Origin.
Coming from the tropical
waters of the
Amazon River, you know these big cichlids need warm water.
Coming from the black waters of the
Rio Negro
also means they need water with a low pH.
Somewhat rare, we seldom see uarus on the market except as
juveniles from the Orient.
LA
At one inch, these cute uarus really catch your eye. Compare size
with the suction cup.
Juvenile
Appeal. Looking very much
like many other larger cichlids when full grown, most people are attracted
to the juvenile uarus – which look quite similar to a leaf fish
sprinkled with white stars.
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Slightly Larger Stage. At two inches they start losing their juvie
polka dots and begin to look very much like their parents. For some
reason they get a bit shy at this stage. They hang to the back of
their tank -- until you feed them. They like to look for food on the
bottom.
Adult
Appeal. Some people
can’t resist a challenge. Keeping
uarus in Des Moines water gives you exactly the same challenge as keeping discus in our
moderately hard, high pH water. You
may need to adjust the pH and dissolved lime levels in our water.
Just install a reverse osmosis water system and you’re on your way.
Size.
Inch-long uaru juveniles grow into hefty
foot-long bruisers looking similar to severums but with a larger
mouth.
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When small, they like to hang together.
Space.
You can keep one uaru in a 30-gallon tank.
However, you really need a 55-gallon tank to house a pair
comfortably. You could
probably even crowd four in there.
Water.
You can often keep your uarus healthy in our “moderately hard”
pH 7.5 Des Moines
water. However, if you decide
to breed them, you need to lower your hardness and pH level.
Remember that soft water usually cannot maintain a stable pH.
Use one of the discus buffers to stabilize your water chemistry.
Foods.
Give your uarus a variety. Yes,
they eat flake and frozen foods. Add
some snails to clean up any excess food that falls to the bottom.
They snack on duckweed. They go slightly bonkers for live
California blackworms.
LA
They ate the sword plants and ignored the cryptocorynes.
LA
They totally ignored these cryptocorynes.
Plant
Eaters. If you decide to
add live plants, get cheap ones. Uarus
love to eat plants. These
eager eaters like some plants better than regular fish foods.
Like African cichlids, they would probably refuse to eat Java lance
fern and Java moss. If you
want a jungle look, you will probably need plastic plants.
LA
Whoops scratch the Java fern idea. They shredded this. Plant
plastic plants.
Disease.
Expect the same disease
problems that affect discus. See Discus for more info.
Breeding.
You will need lots of room if you intend to breed your uarus.
Isolate your breeding pair and pamper them like discus.
Provide large, rounded rocks and flat slate to give them a choice
of spawning sites.
Glancers.
Like discus, chromide, and pike cichlid fry, the uaru newly
swimming fry eat the nutritious slime generated on the bodies of their
parents. The uaru fry will not
do well if you remove the eggs or fry from the parents.
Add newly hatched live baby brine shrimp after a week or so.
LA
Pic
For some reason, little uarus like to school together.
LA
Pic
When they hit a massive 1.5 inches, uarus start developing some colors.
LA
They start losing their pretty little dots.
LA
Uarus tend toward neutral colors as they mature. He is nowhere near
full grown.
LA
Nice looking cichlid but not the easiest breed to keep.
LA
Not seen often enough.
Last
Comments. Clean water is essential to keeping uarus and other large
cichlids. Change at least 25%
weekly. Add some anacharis
or
duckweed to help keep your water clean.
Uarus will probably eat both these easily replaceable plants.
LA.
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