Freshwater Snook

[MasterP]

I went to a lfs near my dad's house just to look around and get advice about a 55 gallon tank i'm about to set up. I told them i wanted jewel cichlids and asked them about what other fish could go in the tank. He pointed out a freshwater snook. it was a pretty fish with the top part of it's body orange and a white belly with the same basic body structure of a common saltwater snook. has anybody ever seen these and if so do you have any you know anything about them?

 

[sylvia]

I don't know exactly which species this might be you are reffering to but it's probably not a truly freshwater species and should be avoided. Most snooks live in brackish or marine or freshwater environments for some period of their life but very few are truly freshwater all their lives as far as I know. Not to mention they get HUGE and couldn't possibly fit in your tank.

If you can get a scientific name for it, that would be very helpful. Look through each of the following and see if any look like the fish at your LFS: http/filaman.ifm-geomar.de/ComNames/Comm...eSearchList.php

Perhaps it's this one: http/filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/Speci...ary.php?id=1016

I think it's obvious, going on size alone, that a snook would not be suited to a 55 gallon!

 

[CFC]

I beleive the fish you saw was probably Pentenia splendida, a huge Central American Cichlid which goes by the common name of bay snook and comes in a few different colour morphs. These large predators can grow as to as much as 2 feet in length and will happily consume tankmates over half that size thanks to their protusile mouths. Keep them as you would other large Cichlids by providing a large tank with powerfull filtration.