I NEED ALL INFO ON KEEPING SALTWATER BARRACUDA'S

please help. i am looking at a salt water barracuda at a local pet store. i have an aggressive tank but it's fairly small. how fast do they grow? it's only about 4" now. are they hard to keep? thanks a bunch.

 

i would imagine pretty hard to keep becuase they can grow to be many feet in length.....and fish like those swim quickly in short bursts, so i wouldnt reccomend gettin one unless you have a few thousand gallon tank or indoor pond.

 

Saltwater Barracudas get to about 4 to 6 feet in length and are viscious predators. Just as grnlemonade said about tank size they hunt prey with short and super fast strikes, so you would need a tank of at least 1000 gallon tank but a 1500 gallon tank would be better. Also I'm not positive on the tankmates but I'm sure some of the bigger Lion fish, Eels, Rays, and Sharks would be compatable. What size tank do you have now?
If your looking for a predator fish there are some that can live in a 180 gallon tank and a 300 gallon tank.

180 gallon-Tessalata eel or cat sharks

300 gallon-Wobbygong shark or the Horn shark

But most of these species are difficult to keep.

 

yeah i decided not to get the cuda. it just would have been cool to have for a while and to be able to say that i once had a barracuda. thanks anyway

 

Since you are actually asking this question, I will consider this being your first tank. No, you don't want to buy this fish... and you don't want to get a shark of any sort... Most aquarists don't have the knowledge or the ability to take care of a shark/barraccuda. Plus barraccuda will most likely eat EVERYTHING in your tank, except for maybe a lionfish. You are also looking at getting a 3000 gallon tank for this fish, because of its length and its swimming habits. Also do to a huge misconception, no shark should be put in anything under 300 gallons, the reason is most of these sharks get a good 3 feet long, and can't even turn around in a 180 gallon tank... (which is 18-24 inches wide).

 

Fishfirst as you already may know that not every fish keeper have the same opinions on tank size and compatibility.

 

actually, i agree with fishfirst. for fish like sharks or barracudas, you dont want the bare minimum they could fit in, you want the best you can possibly get. he has also taken into consideration their swimmnig habits. im not saying your wrong either, used, i jsut agree with his tnak sizes for sharks and barracudas.