Selling Saratoga ? ?

[yibbiy]

hi all,
I live just outside of sydney, nsw. Today i visited a local aquarium to have a bit of a look around. I noticed they were selling saratoga, easily under a foot long for $200.00 each. The bloke said they would suit a 4 ft tank just fine. Are these fish normally considered a "pet" so to speak. .?
Also, $200.00 for a tiny specimen? ? ? ? Im just curios. . . . . .any ideas? ? ? ?

[bungie]

place your lounge suite, TV, and coffee table on top of the tank, and dont open the glass to feed it :)

They fly, and can jump out of the tank easily, and bloody quick #[smiley=wings.gif]

[szopen]

Both saratoga and related arawana (spelling?) are popular aquarium fish.

They do grow big and bigger ones can be very expensive.

Must be fed live food.

Very entertaining at feeding times.

sensitive to water quality.

[Fitzy]

I've had several 'toga in my tanks over the years. They are a great aquarium fish, much sough after & pretty damn expensive too.
They are very slow to breed hence the price.

Every toga I've had is easy to feed on dead food eg frozen blood worms, white bait, dry pellets etc.

I've never had 1 of my toga jump out of any tank of mine. If they do this its a sign they arent happy there, usually means theres something wrong with the water.

One of the best tank fish you can get!!

Cheers,

fitzy..

[Dodgy_Back]

I used to catch geckoes and feed the Toga I had, Wow it could get a big geckoe done!!



Mick

[choppa]

just goes to show what some people will buy to be a bit better than most,,,, we throw em back in qld,,, they sell em in nsw,,,,but i know of a bloke in gippsland vic who paid $35 for a live flattie about 18 inches long,,, he put it in his salt water tank and it ate over $500 worth of his other fish,,,,,true story,,,,,,,,choppa

[timbacutta]

Competing with the aquarium trade is what makes it so expensive to stock saratoga into our fresh water impoundments. Pity because they are such a fun sportfish to catch.

Maybe I will have to get one as a pet because there seems to be an over supply of ghecko's(imported variety, not the native one's) around the place at the moment.

Feeding them to a pet saratoga would be more fun than using them for target practice with my nerf gun. ;D

Jeff

[DICER]

I recently visited our local aquarium (Netherlands) - they have piranhas there. Everone of them looked mangy because they had been nibbling/chomping each other. Out of the dorsal, out of the poo-hole etc. All except the biggest one of course. If you just want one fish then perhaps the saratoga is in that class. But I would still get a saratoga over a piranha.

[raefpud]

just under a foot long - $200 bargain - gofor it, but make sure he is well looked after as $200 could by a nice rod or reel

[caught-ya]

would definetly recommend a much larger tank, I know a guy has one in a 10ft tank about 2ft long.
they do grow way too large for a 4ft.

[Fishin_Dan]

I used to catch geckoes and feed the Toga I had, Wow it could get a big geckoe done!!



Mick


Not the best idea... And certainly don't let the authorities hear this... They'll bust you for it! You can't feed reptiles (Snakes & lizards) to other animals... Against the law

[Zeeke]

You mean even pest species??

Alot of people are seeing them these days..

This is one.. an Asian House Gecko, found in Brisbane in 1984 i think and has since spread across queensland

Tim

http://www.#######.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=559&g2_serialNumber=1

[Bosunsmate]

At least if I got Gecko I know I aint got no Ghosts in my house...... :D

Just my take on it, would'nt be too keen on paying $200 for a fish, would rather spend it on fuel 'n' bait for a day on the boat..

JMHO
Graeme

[Motorman]

Hey guys
Saratogas are a great aquarium fish though definalty not suited to a 4ft tank
I have mine in a 10ft tank he is 55cm and loves it

These fish are amazing jumpers and can squeeze out of the smallest gaps
They jump because they are a surface feeder and attack things that crawl across the lids and if something flies past above the tank
The water quality wont affect why they will or wont jump
The Jardini is more sought after for the aquariums as the red shows up and makes it a prettier fish IMO
Also the difficulty in breeding these and the fact they have to be quite large to remove from the wild will always cause this fish to expensive

[efc]

haha you guys make me laugh. Water quality has got nothing to do with them jumping..they are a very agile creature and will jump if spooked or excited.

As for the saratoga not being sold in Qld aquariums.... well visit one and open your eyes. They are everywhere and sell like hot cakes!

As they are mouthbrooders they have very small spawns thus the price is higher then your average native...barra have around 10 million eggs, saratoga have around 50 eggs!

i work at an aqaurium and have a few toga and they are very cool, nothing on arowana but still pretty good

[bo_sawyer]

great aquarium fish. My mate has a 10 footer with a saratoga, arowana and a special breed of knife fish... the fish inside that tank are worth a tinnie alone ;)