freshwater barracuda taxonomy

[ducksarefun]

I have been having a lot of problems finding information on freshwater barracudas, and it seems to be because there are a lot of different scientific names out there. I am a little confused. I've heard hujeta, Acestrorhynchus falcatus, Belonesox belizanus, rocket gar, hydro gar, and of course freshwater barracuda. These names all seem to be used interchangeably, and yet, there are a bunch of different looking fish.

So, is freshwater barracuda a general term? How does one distinguish between these different fish? Do the various "barracudas" have different requirements?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

I have accctually heard they are illegal in most states to sell or keep......Just what i heard

They look pretty cool and i would love to have some.

 

[AmazonTankz]

I here yeah ducks! When I purchased my cudas it took me awhile to find out what exact fish it was. Turns out that I have Acestrorhynchus falcatus. There are so many different types and yes, the sci. names seem to get mixed up a bit. I have read up on a few different types of FW cuda, and it seems that they are very similar in care needs. I think that although there are many different types, only a few are offered in the pet trade. My falcatus (otherwise known as the red tail barracuda) get to be 10"-12". While the Belonesox belizanus (which is actually a livebearer!) only gets about 8". Generally it seems that most (if not all) cudas that are sold in the aquarium trade are ambush predators and will not harm any fish that is to big for them to eat. Unlike pirahna which are known to nipp the fins of there own kind and others(but not always). For enstance I house my to 6" and 7" cudas in a tank with a severum and silver dollar. Also, barracuda are one of those kind of fish that just can't be trained to eat anything dead or pellets, they will only eat live food.

Hope this helps, I haven't read up on them for a year or so but this is some of what I remembered

Here is a pic of what Hans and Stuck(shtook) look like(the top pic)-Falcatus

 

[ducksarefun]

I was hoping you would come to my rescue I am still a bit confused, though, because I found a pic of an A. falcatus and it doesn't look the same. Here's what I found:

A. falcatus??

The ones at a pet store here look like a slant-nosed gar....
Slant-nosed gar

 

[MORPHEUS]

ive got a f.w. cuda and mine looks like the a falcatus picture, and its true what amazon says they will only eat live food. great fish though especially when you put feeders in and watch them hunt.

 

[AmazonTankz]

Originally posted by ducksarefun
I was hoping you would come to my rescue

*thumbsups *thumbsups


The fish in your first link is indeed A. falcatus. He is just very younge and skinny. I have seen younge falcatus before, they have hardly any color and they are not robust in their body structer like adults. They also took a pic of him at a strange angle I can see how it look confusing.


As for your second link, that my friend, looks very similar to B. belizanus the livebearer. I am still a little confused about what all this fish is called and the fish in the picture could quite be one, for they are offten called or mistaken for gar-like fish. If your store in fact has B. belizanus I would suggest you snap a few up quick, they are very rear and interesting! B. belizanus is actually the fish I was loking for when I got Hans and Stuck.

 

[AmazonTankz]

Okay apon reading the specs in your first link, that fish can't be B. belizanus. I got mixed up a litle because the belizanus is also know as the Pike killifish. But they sure do look a like. Here is a link I looked up, it doesn't have the best pic I've seen of a belizanus but it gives good info.
Belonesox belizanus