Tropical Fish Keeping - Aquarium fish care and resources

Tropical Fish Keeping - Aquarium fish care and resources (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/)

- Catfish (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/catfish/)

- - red tailed catfish.... with ? (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/catfish/red-tailed-catfish-1527/)

red tailed catfish.... with ?

i was thinking of using my 55 gallon fish tank for a red tailed cat fish. right now my LFS have a big one 18inches or so and a small one about 3 inches. i was going to buy the same one and put 2 other fish in with him. what fish can go in with the red tailed cat...

uh.... 55g? you need bigger. the red tail cat is a eating machine and grows quickly so that 3incher will quickly outgrow that 55.

as far as what to keep with it... anything that wont fit in its mouth, cause he will eat anything.

:)

there an awesome fish to keep but you have to have a large tank for them.

red tails grt huge mybe like a 150 or 200 gallonns and i think that min

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeshmoe

red tails grt huge mybe like a 150 or 200 gallonns and i think that min

It has to be even bigger.:blink: Such a large fish can reach more than 3 feet.:blink: I'm afraid you'll need 500 gallons or more tank size just to accommodate it. An indoor swimming pool of 1000 gallons(without the chlorine) would be even better.:mrgreen: No fish would stand its big mouth other than other large catfish themselves.:wink2: Pseudodoras niger are often one of the good tankmates for that catfish.

Red-tailed catfish should never have been sold in lfs. A lot of people just buy them and are rarely aware of how large these fish are.:blink: A lot of people soon give up and tend to either give them to the public aquaria or just kill them which I do not advocate.:blueworry:

Mind you, there are other fish which shouldn't be sold in the lfs.:wink2: Rather should they be sold to beginners.:blink: Electric catfish are among those which should not be sold. And so do fish reaching more than 3 feet including the arapaimas.

These RTC's should not be sold to domestic aquarists...

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlil

These RTC's should not be sold to domestic aquarists...

+1 Dont buy one unless you have a large pond for it.

What does Red tailed catfish go with?

Tartar Sauce.

That's not a tank fish - it's a game fish. :shock: (That's no moon, it's a battlestation.)

Seriously, though, major concern would be size. Arapima maybe. Peacock Bass. Dorado. Alligator Gar. Basically, the kind of fish you'd find in a 5000 gallon Amazon tank in a public Aquarium.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tophat665

That's not a tank fish - it's a game fish. :shock: (That's no moon, it's a battlestation.)

It does look like a game fish more than an aquarium fish.:)

They are a game fish and a food fish. Don't buy it. End of story. And what can go with it? Even at 3"? nothing.

Caferacermike said it best... plain and simple, don't buy something like that, end of story. Our zoo is full of them because people go to a LFS and buy one, and within 6 months they are over a foot long, and eating everything in the tank. They currently have a few that are 4 - 5 ft. They're impossible to keep healthy in a home aquarium of under 1000 gallons because of their size and messy eating habits. The LFS I worked in has one, a customer bought it as a cute little 3 inch baby, and 6 months later it had cleaned out his tank and was costing a fortune to take care of. It eats 4 - 6 mice each week, along with anything else it can get a hold of... fingers no exception! They jump, are very strong, and now even the LFS is wondering what to do with it a year later because it is now approaching the 3 ft mark, on it's way to up to 5 ft in length.
The person who brought them to the LFS market needs to be hunted down and forced to suffer what these poor fish suffer when people buy them and take them home. It's not kind to the animal or your pocketbook. Leave it at the LFS and find something more suitable that will fit into your tank.