Feeding Red-Tail Barracuda

[brendon7358]

Hi, I got a red-tail barracuda yesterday and I talked to them about what they eat and they said frozen blood worms which I have already would be fine, however he has not eaten them and the other fish in the tank ate it before he even considered it so I did some research and found that they prefer live foods. I have him in my main tank and I have a secondary tank with some neon tetra's, cherry barbs, and a betta. I fed him two of the neon tetra's and he ate them, and had a great time doing so! But I need a sustainable source to feed him. I want to keep the betta and feed him all the neon tetra's. The cherry barbs were my "first" fish so I don't really want to kill them, I will figure out something else to do with them. What can I put in the 10 gallon tank with the betta (doesn't really matter if the betta attacks them or if it's overstocked, I mean it's a betta it will be fine) that will be good food for him? I was thinking about feeder guppies or maybe shiners. What else could I use? Also in the main tank I have 6 Rosy Barbs which I really don't want which are around 3 1/2". The red-tail barracuda is around 5-6", if I cut them in half will he eat them? I don't really want to just try it because I don't want to spook all the fish in the tank and make a big mess if he will just ignore them. Thanks

p.s. I talked to my LFS about bringing back the rosy barbs since I didn't want them and they would only give me like $6 for all of them tops which isn't really worth it.

 

[brendon7358]

Now that I think about it, it would probably be best just to get a third tank. What size would you recommended? I need the tank to be as cheap as possible energy wise, preferably less than $10 a month. The ambient temperature in the room is 73° and electricity is 9.990¢/kWh. Thanks I would have edited the original post but I couldn't figure out how.

 

[piranhaman00]

How big is the main tank? How long is the cuda? Should have done more research before purchasing. These fish are notoriously hard to get off of live food.

 

[kno4te]

I would suggest to feed him some rosy reds in the meantime. Treat the fish with methylene blue and get him well prior to breaking/weaning him for prepared food. They need at least 70 g a minimum. Preferably a long tank. They do better in groups. They are a bit skittish as well. So keep the rim dimly lit till they get used to their surroundings and then can change the lighting. This will help.


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[brendon7358]

The tank is a 55g tank, DON'T YELL AT ME. When I got him they told me it was a hujeta gar which gets to 10" and would for the most part be fine in my tank, it was only after I brought him home and looked him up online that I realized it was a red-tail barracuda and bringing him back is not an option at this point. He is around 5-6". How fast do they grow? I will be moving in 6 months or so and I will get a larger tank then if necessary. He has not been very skittish at all actually, I keep the light off on one side of the tank for my catfish and he likes to hang out over there above a cave I made.

UPDATE: I got a 40g tank for feeder fish, what should I put in there though?

I have a spare emperor 400 filter so I am going to put that in the 40g tank with some old filter pads so it will be cycled. But what should I stock the tank with? I need enough for him to be fed every day 1-2 fish. I was thinking convicts if the fry are large enough and they reproduce fast enough. If not then feeder guppies. I would rather that the feeders reproduced somewhat though because spending $.50 every day on food will get expensive quick.

 

[brendon7358]

Do rosy red's reproduce? Would these work well? I'm fine with giving him feeders as long as the cost is manageable and he's healthy (no goldfish).

 

[piranhaman00]

Do rosy red's reproduce? Would these work well? I'm fine with giving him feeders as long as the cost is manageable and he's healthy (no goldfish).

Goldfish and Rosey reds are basically going to be the same in terms of providing nutrients. And yes its going to be expensive to feed him. Convicts are best bet for breeding for food but may be time consuming/frustrating. I would work on getting him off live right away.

can you post pics?

 

[Mustardtiger101]

Don't feed live. Starve him until he eats pellets, or even try and get him on tilapia.


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[brendon7358]

Taking pictures of fish is difficult as I'm sure you know, this is the best I could do the specs are sand. I have 2 brown hoplo's and they love to dig up the sand and make a mess. I would rather keep him on live food, I think it's better for him naturally and it's interesting to watch. I can deal with the expense as long as it doesn't exceed $50-100 a month. My main concern is getting him the right nutrients he needs and having a reliable source of food. Could I feed the feeders the pellets that I would feed him so that he get's the right nutrients? (maybe like a 50/50 ratio of their food to his).

 

[kno4te]

It would be better to keep the fish on prepared foods. Feeding them feeders that massively reproduced can lead to disease if u can't tell if the feeders are diseased themselves. If you give them a diverse variety then their nutrition won't be a concern. It's ur fish and ur right to what u think is right or in the best interest of your fish. By the way that red tail kinda looks like a yellow tail cuda.


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