Milwaukee County Zoo's large but shy arapaima fish needed coaxing from Onassis the turtle to move into Amazon tank - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee County Zoo's large but shy arapaima fish needed coaxing from Onassis the turtle to move into Amazon tank - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee County Zoo's large but shy arapaima fish needed coaxing from Onassis the turtle to move into Amazon tank - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Posted: 29 May 2020 12:09 PM PDT

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The Milwaukee County Zoo's new arapaimas get settled in with the help of a neighborly turtle. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Like youngsters leaving home on the first day of kindergarten, the Milwaukee County Zoo's two arapaima fish needed a bit of coaxing.

Though arapaima are among the world's largest freshwater fish and can stretch out to as long as 10 feet, the fish were a bit hesitant to move from their small tanks into their new home in the massive 55,000-gallon Amazon River tank.

Purple and Yellow — who might eventually get actual names but are known now simply for the color of their training targets — did not storm into their new digs on May 21. Instead the zoo's oldest resident, a giant South American river turtle named Onassis, apparently noticed their reticence and swam to the rescue.

An arapaima fish is released in the Milwaukee County Zoo's 55,000-gallon Amazon River tank on May 21. The zoo's two arapaimas have spent two years growing in separate tanks until they were big enough to join creatures in the Amazon tank. Arapaimas can reach 10 feet in length.

 (Photo: JOEL R. MILLER / Milwaukee County Zoo)

"They were a little shy out of the doors. It was cute because Onassis came in with the first one and kind of guided it out," said aquarium and reptile curator Shawn Miller. "Onassis dipped in there back and forth and one followed the other."

This is the first time since 2004 arapaimas will be on exhibit at the zoo. A reopening date for the zoo has not yet been set but officials are hoping it will be soon. However, buildings will be closed to the public initially, which means the arapaimas can't be seen until later this summer at the earliest.

Once visitors are allowed to venture into the aquatic and reptile center, they'll notice the torpedo-like fish right away.

Purchased two years ago when they were only 9 inches long, Purple and Yellow have been growing in two separate tanks adjacent to the Amazon River tank. They're now 4 feet long, big enough to hold their own against the tank's other denizens including redtail catfish, black pacu, red pacu, heros cichlids and chocolate cichlids.

An arapaima fish is released in the Milwaukee County Zoo's 55,000-gallon Amazon River tank on May 21. The zoo's two arapaimas have spent two years growing in separate tanks until they were big enough to join creatures in the Amazon tank.

 (Photo: JOEL R. MILLER / Milwaukee County Zoo)

Because they will become the biggest creature in the exhibit, the arapaimas will be the dominant species. 

Once they swam in and cased the joint, it didn't take long to establish themselves.

"They're more curious, a little bit of nipping and pushing with the other fish. Everybody has to find their spot in the pecking order," Miller said.

Though they have gills, arapaimas are surface breathers, occasionally poking their heads out of the water to gulp air. That's likely because they live in stagnant, oxygen-deprived waterways in the Amazon River basin.

In the wild, they're predatory eaters, dining on fish and small mammals that stray too close to the water's edge. At the zoo, they snack on herring, smelt, trout, anchovies and sardines plus food pellets. Their mouths make a vacuum as they suck in their dinner, creating a popping noise.

The zoo's arapaimas have been trained to hit a target with their mouths so they can be examined by veterinarians for routine checkups.

"It's so cool to see them on exhibit," said Miller. "They're kind of the ultimate in animals for an aquarium."

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