After a successful mate, the Xiphactinus lays a fertilized egg. Incubation temperature must stay between -75°C and 75°C - use Air Conditioners, Standing Torches, or Dimetrodons to maintain the range. At the correct temperature, the egg hatches in approximately 4 hours and 59 minutes.

Full maturation from baby to adult takes ~3 days and 20 hours (1x rate), progressing over many real-world days, demanding serious time investment. Hand-feeding is required until 10% maturation. After that, a Feeding Trough handles the rest.

Each baby inherits stats from both parents with a chance of mutation - +2 wild levels to a random stat plus a color change. Use the breeding calculator to plan food requirements, incubation timers, and maturation phases.

The Xiphactinus's growth progresses through three stages: Baby (0–10%) lasts ~556 min and requires constant hand-feeding. Juvenile (10–50%) spans ~37h - it can eat from a Trough now. Adolescent (50–100%) takes ~46h - continues eating from troughs, nearly fully grown.

Imprint bonuses are significant: a fully imprinted Xiphactinus gains 30% extra damage and damage resistance with its imprinter mounted. Imprint requests include cuddling, walks, and specific kibble - check the wiki for which kibble to stockpile.

The raising calculator above shows exactly how much food you need for each maturation phase of the Xiphactinus. Expect ~556 minutes of active care during the Baby phase before it graduates to trough-feeding as a Juvenile.

The multiplier feature helps plan large-scale Xiphactinus raises by totaling food across all babies. Different food types have different spoil timers - factor that into which food you stockpile.

ARK: Survival Ascended features the Xiphactinus as a tamable, aquatic, carnivore creature that survivors will encounter in the wild. It belongs to the Water category.

Starting at 450 Health, it's moderately tough. Its base Melee Damage sits at 100%, giving it respectable melee power. Its base Stamina of 420 gives it solid stamina reserves. Weight capacity starts at 300, giving it good carrying capacity.

To tame the Xiphactinus, you need to knock it unconscious using torpor weapons, then feed it while it's down. Superior Kibble is the most effective food for taming, offering the highest affinity per feeding.

As a tame, the Xiphactinus provides safe and efficient underwater traversal with good utility. Breeding produces fertilized eggs that hatch within a -75°C–75°C temperature window. A wild Xiphactinus is worth 12 base experience when killed. It can be cloned at a Cloning Chamber for 0.37 Element plus 0.01 Element per level.