Petenia Splendida Or Red Snook

[fish_fetish65]

phew... boy am i glad i researched this one! at the LFS i work at, we have one red snook that has gotten far too large for his tank. nobody wants the poor guy. on the tag, it says they get 8" maximum. i have a 55G, and figured he would be okay in said tank. hah, boy was i wrong. the sites i'm looking at now say they can get up to 18" long. is there any chance this could be a different kind of snook? i mean, they look a lot a like, but this could be a smaller related breed, couldn't it? i have seen my LFS be off by one or two inches in the estimated max. size, but never this much!

any other related species that this fishie could be? if so, and it only gets 8 inches, would my 55 be suitable for him? i just hate to see him go to some cheapo person who wants him for their 10G aquarium or something, you know? and he is an adorable fella. but of course, if it turns out he IS the Petenia splendida, i won't be buying him!

 

[CFC]

Sorry but there is no dwarf snook species, the red varient grows just as large as its less colourfull counterpart, they are the same species the red ones just come from one particular region rather than the more wide spread normal varient, 180 gallon tank as a minimum for this one i'm afraid.

 

[fish_fetish65]

evidently so! is there any type of fish this could easily be confused with that you are aware of?

i'll do some enquiring with my manager as to why we have such a fish in our store. we have three or four of them. poor things are stranded in a 20G tank for the time being. that's why i feel particularly bad for the large one. he doesn't look exactly like the ones i've seen in the pictures. he's all reddish-orange with dark black eyes, not the usual yellow ones with small pupils, but all black. i suppose this could just be a part of his color then.

thanks for your help. sadly, it doesn't look like this little (or should i say HUGE) guy is going to end up in any of my tanks!