# Rhaphiodon vulpinus (update)



## NIKE (Jan 27, 2003)

here is a video of my three rhaphs that i had taken while feeding mysis shrimp you will see how they attack their prey with a fast snap. gonna work on a clearer close-up









http://media.putfile.com/Rhaphiodon-vulpinus/640


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## k7q (Mar 3, 2004)

simply amazing.


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## SLANTED (Dec 7, 2003)

Very nice. I never had much luck getting mine onto non-living foods. What did you do?


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

thats cool sh*t man









do they swim that horizontal all the time? i read in a few

places they swim at almost a 45* angle


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## syclone (Sep 24, 2005)

Great video, and great looking fish.


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## jan (Apr 24, 2004)

Amazing video of some flawless looking Raphs







I knew they were lightning fast with striking their prey, but this fast is just incredible









Thnx for sharing


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## oojit (Feb 24, 2005)

Sweet


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## pamonster (Jun 26, 2003)

very cool fish!


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## NIKE (Jan 27, 2003)

SLANTED said:


> Very nice. I never had much luck getting mine onto non-living foods. What did you do?


I had these guys in a 100 gal pond for a couple months and had them eating some dovii fry (too much on hand) the fry were fed mysis shrimp till their belly's were stuffed.... holding so much shrimp i am only to think that they tasted more like shrimp then dovii :laugh: Now with that being said and done i was kinda hoping that they might eventually go after mysis on it's own, and they did.

my suggestion for anyone trying to get rhaphiodon/payara off live food should try this method. pretty simple. Just find some type of cichlid that can breed for you, then try to raise the fry up on the foods you want your rhaphs/payara to eat in the future stuff the fry up and drop them in the tank.

but today i had a suprize







I was feeding my pleco in the same tank as the raphs. He is a 17" sailfin who can eat 3" smelts every other day, well today i dropped it in the tank and it hit the current sending it into the raphiodon chilling area and BANG!! a rhaphiodon snapped at it and well check this out. I had to edit it a bit as the Whole smelt took roughly 5 minutes to be eaten.

thank for the comments everyone









http://media.putfile.com/Rhaphiodon-smelt/640


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Man, those are some amazing fish








Forgive my ignorance, but what's their common name?
And given your surprise, I take that they are hard to get off life food?

Great video's, John - thanks for sharing


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## NIKE (Jan 27, 2003)

> Forgive my ignorance, but what's their common name?


I see frank has them labelled as >>>>>>>skinny tiger characin<<<<<< sorry i just used rhaphs for some reason







bad habbit...



> I take that they are hard to get off life food?


yes very much so, this is the first sign of them trying anything besides mysis shrimp which the only excepted last week in the year that i have had them. why i am so excited is this might be the reason why these fish mysteriously die off at this size is from lack of nutrition perhaps. If i can get them eating healthy we might just see some big toothy monsters in another year.



> MR.FREEZ Posted Nov 4 2005, 11:53 AM
> thats cool sh*t man bowdown.gif
> 
> do they swim that horizontal all the time?


wondering if i ever will answer this question?









From what i have noticed about horizontal swimming is usually related due to current. I have seen these fish almost jack-knifed in some of the weirdest angles but is usually when riding the currents. They are only roughly a half inch thick, but have huge fins to paddle with. Sometimes they swim just using one fin to paddle which seems to put them in a horizontal possition. So i suppose you herd right.


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## Onion (Sep 20, 2005)

Great video and fishes! Those where quick eaters.


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## furious piranha (Mar 22, 2005)

they are crazy fish...are they payaras, or are they different fish?


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## NIKE (Jan 27, 2003)

furious piranha said:


> they are crazy fish...are they payaras, or are they different fish?


different







alot slimmer.


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

NIKE said:


> wondering if i ever will answer this question?
> 
> 
> 
> ...










thanks man, i was just able to get back on the net again today

and i was wonderin


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## NIKE (Jan 27, 2003)

got another frozen smelt feeding better close-up to share. You can see the teeth on these crazy hunters.









http://media.putfile.com/Rhaphiodon-smelt-2/640


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## SLANTED (Dec 7, 2003)

That is truly impressive NIKE. I know of only one other that has been able to get their payara off of live foods.( He had them accepting dried krill!).

I believe that also is the largest reason for the mysterious death that many speak of. Most payara in captivity eat feeders everyday of their life and probably die from liver failure at around 12" due to that. Are you going to start injecting the smelt with vitamins?


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## NIKE (Jan 27, 2003)

Thanks SLANTED



> Are you going to start injecting the smelt with vitamins?


I will definaltely look into this method, however i still to need to observe them more. I have a feeling that it might just be the same one taking down the smelt right now and i am hopping that all three will eat the smelts so i could have them grow at the same rate gonna get some smaller silversides and try to get all three of them eating these and if so i will come back to smelts. But the mysis is gonna help pack in some nutrition in the meantime and all three are eating it very good.

Thanks for the Payara info









I will come back with an update soon


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