Aba aba: Home Aquarium

Summary: Do Aba abas make good pets? The short answer is no, but join Kiersten as she discusses why this animal should not be on your next pet list.

 

For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean

 

Show Notes: 

Seriously Fish: https://www.seriouslyfish.com

Music written and performed by Katherine Camp

 

Transcript

(Piano music plays)

Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.

(Piano music stops)

 

Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 

This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.

We’ve reached the second to last episode of Aba aba and I find myself in a quandary. This isn’t something I like about the Aba aba but it is a topic I think we need to address, so the ninth thing I would like to talk about the Aba aba is the possibility of having it as a pet.

Whenever I start a new series for this podcast, I typically know at least a little about the animal. Even if I know a lot, like about bats, I always do extra research to make sure I offer you the best and most up to date information, I can. When I picked the Aba aba, it was one of the animals I thought of first when I decided to make this podcast, I did my extra research. I have personal experience with this animal, as I have mentioned, so I knew quite a bit about its behavior, diet, and life cycle, but you can always learn more, right? As I started researching for Aba aba I did find scientific research papers but the majority of information I found about this fish came from home aquarium sites. This surprised me because this fish gets big, really big and isn’t fit for the home aquarium. 

At the zoo we had a 250 gallon tank with multiple canister filters attached and our Aba aba wasn’t  anywhere near full grown. Our aquarium was only a temporary home for him while the aquatic area of the zoo was under renovation. The 250 gallons tank would not be able to host him as he got bigger. 

Many of you may have had, or currently have, fish aquariums in your home. I have had some as well, both freshwater fish and saltwater fish. The largest we had was a fifty gallon saltwater tank, and I thought that was enormous for a home aquarium. So when I saw aquarium hobbyist websites talking about the Aba aba I was a little wary. 

The Aba aba is a terrible choice for a pet. Beyond the large tank, and when I saw large tank I mean a 2000 gallon tank to house a full grown Aba aba, and extensive filtration set up you need to provide a clean environment for a fish of this size, you have to provide large food items, not just fish flakes for the Aba aba. Food such as silverside fish and freshwater shrimp. Aba abas are also a dangerous pet to have in your home. Their feeding behavior is intentionally brutal, as a predator you don’t want your prey to get away. Once a fish is sucked into the Aba aba’s mouth, they most likely won’t get out again. If that happens to be a human finger, you’ll be one short for the rest of your life. 

I truly enjoyed taking care of our Aba aba at the zoo, and I can see what  might attract a person to this amazing animal. They are mesmerizing to watch. The constant rippling of the fin is captivating. Watching them rearrange the aquarium furniture is a delight. Offering them various enrichment items and seeing them interact with each one figuring out the puzzle of the new item is rewarding. I personally think they have cute faces, but you have to remember this is a wild animal and they are not like your typical fish you buy at the pet store. This is a predator, a problem solving predator. And you just brought it into your home.

You cannot house it with other fish, as the Aba aba will most likely eat anything you put in with it, so you will have a tank with only one fish. That isn’t typical what most home aquarists want. The Aba aba in unsuitable for a community tank. That includes keeping it with other Aba abas as they are solitary species in the wild with the exception of breeding season when they briefly tolerate each other's company to fertilize eggs and deposit them in a nest. 

I finally looked at what one of the hobby sites had to say about the Aba aba as a home aquarium fish, I was pleasantly surprised. This is what the Seriously Fish site had to say about Gymnarchus niloticus, quote “…the species is simply not suited to the home aquarium in any respect. If you see these for sale, and they are undoubtedly amazing looking fish, ask yourself if yo