only animal I've ever seen that could make an Akita dog scream in pain.  One of my closest friends from years back had a big male Akita she got from me, and when she, her boyfriend and myself went fishing, the dog would go along.  Keep in mind that this dog had nearly killed one of my Eli-bred American Pit Bulls and survived a gunshot wound to the head and neck when he stopped a burglar and never so much as whimpered(the Japanese would behead fighting dogs that whimpered, yelped or even barked in the pit, thus removing the wimps from the gene pool).  The boyfriend hooked a big Mudfish on his Bass rig, much to his dismay, because he knew the thing would demolish the rig(and it did), and would be inedible, and would not be easy to remove from the hook(left the needle-nose pliars at home, did we?)without risking losing a digit or two.  The fish had been fighting like crazy for almost half an hour, and the kept telling us, "watch your feet; these things will take a running start and then charge at you full-speed and try to lunge up onto the bank and attack you!"  We were both skeptical, to say the least.  Then the fish apparently got tired of this tug-of-war game, and it started to run towards the far bank, the line nearly smoking as it went out, in spite of the brake being on the reel.  Then, just short of the far bank, it stopped and just sat there under the water.  The bf said, "alright, he's fixin' to come at me, just watch him!"  What followed was like a scene from "Jaws", when the barrels that were attached to the shark would stop and turn and start plowing towards the boat, only it was a bright orange bobber that came hurtling across that farm pond like a torpedo.  The fish never slowed down, but flung its nearly three-foot body right up onto the bank, snapping.  The Akita decided to go check this thing out, and made the mistake of sticking his nose right down where that mouth was...and wound up with a 3-foot, 15-pound piece of muscle and attitude clamped on his nose for his curiosity.  The dog went crazy, running through the woods trying to shake the fish off, to no avail, with my friend trying to catch him and her boyfriend laughing his butt off.  After about 10 minutes or so of having this fish attached to his face, the dog started hollering.  My friend and I were finally able to catch him and hold him down while her boyfriend had to cut the fish's head off with a Rambo knife(easier said than done)and still had to pry its jaws open with the blade of the knife.  The dog wound up with one big nostril that stretched across the front of his nose instead of two and bled like the proverbial stuck pig, messing up the car on the ride home.  The fish's headless body was slithering around like a snake, while the jaws continued to snap at anything that got near the head.  Those fish have been around for at least 100 million years.  They were badazz when T. rex roamed the earth and probably clamped down on more than one dinosaur toe or snout back in the day, and they're still here, while T. rex and the Velociraptors are all gone, so that oughta tell you something.  They have some serious teeth, and big ones will actually made a growling sound when hooked and landed, leading the folks up around the Great Lakes to call them "Dogfish".  There have been some nasty attacks on swimmers by "unknown" fish in many bodies of fresh water around the US, including Lake Erie, resulting in injuries that required reconstructive surgery, and many ichthyologists have matched tooth marks left on the victims to Bowfin teeth, so they are no joke.  There is actually a video of one on YouTube trying to leap out of the water to attack the camera man, filmed here in SC, in Congaree National Park, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QxD8jDeW5g.  Here is what the business end looks like:http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/43261164_a06ac9d9b8.jpg?v=0 .  You wouldn't want to try to hold this by the lower lip like you would with a Bass!  Gotta love 'em, though!
> 
> pitbulllady


Holy ****! Watched some videos too and they're insane! Snakeheads too... Wow. That's terrifying! But they sound like an awesome show pet to feed small animals too. 

I saw this video of a GIANT arrowana eating a baby bunny (accidentally run over with lawnmower)! Insane!


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## Keister (Apr 28, 2012)

Ya they can be extremely aggressive.


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## Necromion (Apr 28, 2012)

@catfish these guys are in the US and they have them in stock http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+836+1897&pcatid=1897


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## catfishrod69 (Apr 29, 2012)

Hey thanks. Yeah i checked out live aquaria. I dont really care for the needlenose much. Mine was a spotted, and i think thats what i would like to get. But they also get to 4 ft if given the chance. And i read a minimum of 200 gallons. But mine was about 18" and lived in a 30 gallon his whole life. I may end up having to go with the needlenose though, since my tank is a 75, and i dont want to make/buy anything larger. Thanks alot. 





Necromion said:


> @catfish these guys are in the US and they have them in stock http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+836+1897&pcatid=1897


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## GiantVinegaroon (Apr 30, 2012)

Keister said:


> I would like to see some pictures of that!
> 
> Catfishrod- I do know how to ship fish, but I don't think these are too hard to get ahold of?


Here's a vid of him swimming when he was in a 20.

[video=youtube;xnHBQo2BqtU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnHBQo2BqtU&list=UUj3PLqVQ2Lz3ywPLOHTfPpw&index=17&feature=plcp[/video]


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