The H. gigas Project.

[robc]

For some reason I thought you might try it Rob
I'm really looking forward to what you build.

It will be done tonight and will be awesome, I am about to post a test tank I did and she was swimming!!!

 

[ShellsandScales]

Awesome rob!! If you need any fish tips I know alot about the fish end of it. I would most definitely like to try this one myself but I've never been that much into H. gigas. Do we know, now that its not 2003 anymore, if there are any other species that have been noted to either swim or eat fish??? A little note that was touched on earlier in the thread. If the fish have been medicated they could potentially have heavy metals built up in their body. A very common element in fish medicine is copper and that definitely has a cumulative effect in fish tissue. There are many other compounds as well commonly used and I really don't know the potential toxicity to T's but a lot of these are permenant once the fish has been exposed, there is no flushing it out of thier system. You may want to go with some captive bred gold fish or guppies that aren't raised in fisheries. Much better chance that they haven't been exposed to medications or even worse mercury that can be a pollutant that could be present in fish from fisheries.

BTW my P. regalis is absolutly loving her natural setup thanks for the inspiration rob!

 

[robc]

Awesome rob!! If you need any fish tips I know alot about the fish end of it. I would most definitely like to try this one myself but I've never been that much into H. gigas. Do we know, now that its not 2003 anymore, if there are any other species that have been noted to either swim or eat fish??? A little note that was touched on earlier in the thread. If the fish have been medicated they could potentially have heavy metals built up in their body. A very common element in fish medicine is copper and that definitely has a cumulative effect in fish tissue. There are many other compounds as well commonly used and I really don't know the potential toxicity to T's but a lot of these are permenant once the fish has been exposed, there is no flushing it out of thier system. You may want to go with some captive bred gold fish or guppies that aren't raised in fisheries. Much better chance that they haven't been exposed to medications or even worse mercury that can be a pollutant that could be present in fish from fisheries.

BTW my P. regalis is absolutly loving her natural setup thanks for the inspiration rob!

The enclosure should be completed in an hour or two...I'm in the process of making it now. Thanks for the fish info...I used to breed long-fin Oscars and African Ciclids (sp?). Oh, by the way, this girl was giving me an upside-down, under-water threat pose a little bit ago...wish I'd had the camera handy! She's just flat mean!!

 

[dtknow]

I checked out the videos and I've seen similar for spiders dropped into water. I'm still skeptical they enter water on their own accord in the wild, and especially of them fishing.

 

[robc]

I checked out the videos and I've seen similar for spiders dropped into water. I'm still skeptical they enter water on their own accord in the wild, and especially of them fishing.

I know my H.Gigas does I watch her, she goes in there looking for prey and swims all over and has even sat on the bottom with her legs up waiting....rob

 

[ShellsandScales]

But do any other sp. have this type of behavior???

 

[Tleilaxu]

I know this is a very very old thread but its too awesome to allow to be buried,(Especially with the how toos) anyways have you had anyone who has done this, managed to capture photos of a sucessful "fishing trip?"

I found some videos documenting this as well. (cage setup and the T entering the water)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88tYH36LZok&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4xAapX2-U&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax7TEBC7KBo&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB2BaGz85xs&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdHjp5E5kbc

Mature male H gigas swimming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE4bki09Z2Y&feature=fvwrel

Female fishing: (And getting bothered for the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpJsLIxxQoY&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XpMupQiLF0&feature=relmfu

 

[Swoop]

Have there been any further attempts since this thread was last exhumed 5 years ago?

Since the T seemed to struggle catching live fish in the water, maybe some decent sized feeder shrimp would be more appropriate? Probably slower and more cricket-like. Might even come on the edge of the substrate so the T can hunt them in or out of the water.

 

[Haavard]

I am new to T keeping, but I have extensive experience in fish keeping/breeding/aquascaping etc. With this in mind I ordered and received 8 juvenile H. gigas as my first Ts. They all arrived safely a few days ago. My plan is to keep them communally in increasingly larger containers as they grow, and finally let them reside in a large planted terrarium with a fish stocked pond and see what happens. Since I love plants I chose a wet species of T.

Here are my thoughts on H.gigas hunting fish.... Traversing, navigating or hiding under water does of course not make it a fishing species. almost all animals can handle themselves in water to a varying degree. In the same manner a lot of fish can handle themselves on land for much of the same reasons. I must add that seeing how the H. gigas handles itself under water is rather impressive, and makes you wonder
The only thing that could convince me is a series of films showing the H. gigas purposefully hunting and catching fish. Something to consider is what kind of fish the H. gigas might predate on and the actual mechanics involved. Fish species behavior, shape and movements vary wildly, and will be of great importance.

Consider this... In tropical and temperate environments all over the world there are bodies of water that occasionally dry out to varying degrees. There are many species of fish that cope with this in various ways. If you walk down a jungle path in an African rain forest, you might see killi fish wiggling around on the ground trying to find a new puddle. These fish will maybe cross the paths of ground dwelling tarantulas. My guess is that Ts sometimes eat these fish. This situation could hardly be called fishing, but maybe the tarantula walks down to the puddle as it dries out, to catch fish? Would that be fishing? A few years ago a customer bought a single platy from the pet store where I work. He told me all the shops in the area where out of crickets. He came back several times and bought platys for his T. Of course I told him that I was skeptical about the nutritional composition of this diet. If what the customer reported was accurate, the tarantula (he didn't know the species of T) ate fish.

Anyways... My H. gigas need to grow. I find the species fascinating mostly because I imagine how they can make a network of burrows among the roots of beautiful plants with the same moisture requirements as the Ts.

 

[miss moxie]

You're right! Keeping fish is TOTALLY like keeping tarantulas! I remember the first time my oscar fish ran out of the water and up the wall in the blink of an eye! I knew then that I was prepared for one of the crankiest tarantulas in the hobby, went out and bought ten the next day.


Good luck. The only true communal species is M. balfouri. Everything else just tolerates one another right up until it doesn't.

 

[Swoop]

You're right! Keeping fish is TOTALLY like keeping tarantulas! I remember the first time my oscar fish ran out of the water and up the wall in the blink of an eye! I knew then that I was prepared for one of the crankiest tarantulas in the hobby, went out and bought ten the next day.

Every time you get sassy with a newb I cower a little bit.



As for the 8 Hysterocrates sp. (what I've read is dated but a few years ago is seems several in the same genus were sold as H. gigas), good luck, you are a braver newb than I am! As moxie pointed out, tarantula communes are generally a no-no. But I think a large, partitioned container designed so the fish can move around freely but the tarantulas can't would be theoretically simple to design, safe for the T's, and pretty frickin' cool to boot. Toughest part would probably be a lid cuz you'll want one that allows you to access T's or fish without letting all the rest dash for freedom.

 

[miss moxie]

Every time you get sassy with a newb I cower a little bit.



As for the 8 Hysterocrates sp. (what I've read is dated but a few years ago is seems several in the same genus were sold as H. gigas), good luck, you are a braver newb than I am! As moxie pointed out, tarantula communes are generally a no-no. But I think a large, partitioned container designed so the fish can move around freely but the tarantulas can't would be theoretically simple to design, safe for the T's, and pretty frickin' cool to boot. Toughest part would probably be a lid cuz you'll want one that allows you to access T's or fish without letting all the rest dash for freedom.

Partitioned enclosures, unfortunately, usually result in the death of one or more tarantula. We've seen a few examples of that already this year.

Ugh I don't mean to get sassy but there is just so much to get frustrated over in that post:

New hobbyist, equates experience with other animals as experience that has prepared them for advanced tarantulas, bought not just one advanced OW but SEVERAL-- and is gonna throw them all together, when the only semi-workable H. gigas communals are comprised of a mother and her slings.

Edit: Here, to be more helpful than sassy I found this guideline for attempting H. gigas communals, from this post.

dont start with adults

dont start with babies that have been separated with their mom for too long

start with the fresh hatch out babies from the start,,,keep them together,

once you separate for a while then recombine they start eating eachother fast.

one species i took the sac away when they were eggs w legs, hatched them to 2 nd instar gave them back to their mom and they aate together and happy

this one species or individual started eating 1/4'' babies like a little treat, one by one, that was so messed up,,,then i would threw several at once and she ate all of them ahhaha, so those babies are motherless but going strong together in a separate tank.

the longest ive had them, they were close to 2.5'' leg span and there were lke 25 of them before

this time i will try to do better...but i dont have much room once they get bigger.

 

[Haavard]

Branching out is never easy at first. I am here for advice and will swallow a little sassiness attached. No worries;-)
So... H. gigas are not truly communal. That changes my plans for them regarding housing. I don't intend to go full hungergames with my Ts.

 

[miss moxie]

Branching out is never easy at first. I am here for advice and will swallow a little sassiness attached. No worries;-)
So... H. gigas are not truly communal. That changes my plans for them regarding housing. I don't intend to go full hungergames with my Ts.

Well that's very sensible and I commend you for being reasonable.

If you'd come for advice a little sooner, we could have also let you know H. gigas are a really bad choice for a first tarantula given their defensiveness, speed, and the potency of their venom. Now you've got eight of them you have to house separately, which isn't the most ideal situation because these Ts get -very- big and you're going to need a lot of room to house 8 adults. You can always sell some off but packing them up for shipping can be hard.

 

[Swoop]

Edit: Here, to be more helpful than sassy I found this guideline for attempting H. gigas communals, from this post.

You're a peach

@ Harvaad, from the thread moxie linked it seems like they can be communal but you've got to start with them practically (perhaps literally) from birth. Would be a cool project but it would take a couple years(?) before you could get a commune of T's big enough to prey on feeder fish

 

[miss moxie]

You're a peach

@ Harvaad, from the thread moxie linked it seems like they can be communal but you've got to start with them practically (perhaps literally) from birth. Would be a cool project but it would take a couple years(?) before you could get a commune of T's big enough to prey on feeder fish

Yeah an H. gigas communal attempt is best done if you breed them yourself or know someone nearby that breeds them. They need to be kept together the -entire- time. The only species that is genuinely communal is M. balfouri. You could probably get 5 balfouri from 5 different sacs, house them together and they'd be fine. Amazing species, so unique.

 

[Haavard]

I will get some large deli style containers and separate them immediately. Thanks both of you

 

[miss moxie]

I will get some large deli style containers and separate them immediately. Thanks both of you

Yep. Just glad we could help before you ended up with one very fat, very happy spider.

 

[jaycied]

This thread is amazing. I'm planning on trying this in a couple years. I currently don't own any H gigas, so I'd want to get some slings in the next year or so and grow them because I don't want to start with an adult female.

 

[kevinlowl]

Well that's very sensible and I commend you for being reasonable.

If you'd come for advice a little sooner, we could have also let you know H. gigas are a really bad choice for a first tarantula given their defensiveness, speed, and the potency of their venom. Now you've got eight of them you have to house separately, which isn't the most ideal situation because these Ts get -very- big and you're going to need a lot of room to house 8 adults. You can always sell some off but packing them up for shipping can be hard.

Is H. gigas a defensive, fast species? Apparently it's a burrower as well but mine sits on top and chill even when i open the lid. I love my little guy.