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nice looking fish you got there......but that still doesnt answer one of my questions.

I have been told that golden perch are fin nippers...is this true?

I have jsut the plain barramundi.
I must say, I have seen them in freshwater. they are all born male, and the ones that do change to female change when they are approx 7 years old. the only change I have made to the tank as to cater for the barra, is I have placed a heater in it, keepin the temp around 22 degrees celcius.
The cod, silver perch, redfin, catfish and other dont seem to mind it, although my yabbie is a lot more active now.
I have also put a small sucker fish in this tank, (I am very suprised it has not been eaten) but he is surving well in there.

I know a lot about all of these fish and their wild habitats, but keeping them in a tank is a whole new experience and very unusual, especially for Victoria.

Photo 1
Barra All Barra change from male to female as they grow.
They can grow up to 1.5Mt and weigh up to 50lb.
When fishing for them there are three sizes the undersize which must be returned, the keepers most of these are returned any way, and the larger ones which also must be returned as they are the breeders.

Photo 2
.Barra Rock Cod
The barramundi rock cod latin name is Cromileptes altivelis. Family Lutjanidae.They are generally uncommon on the great barrier reef, but locally common is some areas. They don't grow much bigger than the 2 specimens we have on display in the coral atoll, about 700 mm total length. They are carnivores. Colour varies from black spots and white background, to same with bright yellow fin margins.

Keith
keithgh attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410610.jpg"]

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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snoopy.
I have the barra in with the murry cod an silver perch
I am prepared to be corrected. But are not the Murry Cod & the Silver Birch a fresh water species.

The barra is a fish that travells from the sea to a brackish/fresh water to breed. When the water gets too fresh they head out to sea again. I have never seen a barra in full fresh water. To put it this way I have never fished in full fresh water for them.

But I still stand to be corrected.

There is an Aquarium/ Barrier Reef Display/Tourist trap in the Pier shopping center in Cairns they have several barra there try to contact them they might be able to assist you.
See photos 1&2

Which Barra do you have? Both of these photos were taken at the Cairns Aqu

Keith


[span class="edited"][Edited by keithgh 2004-08-06 20:51][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by keithgh 2004-08-07 21:42][/span]
keithgh attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410607.jpg"]

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I know that he will get territorial when he gets bigger, at the moment he is only tiny, compared to an adult barra. (hes only about 15 cms long)
I am still going to purchase another tank for when the time comes that he will become territorial.And he isnt really lazy at the moment either, but will get lazy as he grows older.
He chases his food around at the moment, but when there is nothing for his to chase, he just 'floats' around the tank.

Snoopy
How big is the barra? As they get bigger they can get extremly territorial ask any bara fisherman/woman & I have caught my fair share of them.

They will gulp and that is exactly what they do is open their big mouth and gulp their food in. They love live food but it must be close to their territory as they are laze BBBs and are not to e to chase their prey.

This will all depend on the barras size.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

got myself a barra, and as a lot of people have said, they are territorial fish, I have found this to be untrue, as I have the barra in with the murry cod an silver perch.
I have not been given any advice on how to keep this fish by anyone, so its all trial and error.
I have foudn out that he doesnt eat any sort of worms, except for blood worms (the frozen block type)
and he absolutely loves live fish, he has no problems polishing off 20 small fish in one go.
He doesnt like 'new' fish put in his tank, (but neither does the murry cod).
Barra have a lot more character than the murry cod as well.

I dont think I explained it very well.....I am wanting at least a 6' tank for the murry cod and another 6' tank for the barra, so these fish would not be the same tank, therefore I wouldnt have any problems with them bein territorial towards one another.

The barra'll get as large as the tank.

ok, still looking into it all, but feeder fish is the least of my problems, as I breed guppies especially for this

Yeah I know a little creek I get them from, Quarentine them in the shed and then in the tank they go

Mosquito fish, you mean Gambusia???

hehehe, I used to catch those things down at the local park as a kid.

Most of them wil ltake shrimp pellets, my perch and cats love them

Also get mosquito fish aswell

Don't forget your Archerfish, Sooty grunters, And Leichardi and Jardini Saratoga...

Lots of mint aussie fish to get your paws on, but seriously You've gotta be ready to pay a lot in feeder fish for these buggers.

Nope! They have huge mouths, if they nipped a fin they would probably inhale the whole fish....

I am planning on purchasing a couple more tanks, between 4 and 8" (not sure as to which ones yet), to set up as another australian native tank, in particular, a barramundi. I am searching for any sites or infomation on this species, including water temp, type of water and Ph levels.


I currently have 2 murry cod, 1 silver perch, 4 catfish 2 redfin and a blue perl yabbie in the 4" tank. What other species would suit this community? (I had not had any problems with this community until I got my crayfish - which has recently been removed from the tank).
I have eben told that the yellow belly( golden perch) would not go well in this community, is this true???

any ideas, suggestions or thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Yellow belly (Golden perch) are nice I have one in my 4ft along with a few Tandanus cats...

My Perch

I dont think I explained it very well.....I am wanting at least a 6' tank for the murry cod and another 6' tank for the barra, so these fish would not be the same tank, therefore I wouldnt have any problems with them bein territorial towards one another.

An 8' tank is not nearly enough for the barras. Also, If bass grow too big for your liking, why would you get a barra (6+ feet, which is larger than many bass species)? I remember hearing that they were fiercely territorial, too, so 2 6' fish in an aquarium showing aggressive overtones = trouble.

[span class="edited"][Edited by Klee 2004-06-28 11:45][/span]

yeah, thats y I am wanting the bigger species out there, that is what got me thinking of gettin a barra, but I am still looking into all that, so we'll just hafta wait n see.

Will let all you guys know which way I decide to go and how everything turns out.


Thanks for all the advice, keep it comming.

Well, the fish tyhat you could have from victoria are all going to get munched right now, so i really dont think yo0u should add anything until you move the cod/barra.

After that, there are plenty of smallish fish that you could consider

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