charntelle Posted January 14, 2006 Report Share Posted January 14, 2006 Hey guys. A friend of the BF just kindly *wry grin* dropped me off a barra fingerling. He heard me talking about getting a Red Devil or Oscar to feed the culls to, thought this would be just as good. How kind! Anyway, my problem is, I have never kept anything other than bettas, ever. So I have no idea what to do with it. It's about 3cm long, from nose to tail. I have no idea of it's origin, but I suspect it's bycatch from a cast-netting expedition for bait for fishing. What water conditions do they need when kept in captivity? What do they eat (besides lures & live bait when bigger). Don't think it would appreciate being fed my gold bombers! It never even occoured to me that you could keep these fish as "pets". We spend three-quarters of the year trying to catch them for the table and for sport. What size tank is appropriate? Filtration/aeration needs? ATM, I've got it in one of my empty spawning tanks, pending help. Thanks in advance. (I tried to "google" them to find info, but only coming up with fishing charters so far). Any direction or advice will be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambo Posted January 14, 2006 Report Share Posted January 14, 2006 http://fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/barramundi.xml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halszka Posted January 14, 2006 Report Share Posted January 14, 2006 Comments: An awe-inspiring predator, this fish will grow to over 100kg and more than 1.8 metres long. This is not a fish for beginners. Doesn't sound like something you can keep as a pet... maybe only in the short term! :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charntelle Posted January 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2006 Thanks for that lambo. Looks like I'm in trouble huh? This should be interesting! Wonder how fast they grow? I've caught them up to about 70cm, and they are heavy suckers. Guess we'll see whether I can keep this one alive or not, and play it by ear. :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 well if he does ok at least he should make a good culler... Got any spare 6' tanks? :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 Those things get hooooge! but they'll eat anything. Excellent choice Er, without sounding off, are you able to eat him at a certain point? Its just that releasing him isn't wise, and very few places can take a 2' fish, let alone a 5' fish. Ever wanted a nice big dam? I love barra, but what on earth do you do with adults? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendidbetta Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 If your gonna eat him, then don't treat his water with conditioners etc "not for use on fish intended for human consumption" and anything else that would be unsafe for human consumption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
najrick Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 I have a couple of friends with pet Barra's. The one thing to remember with these fish is they grow fast depending on what and how often you feed them. Najina's old boss kept a pet Barra for about 2 years before he had to release it as it got too big. He never revealed where ) I can't see any problem with releasing a barra into their natural habitat and they can adapt from fresh to salt water conditions with ease. They do it around here in Gladstone all the time when it floods and they get flushed out of the fresh water dams / lakes and into the mangrove creeks. That's the best time to go fishing here. My neighbours Barra "Burt" is now 5 years old and has only recently out grown his 3ft tank and has moved into a 5ft tank. He gets a few of our culls and is simply awesome to watch in action. Nothing moves as fast as a barra on the hunt. I find these fish fascinating and I would love to get one someday. If our Oscar ever passes away he'll be replaced by either a Barra or a Mangrove Jack. As far as I can tell they are very easy to care for. The people I know with them have only basic fish keeping experience, yet both Barra's thrive with them. They keep them under "normal" tropical conditions and filtration with absolutely no hassles. If you can't feed them live fish (culls etc) then buy a bag of bait like pilchards or prawns and the Barra will be as happy as Larry. Just watch your fingers ) I think the neighbours barra "Burt" also gets Oscar pellets. Oh and don't eat fresh water barra -- they taste like crap and need to be in salt water conditions for at least a week before being edibale -- IMHO. But then I couldn't eat a pet anyway. Please keep us up dated on your Barra's progress. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 No, I couldn't eat one either, or anything that may have ever been related to anything i've ever kept. Can't eat yabbies Crying shame so i hear. Sin has a barra at work, female (how on earth do you tell?) and it gets something like 5-10 goldfish per day. Thing must be massive by now with all that protien! If they are native to your area, you could release it i guess, but be careful that it hasn't picked up any diseases from your imports that could spread to the native fish, that'd be disasterous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 if you released it in salt water, transmission of freshwater disease would be a lot less likely. I know of people that feed sick FW fish to their marines and sick marines to their FW fish for that reason. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jax Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 :) Ummm, when this little fishling gets too big, my mother is willing to eat it for you... shes big on fishy dinners :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charntelle Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 Just a quick update guys. Managed to get onto someone that works in the local(ish - 500km north) fish stocking society, who shipped me some barra pellets. The little guy loves them. He also LOVES eating the culls. I'm now a bit worried he's gonna get too fat. I'm just pleased I've managed to keep him alive so far, as it's my first time of keeping a "proper" aquarium. He's in a 2 footer at the moment. It was funny first time he had a cull - it spent a fair bit of time upping him before he figured out it was food! I guess, once he gets too big, I'll try to get him out to a friends' station. They have a big dam that is well stocked. At least, that way, if he does pick up some disease, it'll only wipe out the dam, not the whole ecosystem. Anyway, all good so far. Couldn't face the thought of eating him - we eat far too much barra up here already. As Pat said, freshwater barra is gross. Barra season opens 1st February. Yay!! Callataya, that barra you spoke of must be huge! My understanding (from Qld Fisheries Regulations & barra fishing clinics) that they start out life as males, then change to females at approx. 120cm, which is why you have to release any fish larger than that when you catch them. She must be gigantic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbies Betta Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 Good to hear you've still got him. I work with barra at work, and boy are they a poweful fish. We have some massive ones that are broodstock (almost 1m in length) and they're fed barra pellets twice a day. Once we had a guy accidently put a whole net of fingerlings (bout 200) into a tank holding 500g fish. Lets just say, that for the next cple of days we were picking out half munged on fingerlings gotta say tho, it was an experience to see a lil fish go flying 1m in the air followed by a larger one good luk with keeping him :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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