BARRACUDA OWNERS ACESTRORHYNCHUS

[VampAro69]

Lets get a good care sheet, and information page for freshwater barracuda.

Example we can cover the types, tankmates, tank size Water conditions, eating habits and how to break live for a healthy diet, I perfer feeding live best.

You guys start throwing information at this link and I will be happy to take the time to put it all down and make a nice complete page in the end when its all said and done.

The thing I really want is information and imput from people who have had experience keeping, I would love to see tips on acclimating and meds to treat. If nothing good by tomorrow after work I will get it going, (but its getting late and im tired) I know a few good websites to get the basics.

Lets make another thread like the payara care sheet, which I happen to have 3 of and got loads of great information from.These are awesome fish and I want to knowl ALL there is to know about them

LETS MAKE THIS HAPPEN

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

This is a awsome idea for a thread. Me and you have talked back and forth several times about mt techniques for acclimating and keeping these fish.

So I will wait and see if we can not get some more info from other points of veiw. Or let me know and I will fill this thread full of my techniques.

i really hope we can get some other people involved here. But the sad truth is that these fish are so hard to get right that you will not find many keepers that have kept them for very long.

here is to the hope

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Also please respond in the following format so that the thread stays cleaner.

Acclamation--- technique used and size obtained

Water parameters--- such as PH , Temperature, nitrate,

Medications-- info on meds that you have used and when they were used. Also what you were treating or pretreatment.

Tank Info-- such as size , decorations , filtration systems, lighting

Foods-- info on the type of food fed and at what size they were eating what foods. Also how much food was consumed daily or weekly.

Problems-- please list any problems that you have had with aces.

Tank mates--- any tank mates that worked out well for you.

Advice for new owners--- any thing care wise that is unique to the species. Or would be helpful to new owners.

 

[mad ness]

Acclamation--- nothing fancy for acclamation, just bag in water for a bit then fished out with net and into tank. around 3inches when bought, now 7inches + 5-6 months time sorry cant remember exact

Water parameters--- PH 6.5~7.00, Temperature 23-30C, nitrate 10mg/l (water changed yesterday), water change every 2 days or as required to keep parameters

Medications-- Have used Myxazin for fin rot. Some made it some didn't.

Tank Info-- 9x3x3ft, planted branches and cover, 3 eheim classics, halide x 4

Foods-- feeders, they can swallow anything the size of their head+, constant supply in tank

Problems-- As with many imported fish, fin rot is an issue. I lost 2-3 barracuda fish to this.

Tank mates--- Anything that wont try to eat it. Ace are pretty timid, have not had problems with Ace attacking other fish.

Advice for new owners--- There's a post somewhere on the net on care for barracuda, google ace and falcatus baracuda shouldnt be too hard to find. Give them a bit of current and cover. Otherwise they may get skiddish. bigger the shoal, the better.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

mad ness --fantastic man thanks alot ^^^

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

here is my info

Acclimation-- I drip acclimated my last batch for around an hour and then placed all 6 2.5'' aces in a 30g hospital tank that had some fungus meds in it.

Water parameters-- My tap and tank ph is at 7.8 ,no ammonia, no nitrate and 20-30ppm nitrate. ( I have 20 at the tap) For the first 2 weeks I did daily water changes of 50% and re added fungus meds. After that I moved them to a 75g tank and now do twice weekly 50% water changes.

Medications-- I acclimated with fungus clear expecting fin and tail rot. One fish got fin and tail even with the meds. I then removed that fish and treated it with maracyn1 and maracyn2 antibiotics as well as the fungus clear by jungle labs and some salt. I also keep the temp in the mid to upper 80's during a month of healing. Tail came back 100% in under 2 months.

Tank info-- All 6 were quarantined in a 30g tank for a few weeks. And then moved to a 75g planted tank after that. At the now 7'' they are going into a 125g tank that will be bare bottom with drift wood. The 75g tank has a emperor 400gph filter, magnum350 gph filter and a 400gph power head and sponge. The 125 will have a 30g sump and a 1200gph pump running it. All temps in the low 80's.

Foods-- live feeders , When small (2.5'') I fed guppies and have now moved all remaining barracuda's to fat head minnows and rosey red minnows and they are 6''

Problems -- I originally bought 6 cuda's at 2.5''. I lost one the first night of unknown causes. I saved 2 other from a severe cause of fin and tail rot with a major dose of antibiotics and other fungus meds. And then I have had 2 fish jump from the tank. One happened at night and died. And the other was during a water change. With the 75g tank only half full. (these fish can jump very high). That fish fell 5 feet to concrete but lived. My tank has glass lids on it but the found a hole in the lid by the filter. So my main problems have been fin and tail rot and jumpers.

Tank mates -- would be anything that will not eat them and will not spook them into jumping. My goal is to cohab these guys with a few Hydrolycus Tatuaia in the same tank. And I think that Will work great.

Advice for new owners--- Have fungus meds and antibiotics ready before you get the fish. Also a hospital tank. Also these are predators and will need a good supply of live foods for quite while before even thinking about training to eat dead foods. I have tried to keep aces 8-10 times and have never been able to make it past the magical first week acclimation period. It was always fin rot that killed them. So again have meds ready. Also they are a shoaling fish, so at least 3 should be bought at the same time. It is said that this greatly increases your success rate for ownership. And in case you cannot tell these fish are not for beginners or non dedicated aquarist. Many very skillful fish keepers have failed at keeping these fish long term.

 

[King-eL]

Used to have 4 red tail and 2 yellow tail all at 5".

Acclamation--- Same as above but only less than 1 hour.

Water parameters--- Temp: 78-80F
Ph: was 6.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrate: 25-30ppm

Medications-- I only use salt about 1 tsp per 10g and bump the temp to 84F when one of them got a mouth rot, from bumping into glass.

Tank Info-- 75g tank with drifwood and some floating plants. Have a Fluval FX5 as a filter. T5 lights only being turn on every 10 hours for the floating plants.

Foods-- Feed them only every 3 days as they stop eating if being feed every day. Feed them with live neon tetra. I also feed them with cut up prawn about the size of the cuda's head and put the prawn in a lore so the cuda thinks it's a live fish.

How to train them to eat non-live food?
Place the fish in a smaller tank. a 10g would do for a 5" or smaller. Lower the water level to about almost half. Starve the fish for a week or two. Drop the food in front of them as they will take the non-live food even it if hits the bottom. My yellow tail were able to do this and now will eat anything live or non-live from to to bottom and will even search for it. However my red tail will only grab it if it sees it. Once it hits the bottom it will only ignore it. Will even take dried krills

How to train them to eat floating pellets?
I'm only able to do this with my yellow tail but not the red tail. Also they will only accept Hikari floating stick and no other type of pellets. I first starve them for 2 weeks and place the dried krill mix with the hikari floating stick. They will ignore the pellets first and will only grabbed the dried krill so make sure put less pellets first. When the time pass by add more pellets and less dried krill. (I know you will waste a lot of pellets but it's wort giving it a try as you won't feed them live food to often). Once it take the pellets, don't mix them with the dried krills and put only pellets and will grab them with out hesitating. MAKE SURE TO STARVE THE FISH EVERY 3 DAYS WHEN FEEDING PELLETS AS THEY WON'T ACCEPT THE PELLETS IF FEED EVERY DAY.

Problems-- The only problem I have with them was the rotten snout that was cause by bumping too much on the glass. Didn't have any other problems.

Tank mates--- For the red tail: Other barracudas. Yellow tail won't become a tankmates once it gets to adulthood as the red tail will become food. Similar size no aggressive or non-territorial fish. Also never keep them with opportunistic fish such as the bichirs as they are attracted to the skittish movement of the redtail and will become food soon, especially during lights off.

Yellow tail have more wider selection of tankmates as they grow bigger than the red tail.

Advice for new owners--- If you want a smaller pred, then get the red tail. If you want a bigger cuda get the yellow tail. I prefer the yellow tail as they grow faster and easy to train to eat other food beside live food. Red tail on the other hand are just too hard to train to eat non-live food and will only give you a headache and lots of wasted money. Both fish are very hardy if the fish demand are meet.

 

[VampAro69]

Love where the thread is heading. Good imput everyone. This is just what I wanted.

KEEP IT MOVING !!!!

 

[channarox]

Acclamation---just float the bag for about 10 minutes while slowly adding water into it from the tank.i get them locally,so the water is pretty much the same.

Water parameters---never really checked ph,but its usually between 6-7.
temperature has always been at 30 celcius.this has helped to keep diseases at bay.
ammonia and nitrites 0 of course,nitrates i never really bothered since regualr water changes should take care of that.

Medications--never used meds,on any fish.many characins are also sensetive to meds.
i just use salt and high temps with most problems.

Tank Info--variety of sizes from 15g to over 120g.always had really really strong filtration,lots of current.lighting never really mattered to me.

Foods--usually started with live feeders for new individuals to get them fat before weaning.never really had problems getting any off live foods,i attribute this to the fact that most other tankmates would be eating dead foods,e.g. shrimp and freeze dried krill.never had much luck with pellets even though i got ctenolucius to eat them.
usually starving or 2-3 days was sufficient.

Problems--very few,most were putting them with the wrong tankmates.rarely had disease problems.

Tank mates---smaller bichir species,other aces,and many other characins like erythrinus,ctenolucius,boulengerella and hydrolycus (not H. armatus).

Advice for new owners---can be very skittish when introduced to new surroundings,but this is eventually overcomed.never put them with boisterous tankmates.keep water clean and change water regularly.also,a high temperature and lots of current has worked well for me.

 

[VampAro69]

This is what the books say.

I read everything on Aces. and took notes on everything that caught my eye! If incorrect or I missed somthing say so.

Acclamation-- Just do it right.

Water Parameters
PH 6-7/6-7.5/6.8-7.4/7/
Well established and clean water. One site stated KH8-15
Temp. 78-82/75-82/76-82/

Medacation-- Fungus eliminator, salt and heat, medacation has negitave effects most time. Fin rot is rare when fish are established. Fin rot, tail rot, parasites, from poor water conditions, or stressed out. If you notice fin or tail rot react immediately That is just what I read from a web site! NOT MY FACTS!

Tank Info-- At least 5 foot. Most common problem are these fish are flighty and bash into the glass. Must have a Big tank when full grown!

Foods-- Live. Non live for less parasites.

Tank mates-- Nothing to agressive that will pester the fish. Nothing less than 2/3 of their size. Aces. are easy going tank mates the tank mate does not fit into their mouth.

This is just what I read on the internet and more a giude line that facts.

Lets get some more facts from previous owners.
I just tried to house a few red tails and failed. I want some more information so that I can get it right.