Anybody own/owned a redtail barracuda aka amazon cuda aka acestrorhynchus?

[messiner]

I bought this guy at the lfs for 40 bucks and he is one mean lookin fish. He is a mini monster at 6in. He eats feeders and has some gnarley teeth :naughty:
i found a pic online of one and i ccp-ed it below. If you own one i would like to know more about them :thumbsup:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/aquarium/acestrorhynchus_falcatus_2x.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/aquarium/acestrorhynchus_falcatus.htm&h=300&w=450&sz=44&tbnid=eBMYpRlFaTIJ:&tbnh=82&tbnw=124&hl=en&start=8&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dacestrorhynchus%2B%26svnum%3D10%26hl% 3Den%26lr%3D

[guppy]

They are also called spotted cachorros from the spot behind the gills and the one on the tail, I love cachorros, Price seems high but it has been a while since I bought one. They are often sold at 3-4" long and a bit cheaper. Falcatus are the smaller of the three cachorros you can find and the most common. they get around 12" max though I have never had one more than 10". They are stalk and pounce predators like northern pike and like stands of plants to lurk in but leave open areas for swmming.
They seem to like groups of three or more. the temp. should be in low 80s and ph should be neutral. The seem to do best with a little marine salt, about 1/2-1 teaspoon per gallon.
I have gotten them to eat floating pellets but they didn't do real well on them, they love live foods like guppies, mollies, gut loaded crickets, and live small earthworms dropped onto the weeds, they also will munch any live shrimp you drop in.

[fishnthings]

ive been thinkin about getting a few of these freshwater barracudas which are the meanest?;) which ones look the nicest;)

[guppy]

They are all about the same as far as behavior and will eat anything up to about 1/2 their size, They are not bad with fish their own size. I have only seen 3 kinds, out of 15, for sale in the US, They are the falcatus, 10-12" max. (Sharkaquarium has them @ 5" for $25.), the Isalinae, my favorite because of the longitudinal stripes, 12-15" max, and the grandoculis slender or big eyed) 16" max. the big eyed and the Isaline's are a bit more expensive and harder to find, here are some pics taken by Tom Lorenz

[Xoltotun]

They all look beautiful and mean, but I wouldn't recommend keeping them with other aggressive fish. Their scales are easily damaged, and they themselves aren't aggressive except toward fish small enough to eat. IMO, you should keep one by itself, or with peaceful bottom dwellers and laid back open water fish like chalceus, in a 35g or 55g with a wall of artificial plants running the entire length of the tank - in the center of the tank. Some plants arranged against the sides of the tank are excellent as well. The completed plant arrangement will look something like this when seen from above: l------l. When I finally set the tank up like that for my cachorro, he became a completely different fish and never got spooked. Make sure you feed them single live fish (about 1/4th to 1/3rd the size of the cachorro) once the last one has been completely digested (you can actually see the fish being digested in the cachorro's gut), and eventually they'll accept frozen smelt and shrimp once they realize that you=food. Good luck.

[messiner]

Thanks guys for the great info on these fish. mine is very placid and none of my fish are agressive toward him. My tank has plenty of plants for him to hide in. He has a small sore on his nose from rubbing against the tank in the store. He has shown no signs of stress since i got him.

[messiner]

:feedback:

[guppy]

As long as it is eating it should be fine, watch the sore for fungus but it should heal, the plants help keep it from getting spooky. They are nice, non aggressive predators.

[rumblesushi]

is it fun to watch him eat? How active is he?

[messiner]

He is really active he is really allert and will look at even the slightest movement. he is the single fastest fish i have seen to catch feeders. He shoots across the tank and inhales the fish. If you blink you will miss this. Close seconds as far as speed goes would be pickrel or a hejeta gar :headbang2 :naughty: great fish!

[IoStrisciare]

be careful not to mix them w other preds...

there was one in an LFS here which got its tail bitten off by a hujeta tt was being kept w a school of yellow tails...

[Vince]

I've had this fish before, and IMO, it is a so-so fish. Nothing spectacular. BUT if you have a bigger tank, then you should get an African Tiger Fish. But if not, then this "freshwater cuda" is the next best thing.

[rumblesushi]

I had a hujeta and it was nowhere near as fast as my wolf, snakehead or peacock bass. I think hujeta's speed is overrated.

[messiner]

I would love to get an african tigr but i dont have the space or $
i will agree that they are one awesome fish

[blacktip]

I had one of these guys way back in a 60 with a hujeta and a marble cat. It was sweet! I thought it was an awesome ambush predator. Unfortunately, I failed to feed my marble cat for a few days (I was in high school and money was tight) and he hate both my hujeta and gachorro. I was pissed and gave the cat away to a buddy with a 240.

I would love to set up a planted 180 for a school of these guys.

[Tucc185]

The Acestro's are easily spooked by lights being turned on/off, and rapid movement so be careful. I had one jump 6" straight up and out of my tan at night. I still miss that guy, but I have a new one now, not the spotted or red cachorro, but he doesn't have a stripe either. I haven't seen any like him before, he was listed as 'peruvian'. This guy will only eat at night, but other than that he's pretty cool. I'd say they seem to respond better to pH of 6.5-6.8, and temps a little over 80, IMO. Also, floating plants or some sort of cover from above really helps make them feel comfortable. Good luck with it!

[YOULOOKLIKEAFISH]

I GOT ONE AND HE'S A BEAST! MY FAVORITE FISHY!

[guppy]

The Acestro's are easily spooked by lights being turned on/off, and rapid movement so be careful. I had one jump 6" straight up and out of my tan at night. I still miss that guy, but I have a new one now, not the spotted or red cachorro, but he doesn't have a stripe either. I haven't seen any like him before, he was listed as 'peruvian'. This guy will only eat at night, but other than that he's pretty cool. I'd say they seem to respond better to pH of 6.5-6.8, and temps a little over 80, IMO. Also, floating plants or some sort of cover from above really helps make them feel comfortable. Good luck with it!
I think you are right on the ph, almost all the tanks I have kept have been a little acid, although the cachorros I have kept seemed a bit perkier with just a little salt the water did start out a bit acid. They do like cover plants, I had dwarf waterlilies and they would lurk under the leaves. I try to run all my tank lights through a dimmer switch to lesson the shock.
It sounds like you lucked out and got one of the less common species, they sometimes get shipped in with the others.
Of the three commonly imported ones only the falcatus (spotted) is from Peru. There are five others listed, one, the altus is like a small falcatus with darker spots, the abbreviatus has relatively large scales, the lacustris has a fairly heavy body, and the falcirotris (to 16") is more slender. I couldn't find a pic of the 10" microlepis.

[YOULOOKLIKEAFISH]

i got the top one i have a pic just don't know how to post in replys

[YOULOOKLIKEAFISH]

:D Oh nevermind... he's a monster... i wish my camera wasn't a p.o.s.

[rumblesushi]

guppy that second pic is a hujeta ;)

[guppy]

guppy that second pic is a hujeta ;)
Might be but I found it on a russian site as A. abbreviatus, here is that pic and the fishbase pic of the C. hujeta for comparison. It would not be the first time I have found mislabelled pictures, or for that matter the first I have been wrong.

[guppy]

Looking at them together with my glasses on I think you are right. Good catch! Too bad, that was the only picture I have found labelled abbreviatus, fishbase doesn't have one.

[rumblesushi]

stoopid russians ;)

I actually want to get an acestro myself, any kind.

Only problem is they seem overpriced.

I've seen them between £35 and £45 pounds here in the UK, which is between 70 and 90 dollars approximately.

For what it is I think it's overpriced. It's a cool characin, but not exactly a prize fish.

For example hujetas are between 7 and 15 quid depending on where you go.

Guppy or anyone else - you have any idea why acestros are this much? Are they hard to catch or scarcely populated? Not bred in captivity at all?

I might still get one but I resent paying that much for something that's not that dissimilar to a hujeta.

[guppy]

I don't know why they are priced so high, The Isaline's when you can find them are $30-40 US for 5-6" ones. I think that they are harder to collect than hujetas and while Some hujetas are pond raised I think all the cachorros are wild caught.

[akchang]

does anyone know the if the different species of acetrorhyncus will school together?and how many is a good number for a school? wouldnt want them to tear eachother up at all. also what tank size would be deemed appropriate for a school of these guys?

[IoStrisciare]

I think you are right on the ph, almost all the tanks I have kept have been a little acid, although the cachorros I have kept seemed a bit perkier with just a little salt the water did start out a bit acid. They do like cover plants, I had dwarf waterlilies and they would lurk under the leaves. I try to run all my tank lights through a dimmer switch to lesson the shock.
It sounds like you lucked out and got one of the less common species, they sometimes get shipped in with the others.
Of the three commonly imported ones only the falcatus (spotted) is from Peru. There are five others listed, one, the altus is like a small falcatus with darker spots, the abbreviatus has relatively large scales, the lacustris has a fairly heavy body, and the falcirotris (to 16") is more slender. I couldn't find a pic of the 10" microlepis.

the lacustris looks really cool... like some sort of mutant killer salmon...

yea... have to agree w u on the cover part... they are technically ambushers like pikes most of the time. Preferring to dart out from cover to grab a passing fish.

[guppy]

Hiya Akchang, welcome to MFK, I don't know if they would school togethe and I would not keep just 2, so either 1 or 3+, I have seen tank with 7-8 of them in there, The smaller species like lacustris and altus only get to 10", the largest to 16" and they are lightly built so figure 20 gallons each for multiples. That doesn't work for a single because even for just one you will want a tank 24" wide and at least 3 times the fishes length, preferably more, so for 5 of them plus a couple cats and maybe 3 large silver dollars you will need a 125 wide to a 150g tank. A tank 72"lx 24'wx 18"t would be great for 5, and 24"t for 7-8.

[Reno159]

I own 2 red tail barracuda and they are CRAZY FAST. very fun fish.

[rumblesushi]

Oke even though they are horrendously overpriced in this country (70 - 90 dollars) I've decided to get one.

Like I@ve mentioned before - feeders aren't an option for me in this country other than the odd treat - they are £1.50/£2 each for a platy or goldfish or something. That;s between 3 and 4 dollars a pop hahahahaha. So for the odd treat to watch them eat sure, but certainly not a steady diet.

So what luck have you had with dead food? What do you recommend?

And also Guppy - are you serious about the marine salt? That seems bizarre, they are amazon fish. What change did you notice with marine salt?

[guppy]

Hiya rumblesushi, I did not add much salt, maybe a half teaspoon per gallon, got started by accidently knocking an almost empty bag of it into the tank, They ate better and one that had banged up it's mouth healed up in a couple days, Like I said it wasn't much salt and I also covered the exposed end panels of the tank and added more plants at the same time so maybe that caused the change, they wouldn't startle and would sort of slide in and out of the plants instead of just hang in the back corner. I got them to eat some floating pellets by getting them on gut loaded crickets then adding some pellets at the same time, but they would take crickets even as I was dropping them in the tank, they also took live earthworms, and they were some of the fish I would amuse my friends with. I had a little doll sized fishing pole that reel really worked on, I loaded it with black cotton thread and would tie on a worm or market shrimp and toss it in the tank and give it a few twitches. The fish would smack it And sometimes give a few yanks before stealing the shrimp, it was pretty funny. If you feed worms drop the worms on top of the plants so it wriggles around suspended before falling, the cachorros are pretty hardwired to strike movement.

[rumblesushi]

thanks for the info - you think they would do just as well with some standard aquarium salt?

I got one today, really like it. Struck a couple of pellets at light-speed then spat them out broken up. Hasn't eaten so far, but it's showing interest.

Are acestro altus the ones with the black spots near the gills? I'm not sure if mine is falcatus or altus.

Also Guppy - would they do better in a pair or alone? Should it be either 1 or 3+ or do you think a pair would be better than one?

Cheers,
JR

[rumblesushi]

I've now got 2 of these bad boys, but a problem too :D

They are 5/6 inches, wild caught, they have been at the wholesaler a while and they won't take anything but live food. Even the wholesaler had to feed them live fish all the time.

For you lot in the US that's not a problem, with the price of feeders, but here where a goldfish or platy is around 3 dollars a pop, it is a problem :D

I better clear a tank and get breeding some sailfin mollies quick otherwise it's gonna cost a fortune.

They are not even eating live river shrimp.

Beautiful fish though, almost translucid with a bluey/green sheen, red tails, great teeth and big eyes. Already nailed a couple of goldfish.

[guppy]

I have never kept just a pair, I don't know if they will fight, I know that with 3 or more they don't fight.
They will eat live crickets and cockroaches, can you net out some minnows from local waters, maybe baby carp? If you are near a coastal fishing town you might look into saltwater bait fish like live anchovies, you would need to use them right away. also try a strip of filleted fish on a thread so you can twitch it across the tank. I never had the problem as feeders are cheap here.

[guppy]

The altus has a post opercular spot and a larger caudal spot than the falcatus, here are pictures for comparison.

[rumblesushi]

thanks for the info guppy - is the top one altus or falcatus?

I actually live on a coastal town, yet none of the bait shops sell live fish :confused:

Are minnows usually found in local lakes etc?

[Tucc185]

I've never had mine eat anything but feeders and the occasional pellet. One I had a while back liked the hikari floating carnivore pellets a lot, but only if I put guppies in at the same time. Picky fish...Anyways, I got a couple of pics of mine, he's still really small, only 3-4" long.. Any ideas on ID would be great. Thanks,
Mike

[guppy]

thanks for the info guppy - is the top one altus or falcatus?

I actually live on a coastal town, yet none of the bait shops sell live fish :confused:

Are minnows usually found in local lakes etc?
The one on top is the altus, it has the dark spot behind the gill and a larger tail spot then the falcatus.
Tucc185, yours is almost certainly a young falcatus, usually sold as a "freshwater barracuda", it is the most commonly sold one, here is a picture of one about 3" long from a different angle, they fill out nicely as they grow older.
Rumblesushi, Around here just about all small fish are called minnows, I find gambusia in almost every slow moving body of water from drainage ditches to rivers and ponds, one local creek has a resident population of goldfish some idiot planted a few years ago, we also have several native cyprinids like chubs and suckers, several types of each and a couple shiners. check theedges of reed beds, permanent drainage ditches,( i'm in the habit of looking into them where they pass under roads, Also try flipping over rocks at low tide for rock gobies and bullhead sculpin.

[rumblesushi]

Guppy - mine are definitely altus then. They have a large spot behind the gill and basically look like the one in that top pic.

Are they rarer/more expensive than a falcatus?

Unfortunately fishbase lists them as only 8/9 inches.

[guppy]

I have never seen them for sale, only in publc aquariums, and around 9" is about right, they get about the size of the grandoculis ,fish base has the size of those wrong by the way. The smallest of them is the minimus which only gets about 3" long and looks like a falcatus, I have never seen those for sale either but I want some.
Since you are on the coast you might want to looking into wether you are in a place that gets spring runs of smelt and shad, and find out if you have elver runs, I think that 5-6" elvers would make great feeders.

[rumblesushi]

luckily the cudas have started eating river shrimp, so until I start breeding mollies, river shrimp are not too expensive. Only problem is my pbass and snakehead gobble most of them.

are altus meant to be any different to falcatus characteristically?

My altus are not nervus at all, they are confident.

Not scared of the other fish and they stay at the front when I come up to the tank.

[rumblesushi]

:D Oh nevermind... he's a monster... i wish my camera wasn't a p.o.s.

It looks like you have an altus too, mine looks just like this. Also around 6 inches, maybe 5.5

[guppy]

I have only kept the falcatus, isalinei. and grandoculus, Once I put in a few thickets of plants they were not skittish at all, they did not hide from other fish but did not bother them either as long as they were to big to eat. They would hit crickets as I dropped them in , not shy at all.

[messiner]

damn, my post is goin strong

[rumblesushi]

Yesterday morning I realized BOTH of these cudas got ick. And ick has never been in this tank ever, so they must have been carrying it. None of the other fish have caught it.

I whacked the temp up to 29, ran out and bought some salt and dumped it straight in.

Overnight one of them's spots have gone completely, and the other has lessened, just a few on the dorsal fin.

Also - whoever said these fish would not be able to defend themselves, and their mouths/teeth are only for holding prey I think is wrong.

They are pretty savage.

I woke up this morning and I found the last goldfish ripped clean in half also with half it's face missing and one eye.

They are obviously capable of slicing flesh and doing serious damage. Maybe they are not fighters by nature, but if they wanted to I bet they could really damage another fish of the same size.

[Ace Nick]

I know this post hasnt been active for a while but im a new member and i love these fish!
Im a fan of the falcirostris...have a few right now....awsome fish...not alot of info on them tho...i have done hours and hours of reasearch......very intresting

[foxypleco]

i have one of these and have two more on the way becouse it was suggested i do so.i want to keep them with a black ghost knife fish.the question is what are my best options for a bottom feeder that wont get to big for my tank?

[limz_777]

i have no problem keeping it with 2 african pike, 2 hujetas, 1 vittatus,1 golden snakehead, just a nip on the ace pectoral fin, it all comes down to spotting the aggressive and hostile tankmate, taking steps to solve the problem by separating the hostile predator.

[Ace Nick]

a good bottom feeder to keep with freshwater barracudas in my mind is a pictus cat....these fish are not only from the same natural habbitat....but also lots of fun to watch .......dont get to big either......and cheap to buy.....

[rumblesushi]

ace - nice to see another acestro fan, I kept mine with a pictus, columbian shark, clarias and raphael catfish as bottom dwellers. A few bichirs too.

[Ace Nick]

thanx man....you got to love these fish....so intresting....i love the pictus too

[Ace Nick]

and whats the trick to keeping an acestro with a columbian shark....i love those fish and i cant manage to keep them alive in fresh water even tho i heard its been done....is there a good amount of salt that the acestro's and the columbian sharks will do good at???? or am i just unlucky??