Red tail catfish

[thebassepidemic]

I got me a red tail catfish yesterday for my arowana. How fast do these suckers grow please tell me he can live in a 200 gal. for a couple years....
I'll get some pics up soon he's a little guy right now only about 3 1/2 inches.

[flamenco-t]

They grow fast, they'll eat all tankmates in the tank. He'll propably will get to around 1 ft by fall of this year. He can live in a 200 gallon by him self for a year or two max.

I have one 4-5 yrs ago, at 12", he swallowed my 12" arowana.

[China8USA]

They out grow a 2 foot wide tank. Sucks huh?

[cichlidkeeper]

you'll need to find a new place for him in the next year...

[donkey]

I some what disagree with those comments.I have 3 of them in a 240.One is the red tail cross.They have done fine and I see no reason they will not be ok forever in there.If you feed them alot then yes they will grow fast but if you feed them every few days then you can slow down there growth and once they get to about 20 inches they seem to grow pretty slow in a tank anyway.Mine all eat pellets with no problems.Once in a while they will eat tankmates but for the most part that has not been a problem.Helps to have big tank mates.I do have some fish in there that are only about 4 inches long that have not been eaten and they were born in there.The biggest problem I have had with them is my red tail cross tries to eat every new fish I put in the tank even if its bigger than him.Once he has figured out the fish is to big he leaves it alone.I suggest getting them on pellets asap and not feeding live food very often.I think this helps keep them from eating other fish.Also you need to leave your light on at night because they will eat sleeping fish in the dark.With that said all fish are different and that is my experience with them.I used to have a 2 foot albino catfish and he ate everything he could catch so I had to get rid of him.

[China8USA]

If I noticed the tank size affected their turning too much I would fix it. That's what I mean.:)

[flamenco-t]

Every fish are different, but the majority facts are all the same.

They will eat smaller tankmates (lights off turns them into a hunter), 90% of the time, they will not eat their tankmates in front of you, unless the fish is just happen to chill in front of their mouth.

They will "try" to eat larger tankmates, this will cause a massive injury to the fish being eaten to where 90% of the time, they will die even from not being eaten.

All catfish are an opportunistic hunter. My old TSN never bother ANY tankmates, until I had a power outage, black arowana chilled to the bottom and the TSN grabbed him. He was too big to swallow, but the TSN held on for hours untiul he decided to spit out the head which of course already killed the black aro.

Unless your tankmates are super fast (bass, datnoids and etc), they will most likely be eaten, or be kille while being eaten.

I feed my fish everyday...some of them twice a day. In the wild, they constantly out searching for food.

This is why I have a 500 gallon tank :D


Stan

[thebassepidemic]

What Im planning on doing is building a big outdoor heated pond and make it a Amazon pond. Im just not sure if I would be able to keep it warm enough come January..:confuzeld: Ive got him eatting pellets already, and all of my fish except for my Dovii and Jagur are big enough for him not to eat...

[flamenco-t]

The problem IMO about RTC (red tailed cat) or TSN (Tiger shovelnose cat) is that they prevent you from getting a lot of other fish that you want to put in your tank / pond.

Think about how much possibilities that you can have once you eliminate the big mouth catfish from your system.

I only keep Tigrinus, Jurense and Flavican. They all get big, but they're a lot more tankmate friendly. Once they're full...they just chill.

stan

[pam916]

I think it would be very difficult to keep an outside Amazon pond in the winter here. It is almost impossible to keep an outdoor pond heated because of the large surface area. You could keep native catfish in an outdoor pond if it was deep enough.

[thebassepidemic]

I was think along the lines of something like a pool heater and filtration unit. I love the look of all the big mouths though, theres not really anything that has the same look or colors as the larger guys wich kinda sucks... What about the rtc x tsn do they smaller since its hybrid, or are the y like the Liger that never stops growing. I know all fish donthave a growth limit just a round about size... What are some of the nicer non-big mouth cats that I could keep?

[flamenco-t]

I was think along the lines of something like a pool heater and filtration unit. I love the look of all the big mouths though, theres not really anything that has the same look or colors as the larger guys wich kinda sucks... What about the rtc x tsn do they smaller since its hybrid, or are the y like the Liger that never stops growing. I know all fish donthave a growth limit just a round about size... What are some of the nicer non-big mouth cats that I could keep?

rtc X tsn is just like RTC, the TSN just added the different body type.

Look into flavican, they are realy really rare. I looked for over 5 years and only found them twice (i go them both times). They get big, but it'll take some time to get to 20"

Tigrinus and Juruense doesn't have a wide mouth, but very colorful and cool cat to have.

As far as pond, depth is the key. if you make them deep, you won;t have to heat them up as much as the deeper the pond, the "warmer" the lower leverl in the winter. I have had friends who keep south american fish in a 15-18 feet deep pond. He still have to heat up the pond, but even with temp in the 30-40, the bottom of his pond stays about 55-60 ish with heater.

[thebassepidemic]

So the rtc can take a temp dip down in the 60's?... I figured being a SA they need to get no lower than 70ish... Do you know of any places that carry any of the cats you mentioned?

[flamenco-t]

As long as the changes are gradual, any fish can adapt for short amount of time.

You will most likely NOT going to be able to find the cats mentioned. Fish Gallery have tigrinus from time to time, they usually want about $ 400.

You can buy them from online seller (let me know if you really serious, I can share with you my contacts) for about 1/2 to 1/3 of that sometime.

I am selling my 13-14" Juruense (google it) for $ 150 if you're interested.

[fidel]

Or you could find them from aquabid i just got a 2in jurense for $20 about a month ago

[flamenco-t]

Or you could find them from aquabid i just got a 2in jurense for $20 about a month ago

You're buying time....tiem to grow them out.

You can buy a 6' tree for $150 or 20 footer of the same exact tree for $ 5K

[China8USA]

A greenhouse structure over a pond could help with heating. I am guessing the cost of the greenhouse would chart alongside the effectiveness.

Just like pirates and global warming.

[thebassepidemic]

LoL... That would be awsome, I actually was getting into cultavating orchids as well, but I think we'll just grow "BoB" a.ka. Big O'l Bastard up and sell him. The big pond will have to wait. The green house idea is great though, it def. would keep it warmer. I was watching Monsterquest on History channel last night, it was about how RTC's are eatting small childern in South America. Scary stuff man....:wha:

[cichlidkeeper]

lol, my favorite episodes are the ones with man eating catfish :hehe:

[spxsk]

Be aware that selling a large RTC is not always that easy, and should not be viewed as a money making venture. Do you have a plan for what you will do with him if you cannot find a buyer? A good time to decide to switch courses is now, when he is small.

Just my $.02

[alta678]

Be aware that selling a large RTC is not always that easy, and should not be viewed as a money making venture. Do you have a plan for what you will do with him if you cannot find a buyer? A good time to decide to switch courses is now, when he is small.

Just my $.02


Good point.

[thebassepidemic]

Well I guess I dont need to worry about this guy getting to big. My cichlids ate him over the weekend....... blah.. :mad:

[northtexasfossilguy]

See that's the deal man about ponds if you are still planning it, you have to make a deep pond. People are all talking about surface area being the problem, but that evaporation and the temperature problem are solved by depth. You could also look into geothermal heating or solar heating for the pond and do a DIY solar heater.

Sorry about your catfish! I didn't read that part.

[gacericardo]

geez sorry about your fish. What kind of cichlids?

[thebassepidemic]

Central Americans, Dovii, Jag, SRT,Festae and many more..

[pam916]

Sorry to hear about your fish.

[flamenco-t]

It's the cichilds way of saying, payback is a bi%$h LOL...

[thebassepidemic]

Lol, yeah I guess so...

[TheCanuck]

Good luck getting that indoor pond of 2,000 gallons up. The cost of heating an outdoor pond would be more expensive than adding a room onto your house for an indoor pond. I dont think red tail catfish should be sold. ( this is a generalized statement to all misiformed and ignorant people that impulse buy RTC's.)

As far as starving it, stunting its growth. I dont find that healthy. You shouldnt have purchased it if you are not able to accomidate its growth habbits and not let it grow healthy. Whether you beleive it or not that wasn't right to do the fish. It was surving not thriving , big difference.

Sorry about your catfish loss , though it could be for the best.