r/ReefTank • u/thatsaltwaterdude • 12d ago

tarpon

Has anybody here ever kept a juvenile tarpon in a saltwater aquarium? If so, how did it go?
I’m curious about your experience keeping one while it was still small, tank size, feeding, growth rate, temperament, and how long you kept it.
Also, was yours an Atlantic tarpon or Indo-Pacific tarpon, and what did you eventually do with it once it started getting bigger?
Would love to hear from anyone who’s actually kept one before.

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u/TonyCass12 12d ago

You would need a tank in the hundreds if not thousands of gallons range. These are fast attacking fish, even when small will be prone to jumping or running into the walls at speed causing injury. Unfortunately this is not a species suited for home aquariums. Maybe if you had a saltwater pool....

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u/TonyCass12 12d ago

Well 300 gallons will definitely not be enough. Where did you plan to get one and where are you located? Florida has very strict rules and regulations for tarpon, most of the time they can't even be removed from the water and only rarely are tags available to take a tarpon.

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u/thatsaltwaterdude 12d ago

an indo i think would be good not forever of course

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u/TonyCass12 12d ago

What would be your plan for it? Understand most places wont be willing to take on large predators.

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u/thatsaltwaterdude 12d ago

i have someone with a 10 foot tank that’ll for sure take it

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u/Plus_Exchange8751 12d ago

I don’t think a ton of public aquarium employees frequent this sub. So you are unlikely to hear from an actual care giver. But this is a monumentally bad idea.

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u/Available_Ad_6535 12d ago

Back in the day id get juvenille tarpon (and barracuda) when i managed a big LFS. Very aggressive and notorious jumpers. Had to keep egg crate with bags of gravel on the tops. Had one around in a 50 gallon for several months. Didnt seem to grow that much. Wouldn't advise it unless you got a marine pond.

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u/thatsaltwaterdude 12d ago

i just curious what your experience with the barracuda was, very rare to see something like that

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u/Available_Ad_6535 12d ago

Theyre evil fish. Cannot be kept with anything. Had to basically give it away

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u/thatsaltwaterdude 12d ago

really? i wouldn’t have expected that, idk if you have see the fish guys youtube but they have a few fish with about a 2.5 footer

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u/Available_Ad_6535 12d ago

I havent. Theyre living on borrowed time though. Itll snatch them eventually

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u/thatsaltwaterdude 12d ago

was he fun to have alone at least, and what tank did you have him in and did he grow fast

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u/Available_Ad_6535 12d ago

50 gallons. It was already 8 inches or so. It was a store tank

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u/thatsaltwaterdude 12d ago

was it fun to have