# whats so great about UARU?? [Uaru lovers speak up]



## klumsyninja

So you tell ME

What's so great about UARU cichlids, and why should anyone want some?

Pictures are a very convincing argument as well...


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## Joels fish

Whats not to love? They get big , are suitable tankmates for just about any SA , are as personable as Oscars (and not nearly as ugly or co-dependant), are strikingly different in pattern as adults vs juvie , if you can track down some orange morph they can have some nice color. Really they are one of those fish that untill you've kept them are a little hard to explain what makes them so cool. Trust me , if you get some (and that's prefered since they like to be in groups or at the least pairs) you'll understand :wink: .


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## Cook.MN

What is a UARU?


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## Joels fish

These








Here's a link to the species profile http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=627


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## RyanR

Why does anyone want anything? :lol:

Pretty, peaceful, and personable.

-Ryan


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## mambee

I'm of mixed opinion on Uarus. I had 2 and now have 1. My mated pair had a spat and one harassed the other to the point that I had to euthanize one, even though I tried separating them with egg crate.

From my experience of having 2 for over 4 years, they are usually very peaceful and personable, but get extremely large and will eat anything that is green. I just don't think that you get as much bang for your buck as Severums or Angelfish when it comes to interesting cichlid behavior.

Mike


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## exasperatus2002

mambee said:


> I'm of mixed opinion on Uarus. I had 2 and now have 1. My mated pair had a spat and one harassed the other to the point that I had to euthanize one, even though I tried separating them with egg crate.
> 
> From my experience of having 2 for over 4 years, they are usually very peaceful and personable, but get extremely large and will eat anything that is green. I just don't think that you get as much bang for your buck as Severums or Angelfish when it comes to interesting cichlid behavior.
> 
> Mike


Since when did angels have interesting behavior? Their as interesting as a tetra doing laps in a community tank. Severums on the other hand....Gotta love them. Uaru *** wanted to try but never had the oppurtunity when I had the space for them. I love the color.


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## mambee

Ok - I take back the Angels.


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## straitjacketstar

exasperatus2002 said:


> mambee said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm of mixed opinion on Uarus. I had 2 and now have 1. My mated pair had a spat and one harassed the other to the point that I had to euthanize one, even though I tried separating them with egg crate.
> 
> From my experience of having 2 for over 4 years, they are usually very peaceful and personable, but get extremely large and will eat anything that is green. I just don't think that you get as much bang for your buck as Severums or Angelfish when it comes to interesting cichlid behavior.
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
> *Since when did angels have interesting behavior?* Their as interesting as a tetra doing laps in a community tank. Severums on the other hand....Gotta love them. Uaru I've wanted to try but never had the oppurtunity when I had the space for them. I love the color.
Click to expand...

I share this sentiment about discus, but not angels. I actually do find them quite interesting and surprisingly nasty. It never fails to amaze me when a fish that fights so much with EVERYTHING can keep such perfect looking finnage. But then I have been known to be easily amused every now and again.

As for the uaru question, I have been wondering myself. I've never seen many of them locally and recently found some very young ones at a very reasonable price and was contemplating getting some but am hesitant since watching them at the shop failed to overwhelm me with the gutwrenching _need_ to have them.


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## mambee

I'm looking to find a new home for my remaining Uaru since they do not do well when kept singly. Anyone living in the NYC area can have him gratis.

Mike


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## dwarfpike

I have to agree with *straightjacketstar* about the angels, _especially_ with regards to wild angels. Most are fiestier than domestic sev's even.

Have yet to keep uaru though, never had a tank big enough for a group of 10-12" fish.


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## klumsyninja

12"s in the wild 8-10" average in aquariums, groups of them should be 2 or more apparently which isn't really so demanding. They need good water but so do Geo's and they can be kept with them safely so that kinda rocks. A group of Geo's are just as large too so it'd be a cool looking tank.

Do you think they'd eat L. Dorsigera's up like little snacks?

There's a LFS in the area with 2" Uaru's at $11.99... they're going fast though!

(They've also got 2" peacock bass for $9.99 :drooling: But I'm not tank space ready for those yet.. but I'd like to be)

Keep convincing me (and everyone else) as to what's so grreat about Uaru's though... this threads getting some good response.

More Pics!! opcorn:


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## mambee

The good thing about Uarus is that you could probably keep them with guppies with no problem. They are also fairly intelligent in that they notice anything new in the tank.

The bad thing is that they eat plants


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## klumsyninja

I just saw little 1.5" Uaru's with the Orange Morph at another LFS for 14.99... suddenly I'm seeing these guys around.. Maybe it's a sign


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## dogofwar

I had one for years as a wet pet. He grew to nearly a foot, ate lettuce from my fingers, wanted to be petted when I was doing water changes... great interactive, intelligent fish.

Not the most colorful fish, although I like the big red eye...but really cool fish.

He shared a 55g with some livebearers that I though he might like as a snack...but wouldn't eat (so they reproduced). Probably had him for 8 years.


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## slickvic277

2 years ago I was at the baltimore aquarium and they had a couple(uaru's) in there south american display. they were huge ! football sized,they were really cool looking fish I watched them for awhile.They had really dark almost evil looking red-orange eyes.great looking cichlids.


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## DeadFishFloating

> There's a LFS in the area with 2" Uaru's at $11.99... they're going fast though!


Sigh! I dream for those prices in our LFS's. I haven't seen Uaru's for sale in years down here, now two LFS have them for sale. They are between 3 and 4 inches TL, one store has them for $60ea and the other has them for $80 ea.


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## RayQ

They are a fish that you have to try! I started with four two inch w/c juvies, brightly splashed with blue spots, I was sold (I'm a sucker for big dopey sa's). brought them home and tossed them in with some small Geos, Satanoperca and small Creni's. They very quickly outgrew the 70, I had to move them to a 150, with some 8-9" Creni. sp. "Venezuela" - I wasn't to happy, but, they needed the room to grow! I was pleasantly surprised to see the Uaru proceed to beat on the Venz for about 20 minutes, after the beating, all the fish got along perfectly, the pecking order seemingly set in stone. Once completely settled, the four fish started to pair off, turns out that they were two males and two females - what luck! They began spawning less than a year after I brought them home with me at about 7" total length, their spawns were every week, one pair on Monday and the other on Wednesday, I never did raise one fry, my water is much too hard and the eggs were never fertile.

In the end, I still regret getting rid of them, the guy I gave them to raised the first spawn he got from them (they missed a week in the cycle but got back on track the next) and flooded Winnipeg with Uaru fry! They are capable of holding their own with any tankmates that you throw at them, they eat EVERYTHING and are not any more demanding for water quality than any other SA cichlids and the personality is second to none among cichlids.

Thanks for reading, hope it wasn't too boring :lol:


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## klumsyninja

boring??! No way, that's the kinda stuff I want to hear..

Lay it on me folks, Whats so great about Uaru?

THIS THREAD NEEDS MORE PICS!!! opcorn:


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## bernreuther

Well here's a link to a few pics:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=220196

I got mine as a throw-in with a satanoperca sp Red Lip. They were friends in the tank I got them from but she wasn't going to work in my SA tank because it was planted (next week I move and will set up a 260 or 415 for peaceful South Americans and it is going to be Awesome). So I put her into my monster tank, wondering how she'd fare with the big dickish distichodus lussoso.

She had an immediate calming effect on the tank and without ever attacking him completely dominated him. She just floats around slowly and gracefully, is super friendly, eats from my hand, and scares the **** out of a 14" fish (he has now focused his aggression on the bala sharks though, which is not so good - but they'll all get whichever of the 360 and 415 I don't use for the SAs so that'll help). I can't imagine there'll be any difficulty getting her reacquainted with the more appropriate region fish once I move.

I just wonder how many more I can safely get - she does great on her own, and had a mate (the guy sold the male separately, sadly), but I hear that they don't do well in smaller groups of 2 or 3.

I can actually get a fairly large orange variant locally but the last thing I need is to get that and have my current one beat the **** out of it.

But in general this throw-in fish has become one of my favorites.


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## klumsyninja

I read just the opposite in fact, that they should be kept in groups of 2 or more... Gonna check out those pics now  I love MFK....


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## bernreuther

Me too. So cool that they host images for me too.

I forgot to note that to answer a question on the first page, at roughly 7", mine could not eat a full grown l. dorsigera. Wouldn't fit in her mouth. And in fact, depending on whether I decide to keep the silver arowanas in the tank with the eartheaters (which prevents me from keeping the juvenile eartheaters til they grow up), I was planning to keep them in the same tank together.


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## dogofwar

I had good luck keeping a single Uaru as a wet pet. Groups are interesting but not necessary.

Mine wouldn't eat fish that would fit into his mouth. He simply wasn't interested...

Lettuce on the other hand they're all over...


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## RayQ

Try potato(e) - it's like watching them play keep-away! It is really impressive what those teeth are capable of.

Ray


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## mambee

Try frozen corn kernels. My Festivum and Uaru have a corn eating contest.

Mike


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## M0oN

Poor man's discus - easier to keep, just about the same temprement (closer to severum in my opinion) and they look a lot better in person than you'll see in any pictures.

Uaru F. are especially nice if you can afford em'.


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## bernreuther

Anyone have any nice photos of adult Uaru Fs?


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## klumsyninja

bernreuther said:


> Anyone have any nice photos of adult Uaru Fs?


That's what I'm talkin about....


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## M0oN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BXdP9qJ ... re=related


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## M0oN

http://www.potamotrygon.nl/tankmates/ua ... yepezi.htm


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## RayQ

here are some of mine when they first started spawning. . .




























STILL KICKING MYSELF :x for getting rid of them.

Ray


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## M0oN

That's an accomplishment to get uaru to breed! They're more timid about it than discus, my pair would always eat their eggs


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## RayQ

:lol: I had more spawns with these two pairs than any other cichlid I have ever kept - even cons! Once a week - one pair on Monday and the other pair on Wednesday.


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## klumsyninja

Wow RayQ that's a lot of fry... What'd you do with them all? Did you raise them and sell them or were there hungry fish in there for population control? How were the Uaru as parents? Roughly what size were there spawns? (sorry for all the questions, lol)


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## RayQ

I wish it had been a lot of fry! I have high pH (8.0) out of the tap and high calcium levels in my water, there was not a fertile egg in the bunch! I have been told that hard water (mostly calcium) affects the outer layer of the eggs in a negative way. I have had success raising fry with RO water, but, I guess I couldn't get the levels down enough for the Uaru eggs. I know that both pairs were fertile, the guy I gave them to raised fry from the first spawns from both pairs.

Never appologize for asking questions :lol:


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## bernreuther

Guess what I got today...

click me


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## Joels fish

Very cool 8) , you'll enjoy them !


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## klumsyninja

=D>


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## klumsyninja

bernreuther said:


> Guess what I got today...
> 
> click me


Right on.. so Jealous!

I keep seeing them in LFS around here and I want to pick some up! I need to make room in my tank though first before I add more big guys in there.. Even if they're only little guys today


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## bernreuther

They're supposedly the orange variant too. Even if they're not, I got a good deal on them anyway.

These little guys are hilarious. They're all the best of friends and eat like pigs. I can't wait til they reach a size that'll let me put them in the big tank.


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## Joels fish

It wont take long , they eat like pigs and grow like weeds.


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## RayQ

They are certainly different looking as juvies! mine had blotches of blue - yours are VERY blue :thumb:

Great!

Ray


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## GBSTEVE

They are GREAT fish, I love mine.Great temperament for a big SA fish, as said safe with small fish- they're really not interested in fishy snacks (I even grow on small Labs in the tank with them, although I wouldn't mix with adults)

Spawning and rearing behaviour is just stunning to watch. Some of my pics in these threads

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... highlight=
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... highlight=
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... highlight=


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## toffee

Interesting news that Uarus do not eat small fishes. Is that a fact or myth? It would be fascinating to have a few huge Uarus in a big tank with lots and lots of small swordtails or tetras.

Anyone tried having Uarus with smaller tetras?


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## Joels fish

I've never noticed it myself, but I wouldn't trust them with anything remotely bite sized to be safe. I did keep a school of Serpaes with my Uarus and Sevs, they didn't last long though. The Sevs demolished the tetras when they started spawning. Prior to that however I never noticed any aggression from the Uarus towards the tetras.

While Uarus are from my experience very peacefull ,I've heard of some being real handfulls. Whether or not your going to be able to get that sort of setup to work will depend entirely on your Uarus. Best bet is to set up the tank with the tetras (I highly suggest the tall bodied species) then add Uaru juvies . They shouldn't bother the tetras, but this way you'll get a little better feel for how they're gonna behave with the tetras as they're growing out.


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## toffee

with neon tetras????


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## scrubjay

I kept my two Uarus in an indoor pond with Pristella, Lemon, Emperor, Bleeding Heart, and Glolight tetras, hatchetfish, pencilfish, and other fish over several years. My Lemon and Emperor tetras even had fry that grew up to adulthood in there. It was great to sit by the pond and feed the Uarus by hand. They were so sweet. This was about 12 years ago in a Berkeley apartment--one of those molded ponds just sitting on the floor, with a sandstone waterfall for the canister return. I suppose they may have eaten a tetra or two, but mostly they just liked to hang out under an overhanging rock together. It would be nice to see them in more SA community tanks.


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## Fevz

I got my Uarus few days ago and i must say they are the best cichlids i ever had! They are already eating from my hands and closely watching every thing that i do in the aquarium. They are also big pigs and are constantly eating :lol: 
I have three in a tank with geophaguses

Here is the middle sized guy


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## mambee

Fevz,

Love your tank. Your fish must be really small because I have a 6' 150 gallon tank and it looks half the size of yours.

I have 1 10" Uaru, 6 Geos and 2 Severums in my tank.

Mike


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## Fevz

Thanks for loving it :wink: 
I think my bigest uaru is about 7" or 8"
You should get some more mates for your uaru. They are really social fish!
Where could i see full shoot of your tank?


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## mambee

I had 2 that were maybe a pair. They laid eggs on a regular basis but could have been 2 females. Then one turned on the other and harassed it to death.

I'll try to post some pictures tonight.


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## Fevz

That's to bad  
I hope you will find her some companions.

Here is a shoot of what i think a male


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## mambee

My 90 gallon mostly SA community tank


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## mambee

Not so great pictures of my 150 gallon. I really need to clean the glass.


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## Rob Sanderson

bernreuther said:


> Anyone have any nice photos of adult Uaru Fs?


Heres mine...sorry about the quality of the pics!

Uaru fernandezyepezi

















Rob.


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## xxskynxx

I recently lost my Uaru named Agustus. He was my favortie cichlid in my tank, because he tend to be so curious of what I was doing. He grew to be about 3 inches before my angels started breeding. I love uarus and wish I could get another one. It is true that they will eat anything green. I had put a vine plant in the corner to get it to grow and drape along my tank. Three days after putting the uaru in the tan it was gone. I began feeding him romaine and zuccinni (sorry for the spelling). They are very peaceful and a great addition to a larger tank. I kept min in a 55 and he did just fine.


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## bamboo_turtles

I know this is an old thread but I dont understand why people starts these kinds of " tell me why I should get this or that " threads . It almost always happens that the person never gets the animal or if they get them , they end up getting rid of it out of boredom . I think it's simple , you either want the animal or you don't .
I also noticed one person that replied mentioned keeping gymnogeophagus with uarus . I found that odd as gymno's do not do well over 75 F . Many stories that say gymnos simply fade away in temps above 78 F . I would think geophagus would be the better choice . 
I currently have five uarus , 2 medium and 3 babies , I have them all together and the medium size animals do not bother the babies . They do eat alot , are growing quickly , and very inquesive about everything .


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## Chubbs the Jellybean

I was actually inspired by this thread to get my Uaru - and plan on getting a second thanks to the info from this particular thread - so regardless of if the OP ended up getting the Uaru, I did thanks to this! :thumb:


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