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hey guys,well im the proud new owner of a saratoga jardinii.
i got him today from my lfs.
i went there looking for more multis.
so when they didnt have them,i seen the saratoga and he was on sale,and i was able to use my store credit,so i got a real good deal on him.
his is a real nice silver colour,hes about 6 inches long.
ive got him in the 89gal for now.
when i floated him,i went out side to sweep the carport,and when i came back in,he had let himself out the bag,by biting a hole in it!so hes a cheeky bugger
ive already giving him some blood wroms,and he relished them,he took a whole block for himself,then came back for more!so far hes seems to be doing fine,all the tankmates have checked him out,and arnt bothered by him.
ive red they spend %99 of there time crusing the surface anyway!so he will be out there way.
im not real worried about rasing this fella,i know how big they get and what they require.
but i was just wondering if anyone has any helpfull info or tips i can use.

Get it a bigger tank.

watch out for aggression! some times they will stay pretty nice or some times they get very very mean..... these fish can get huge and will need a tank foot print of 2-3 feet wide 6 feet long adn like 2 feet tall tank....... what tank mates does it have?

Probably not very many by now

I am possible the only one on FP who has seen them in the wild and in the Jardine at the tip of Aust. Actually not in the Jardine but in a big billabong about 10mt back from the river. They are a schooling fish on the surface looking for food all the time. I waited about 4 trips into that area to see them. They did prefer the shaded areas. The water was rather warm and perfectly fresh. This might sound a bit strange but just down river a bit there is a bore which pumps FW to the part of the town. This water travels under the ocean bed from New Guinea.

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Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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thanx riri1,ive been warned about how nasty these guys can be,ive been told as you said,they can be real nasty or real nice.
as hes only still small,he is still scared of my blue acara pair,and the red tail black shark.
but ive only got him in this tank untill my 150 gall cycles,i went up to my dads today and filled that up,and fired up the spinning arm mini reef filter.
so once thats cycled ill throw him in the 150 gal.
plus we got word last week when will be moving,(early jan),so once we get into our own place,he can go into my 208gall.
the tank mates the sara is in with now are,a huge robust featherfin catfish,a huge common pleco,a large clownloach,a large blue acara pair,and a red tailed black shark.
jeeze these fellas have a large mouth,he takes whole blocks of worms down with ease.i also gave him one of my LARGE cichlid pellets that i used to feed to my 32cm wolf cichlid,and the sara slurped it down his guzzlet like it was nothing...
they are 1 cool fish,thats for sure.
so far all he has really done has run away from my blue acara pair,and run from the rtbs.
apart from that he just swimms around the surface,looking for more food,greedy bugger..lol
also keith,jeez that must have been a sight to see,these fellas in the wild..

Originally I wanted to catch one kill it bring it home and get it mounted.
After my son caught one I took a photo and it was quickly released. I have fished the tropics for about 10 years now and it certainly would be way out on the top of the list of fish sightings.
At a guess I would think most of their natural foods would be small fish and lots of surface insects/lava its insect heaven up there. There was no river flow in or out at all it was possibly natural spring fed as well
Even getting there was not easy it took about 30+minutes up river in a tinny. It was all controlled by the tide get just before full high tide, at low tide parts only ins deep then get back before the tide drops.
I have also seen Barra so thick you could walk on them if that was possible I just watched them and never even touched my special Barra fishing rod.

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Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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never touched the rod a,you must have been in a trance from watching the barras mate.i dont blame you,they are 1 awesom beast.
do you still have the pic of the saratoga you caught keith,can you send it to me?
that would have been a good fishing spot you mentioned above,all that way up a small river in a tinny.
nice and deserted.
what size were the saratogas you seen/caught keith.
i new you were a keen fisherman,but i didnt think you traveled such far places as the top end.
i still havent been up there yet.been everwhere else in aus,just not the top end...
it must have been great fishing and sight seeing i take it..

i tell ya what so far this saratoga eats ANTHING,it goes down his throat so fast im surprised he even tastes it.
i just fed him,and his other tankmates,and he even ate some algae waffers for the catfish talk about a guts,he smashed the cichlids pellets down too.

Are you just ignoring the fact hes going to eat everything, or are you planning to move him 'before' he does?
Also, you need a strong hood. If its not strong enough, it may just come crashing through it.

I do not have the photo of the Sarra on the computer or in a photo album I will have to have a big hunt for it for you

The biggest I have seen was about 60cm and they were at the other side of the billabong in the shade. All I do know is they are considered a prehistoric fish and require a lot of space to move around and plenty of food. That location was only found by accident and I would say very few people know about it as it cannot be seen from the river at all and, it is so far up river that it can only be reached at highest of tides at certain time of the year.

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Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
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ok cool thanx keith,i know they eat alot,thats all hes done since i got him,eat and swimm!plus there long massive size!ive got a tank upgrade coming in like a 2weeks,then another upgrade at the end of the year.
yeah whateva rekon mez.

Just took a look at some pics of that fish.

Just as well you've got a 208 gallon waiting for it Hokese, because it'll need it!

Oh, and I'd not only advise buying a VERY strong hood for the tank, but to make doubly sure, put some house bricks on top! Only that species isn't only a rocket-propelled jumper that will perform ICBM impersonations at the drop of a hat, but it's powerful and muscular enough when large to crash its way through a weak hood. If you're handy at carpentry, I'd build a hood out of inch thick plywood specially for the purpose and reinforce it with steel plate!

EDIT: just found this site ... it says some of these fish can wind up weighing 10Kg! That's a candidate for its own pond once it gets to that size!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

yea these fish are mean as hell id just get a bunch of dithers like tinfoils or something...... Truly one of the best looking fish i have owned..... i had inch thick plexi glass lids with 10 pound weights on the top...... once it got around 24 inches long it could easily push the 10 pound weight off the top of the tank its crazy so i went to a 25 pond weight and it worked for like a week or 2 then pushed it off...... i ended up giveing it to a friend with a ok sized pond in his back yard fully heated 2 so u could swim in it but its not a smart idea with a few 4 foot long red tails a 5 foot long paroon shark and a 30+ inch jar aro.......... tryed to put my hand in to pet the cats not a good idea got my shoulder dislocated by the paroon shark and soaked!!!!!! deffinatly one of the most painful experinces of my life...... the aro is still a live and its probly getting around 3 feet long and wont let a 5 foot paroon shark by his area of floating plants that he stays by........ these fish are mean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These Scars are a naturally wild fish up north its eat or be eaten. To see them fining the water it is a fantastic site in fact to see any fish like that in the wild is fantastic.
I was watching some fish one day just above a small water fall then all of a sudden splash a big barra but what the Barra did not know all of a sudden it was going over the fall and just below were the crocks waiting for any thing that came over including humans.
Sorry Hoksey I personally would love to see Sarra on the banned list forever they were never meant to be in a tank unless its in a huge public aquarium.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

thats cool keith,each to there own.
what can i say i love the big bad boys.
yeah cal we got word when we will be moving,so he will spend some time in the 208gal,but really thats not quite wide enuff for him.
but once we are in our OWN place,we arnt moving again for years,i can tell you that much,so im guna get a even bigger tank for him.
say the same length as my 208 gal(8 footer)same hight 2.5 foot,but 3 foot wide instead of 2 foot.
so that will be his home,once we get settled.
man i love this fish,they are soooo cool,he just cruzes around the tank,looking to devour his next feed.
hes only 6 inches long,and he already can take pinkies(baby mice)like they are nothing,rips them out of my fingers,then down his throat,and then hes waiting for more..lol
he should be going up to the 150gal,probly late next week.
i checked the water parameters today,and they still arnt quite correct..
so far hes been very well behaved,im not saying there not nasty,im very well aware what this BEAST is capable of.
however at this point,he is at the very bottom of the pecking order,no joke even my large clownloach can chase him away.
i know within few months he could very well kill all his tankmates and run havoc,but he will be in his own tank by the time that happens.
i cant wait to see this beast when hes a 2 footer,cruzing around the tank,with a mouth that could swollow a tennis ball.
oh and ive already got weights,with felt wrapped around them and a good heavy hood aswell.i ran 2 peaces of 4 by 2 inside the whole lenght of the hood,so it wont sag,just these alone make it a heavy hood,plus the fact its 8 foot long,and custom made tells me it WILL keep the sara inside the tank.and not flipping on the loungeroom floor..i done this when i had my massive cichlid setup,some of the fish in that tank were professional jumpers too.
also on the 208 gal,i replaced the glass lids with perspecs,as ive already had a male flowerhorn,test the if the lid was strong,and it wasnt.
so b4 another terminator came crashing throo more glass lids,i nipped up the hardwhere,and glued 2 peaces of perspecs together so they wouldnt sag,and presto,new stronger lids.
so aprat from getting a even bigger tank than my 208gal,im pretty much ready to take on this fella.

i can see where keith is comeing from i have seen picks from my aunt of a bunch in the wild and a couple underwater picks of them they are really beautiful fish...... but i do think u can keep these fish in a take if its at least 4 times there length and 1.5 to 2 times there length wide....... my firend did a big no no in arowana keeping one time and had turned his pool into a pond and kept like 4 or 5 jars and acutaly got them to breed...... they love to jump as my friend didnt have t op to the pool but did put acrylic walls around it so they didnt jump out...... I think one of my all time best moments was watching his jars jump in the air...... IF hokese is gona do the upgrades he says he is the jar will be a happy fish......

na mate,its not a case of IF hokese does the upgrade its WHEN,the saras 150gal is just about ready,its nearly fully cycled.
so hes 1st upgrade is only days away now,then the next upgrade early jan.then the next upgrade probly 6-8 months down the track,
i woulndt take on a fish this size if i didnt have the tanks to house him.
so far the sara is doing well,very active,hes now not scared of me,as soon as he sees me,hes the 1st fish up to get his chow.
now that hes getting decent food,i can see that his silver colour has come alot brighter,plus i can see the colours in his fins darkening too.hes guna be 1 great looking fish.i love watching him yawn,the size of there mouth just amazes me!

Hi,
Sounds like you guys should check out this site:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10323

There are tanks here that will amaze you, and others that
simply boggle mind. In many cases I just wish I had
the money to afford some of them!

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thanx for the link frank,i just went and joined up with MFK.
i only had a real quick look,but some of the arrowanas,gars,saras,massive catfish i seen were great.
i also seen 1 tank,that i could swimm in!
some of the money these guys have invested in there tanks,would easy go up to 30 thousand bucks.
alot of these guys tanks are %100 professional.