Catfish Bonanza

[necrocanis]

hey guys here are some pics of my catfish for you to enjoy. I thought you guys might like an update so here they are. I know ahead of time you guys might warn me that my rtc x tsn will probably eat my tsn x blochii sometime in the near future, but I am not that worried. The biggest fish that I could get him to eat so far was a white sucker at 10". I stuff him with shrimp every other night. He also has never shown any aggression to him. The other fish eat pellets from the top after the lights go out. It is pretty funny to watch. I wish I had a night vision cam so that I could share it here. I also have included pics of my other catfish from my smaller tanks. My Sorubim lima has grown from 2 1/2" to 7 1/2" in just 3 1/2 short months. I might get him a companion sometime soon. Anyway enjoy and I am open to your comments!

[ultimatejay]

I really like your tsnx blochii hybrid. Awesome

[necrocanis]

thanks, here's another pic of him for you! Some info on him. He is around 17", has 9" barbels, and so far only eats large hikari cichlid pellets from the top. I have had all the hybrids about 7 months now.

[necrocanis]

oh yeah, the tsn x blochii seems to like the rtc x tsn. They are pretty much inseperable except when feeding the rtc x tsn. Kinda funny since the rtc x tsn is about 3 times the width and almost twice the length of him.

[benzjamin13]

I miss my rtc x tsn
Your's is looking sweet

[Honda12]

There horrible, no JK I like them all a lot. Can't wait till I can get my TSNxRTC. What size pond do you have them in and what is the pond, did you make it or did you buy it?

[necrocanis]

The pond is a 350 gal cattle trough, used for feeding and watering cattle on farms and ranches. It is 6' in dia., and 26" deep. So it is perfect for catfish. Round and not too deep. There is a 8' dia, and 12' dia, but i don't know how to fit them in my house without tearing out a wall, so if you want anything bigger you would have to make it yourself. I used natural riverstones for most of the rocks in the tank, and fake plants seeing as how my whiskered friends allways find a way to tear the hell outta real plants. As far as filtration don't ask lol. I got 3, 350 gph filters running on this pond right now and it is not enough. One is an internal and the other two are external canister filters. As far as heating it stays room temp around 76 degrees ferenheit. I phython the bottom twice a week and do very small water change each time. hope that helps. My tsn x rtc went from around 22" to 27" in about 7 months, shows no sign of slowing down. As a matter of fact I think he is speeding up. He ate 2, 10" white suckers today, and I just fed him 1/2 lb. of jumbo prawn last night. he also ate about half a handfull of pellets today also.

[DaBiz]

Great to see another Lima owner.... I fell in love with them starting out in the fact that they act like monsters but dont get as big as a tsn or rtc. Mine are all 12-14" now after getting them at 3-4".

[necrocanis]

wow, those sound like some nice limas! Can we see some pics? how long you had them?

[guppy]

The pond is a 350 gal cattle trough, used for feeding and watering cattle on farms and ranches. It is 6' in dia., and 26" deep. So it is perfect for catfish. Round and not too deep. There is a 8' dia, and 12' dia, but i don't know how to fit them in my house without tearing out a wall, so if you want anything bigger you would have to make it yourself. I used natural riverstones for most of the rocks in the tank, and fake plants seeing as how my whiskered friends allways find a way to tear the hell outta real plants. As far as filtration don't ask lol. I got 3, 350 gph filters running on this pond right now and it is not enough. One is an internal and the other two are external canister filters. As far as heating it stays room temp around 76 degrees ferenheit. I phython the bottom twice a week and do very small water change each time. hope that helps. My tsn x rtc went from around 22" to 27" in about 7 months, shows no sign of slowing down. As a matter of fact I think he is speeding up. He ate 2, 10" white suckers today, and I just fed him 1/2 lb. of jumbo prawn last night. he also ate about half a handfull of pellets today also.
You don't really need walls, heheh.

[necrocanis]

yeah, if i owned the house I lived in there would be no limit, but for now there is! darn it!!! Can't wait til i am out of the military and in a place that I can buy!

[cichlid savage]

Nice looking cats.

[Pleco-nation]

nice brother your cats look great my rtc x tsn are growing like weeds lol but deff would kill for the:thumbsup:marble cross!!:thumbsup:whish they were avalible here!!! I have both pure species but deff would love pick up a couple cross great pics bro!!!:thumbsup:

[big E]

:thumbsup: Nice hybrids! :thumbsup:

[Thomascl]

Nice cats

[necrocanis]

:D Thought i would update you guys on my catfish. So here goes. My rtc x tsn is now officialy 30" YAY :headbang2 My other hybrids are still about the same size the tsn x marble is 21", and tsn x blochii is still 15" My two limas are "11 and 9 1/2", I have 4 plecos now as I can't stand when people don't take care of them. Like they are just vacum cleaners that don't exist. The biggest is 20" and the smallest 6" I still have 1 stonecat at 7" here's some pics enjoy!!! oh and my rtc x tsn currently has 2 large rocks in his gut, dummy! lol :nilly:

[necrocanis]

Hey guys here's an update on my catfish. Everyone's been asking to see pics of them so here goes. I finally have the internet back and I am happy as hell about it. Now I can be more productive on this forum. Sadest news is all of my largest fish died. I had a power outage in my garage and all but my largest is dead. So my tsn x marble catfish died at 20 inches, tsn x blochi died at 16 inches, and my pleco died at 20 inches. My rtc x tsn is alive but is in horrible condition at 31 inches. He currently has cloudy eyes, and red sores all over his body. Things are looking up for him though. I put him back into his newly revamped pond. It is now fully insulated with tons of styrofoam and house insulation. also great stuffed the cracks and siliconed all seams everywhere. The pond now has 2 fluval Fx5s running, and 2 500 watt titanium heaters. The pond is completely sealed, and has about 10 inches of insulation on the lid alone. I am trying to get him to eat again after his long fast. He's been in a storage tub for 2 months now. He look horrible and I hope he survives. He's currently being treated for his wounds and his eyes. Time will tell. As for my catfish indoors. My planiceps is 19" long now. He and my 2 largest limas are in a 125 for now. I have a tsn baby and a lima baby in my hex 45 gal. The lima grew from 3 inches to 5 inches in two weeks. The tsn grew from 3 inches to 9 inches in just over a month and a half. My two largest limas are now 13" and 11" the smallest is 10 months old and the largest is 9 months old. Both were bought at 3 inches. I have two white tipped sharks. Bought at 3 1/2" now they are 5 1/2" after two months. I have 3 plecos all around 6-8 inches. I also rescued 2 albino channel cats from the local petco. I watched them for 4 months in there and couldn't stand it any longer. I got them last week. They went into the 10 gal Q-tank where I treated them for fin and tail rot. They weren't sold because of this and I couldn't watch them suffer anymore so I got them for free after some hassle. Their eyes have cleared and their fins are starting to grow back now. Other than that I have 2 oscars, 1 clown knife, 1 green terror, 1 marbled cichlid, and 2 fat gold fish at 10 inches. Wow that was a mouth full. Looking to buy my own place and start up a 2500 gal. tank soon also. Enjoy the pics!

[benzjamin13]

That sucks about the power outage! I hope your RTCxTSN pulls through! I miss mine and haven't been able to find one again. And your's is definitely the nicest and largest I've seen.

[necrocanis]

I know there's a lot of pics of my limas in there I just think they look awesome! lol here's another lol!

[benzjamin13]

I like your Limas too! I've never really been interested in them until I just saw your pictures of them.

[necrocanis]

That sucks about the power outage! I hope your RTCxTSN pulls through! I miss mine and haven't been able to find one again. And your's is definitely the nicest and largest I've seen.

tnx benz. I hope he does well also. I would love to see him hit 4 or 5 ft one day. When I was first on here I heard that they have weak immune systems and only live for a short time and no one had one over 20" I think I have proved that more than wrong. This fish has to have the strongest immune system I have every seen. He lived in 40 gals of water for 2 months with a 20" pleco. When the pleco died I was at work for 5 days so it rotted in the water. I thought for sure he would be dead, but after cleaning the tub there he was still alive and kicking. He's had no filtration for 2 weeks. He's tough I think he'll do fine. Other than a few bruises, sores, and cloudy eyes he looks perfect still as thick as he was 2 months ago. He ate a piece of shrimp a min ago. So things are looking up. My fiancee will be watching him for the next 5 days while I am at work.

[necrocanis]

here's a pic of the big lima when I first got him. lol. man he's grown. Take a quick look at the pics of my new tsn He has no pelvic fins. He was bought like this. Also he has that wierd sloped head too. But he's still cool as hell in my book!

[amazonfishman]

Really sorry to hear about your loss, thats the second power outtage I've seen this week where alot of nice fish were lost, the other was JuanTamed's pbass babies. Glad to hear the big guy is still kicking though I hope he pulls through. Thats massive growth on the planiceps, how many inches per month is it averaging? I am getting about 2.5-3" a month growth on mine right now and will be needing the pond soon. Any battery backup plans or options available to keep your heaters running? I need to find a backup method also because I would hate to lose all my fish in a bad outtage thats $$$$ of fish gone. Sweet pics of the Lima's I'll post up a massive one I saw at the LFS tonight for your viewing pleasure it was probably 15" or so I'd say and an updated of mine at around 10-11". Good luck bro and keep us posted ~Trent

[Chad55]

Wow sorry to hear about your big boys! I would love to see some new pictures of your pond setup and the rtcxtsn. I love those mutts:) .

Chad

[necrocanis]

When I get back from work I will take some more pics of the hybrid and the pond settup for you to look at. My planiceps now that it is eating properly is growing an average of about 2 inches per month. The tsn grew about 4 inches his first month. Lets see how he does his second month. lol. My lima is averaging about 1- 1 1/2 inches per month. He's catching up with the planiceps lol. The planiceps didn't eat for a long time when I first got him. Now he's very voracious. My tsn tried to eat a 5 1/2 inch silver tipped shark. He got finned in his mouth lol. Look forward to the pics!

[hamato_yoshii]

Those are sweet, I've only seen them as juveniles till now, awesome.

[necrocanis]

Here's a few pics of my hybrid back in his newly revamped pond. Wow, let's hope I never have to insulate another pond ever again lol. The few scrapes, bruises, and cloudy eyes, are almost healed completly after about $100 of melafix.

[necrocanis]

here's some updated pics. I have seen so much growth in my tsn that I had to post some more pics. He grew another 2 inches in 2 weeks. lol. Also some updated pics of my hybrid. He's doing better and all healed up. Now I just have to fatten him back up! Anyone else have a genetically deformed tsn? I seen pics of them before. The entire cranium of mine is severely slopped, doesn't stop him from eating and growing a ton. He also doesn't have any pelvic fins. Just one little nub.

[necrocanis]

in case you guys didn't catch them in another post here's some pics of my hybrid eating a pompano! Enjoy. They were shot at 6 frames per second. My cam didn't stand a chance. The first shot is a single before I lowered the fish to the pond where my catfish came out of the water and grabbed it from my hand! lol.

[koff]

wow nice fish!!

[blue_pill85]

thats the ugliest tsn ever! I love it!!! AWESOME fish man hopin to pick up a tsn rtc hybrid soon, to add to my wonderful pim. collection, forgive my ignorance but what is a blochii??

[necrocanis]

The species pimelodus blochii. A small species of pimelodid that only gets to about maybe a foot long as a mature adult. I had a hybrid between this species and a tsn.

[amazonfishman]

Sorry for the delay in the posting of those Lima pics been busy with school and stuff, here are 2 pics of a 15" Lima from a LFS near me and a 14" one from a LFS in phoenix I saw ~Trent

[necrocanis]

those are some nice limas. Mine are getting up there. The biggest one I own is around 13". Hoping to have him over the 15" in the next few months. Great pics

[necrocanis]

Here's pics yet again I have moved. This time to a place of my own! Hope you guys enjoy my catfish in his newly aquascaped pond now in an insulated garage! I am so excited!

[TicaL]

Dang man I absolutely love all your catfish especially that monster of a RTC x TSN he's amazing. Does he have a name?

[dovii88]

awesome cats there man

[necrocanis]

tnx guys, here's some updated pics of my planiceps!

[amazonfishman]

Looking good, your planiceps is showing a nice white stripe and looks to start the color change a bit already, mines still in its juvenile colors right now but the stripe is becoming more dominant. ~Trent

[necrocanis]

he's 24" already and only about 4" wide lol. He'll be going into a pond of his own until I feel he's thick enough to go in with the hybrid.

[nishant_datta]

Amazing pics !!! You got some big cats. And your lima looks great.

Post some pics of the albino channels.

If you mind me asking, how much time are you able to spend with your cats.

Man I'm jealous.. Good luck with the 2500..

I'm looking forward to it. :headbang2

[necrocanis]

Here's all the pics I have of the albino channels. They were less than 3 inches long when i bought them. They had sat in the pet store for 6 months with fin and tail rot. I was expecting them to be gone everytime I went back in there. I just couldn't stand it anymore. They were emaciated, no fins, no wiskers, stunted, and had gill infections. I though I was going to give them a sanitary place to die for all I knew. But after three month they are finally starting to grow. Their fins all grew back. Only one didn't get his maxillary barbells back, but he's fine without them. They are fat and have now grown 2 whole inches. I am amazed. I never really planned on buying a channel since i can get them for free anywhere in the USA, but seeing them in that condition pisses me off lol. Enjoy.:D

[necrocanis]

Dang man I absolutely love all your catfish especially that monster of a RTC x TSN he's amazing. Does he have a name?


His name is mo, origionally I had the three stooges, larry, mo, and curly, and when I got my plecostomus he was shimp, but they all died except mo this winter. Luckily he'll have some more friends besides the white suckers which he lovingly lets hid under him until nightfall then he eats them lol.

[necrocanis]

oh, and if anyone was wondering the channels are named dirt devil, and hoover. mainly because when I first got them and they had no fins they would go completely verticle trying to eat off the bottom, and the only way they could get around was by the power of their breathing, if they tried to swim they would just spiral, quite hillarious, but sad at the same time. Now they are expert swimmers on their new fins. It took over a month for their fins and whiskers to grow back, and before they started to grow again. Damn pet store idiots.

[doubledragon]

Nice pics. glad your rtc x tsn healed up fine. I definitely think I'm going to go with my 2 channels and some koi in my pond. I love the way they are always so active. Congrat's on your new house. I can't wait to have my own place with a full size basement. Then the sky is the limit,that is, till I run out of room or get tired of fish:ROFL: :ROFL: ha ha I think I'll probably run out of room first.:grinno: Hey didn't you say you had two fluval fx5's on your pond? Do you like them, I was thinkin about gettin one myself.

[necrocanis]

I do have 2 fluval fx5s on my pond. They work great, but when I build my big tank I am going to go with wet dry all the way. Make sure that your pond sits slightly above the top of the filter. This is the way the filters were designed to work. I have also noticed that they get a lot of air trapped in the filter, which is quite noisy, and slows thier operation. To get them to work better without the constant noise I put the filter intakes upside down. They almost never get any air in them that way. Put them right side up though, just wait a few hours and you'll see what I mean. Hope this helps. Willing to ship those huge rtc? I am still searching locally, but might have to break down and order one, with some other goodies.

[necrocanis]

oh, and by the way I have a 30' x 30' garage to work with, and the wife gave me full permission to build a tank of any size so long as we can fit our cars in there still. That means the 2500 gal is on!!!!

[chico3611]

I cant wait to see what you will do w/ all that room, :drool: I wish I had the space.
2,500 Gallons! get it started ....and do a step by step so we can see how you set up filtration....and if im lucky, one day i can use it for future reference:D

[doubledragon]

2500g that would be so cool. I can't wait to have room.

[necrocanis]

Yeah, I am amazed that my wife is even considering letting me do it, but I promised that she could choose a few fish to go in it, but she risks them being eaten by my catfishes, lol. Looks like I am going to use 4x4, and plywood construction.

[necrocanis]

How cool are these pics? My big lima now almost 14", was shedding his slime coat today, and I just happened to catch him in the act. That's when i noticed that he yawns an aweful lot to get the slime off his head. So I took it as a good chance to get some cool photos and show you guys how big his mouth is. lol. It's amazing!

[necrocanis]

his head is a little more than 2" wide to give you a good idea! He could seriously eat my other 2 limas, but he seems to like them alright!

[fishaddict]

Hey Necro,You're the catfish God! LOL

[necrocanis]

lol, not the God thing again! I thought I was threw with that after high school...... oh well. lol. Just so everone knows I will start building the frame for my mega cat tank within the next couple weeks. Just have to find someone with a truck to go to the lumber yard with me!

[Crazy Taco]

wow Great Cats I love them all I am going to try to get a pack of Limas, anyone here have 6+ limas?

[Jeko]

Necro I'm suprised you don't have a regular RTC in that mix. Reguardless ur cats are impressive.

[necrocanis]

several members here have more limas than that. Supposedly they hunt in a pack I've never seen mine attempt it. Two stick together and the other one thinks he's king of the tank. He beats up every fish in the tank inculding the other limas. Probably doesn't help that he was raised seperately with a tsn, he beats him up also. I want a rtc, but unfortunately I live in montana the state with little to no large catfish for sale. It is almost impossible to find rtc in this state. I would have to order or go out of state to get one. I have been to every pet store within 200 miles and they all say that they will not order it.

[Lan]

hope there are not rare here...

[stotty]

Stunning pics hows the big boy doing?

[necrocanis]

The big boy is doing good. Eating like a horse. Been feeding him about 2 lbs. of shrimp, and 2 lbs. of pompano per week. He ripped half my planiceps tail off so the planiceps is now in a make shift Qtank for now until his tail grows back. Getting the supplies together for my tanks I am building. Upped the anty to now I am making 2 tanks. 1 will be around 300 gals, and the other 2500 gals.

[100GAL]

So if you can keep them outside in Montana I should be able to do a pond outside in Oklahoma? DO you ever see your fish? You cant leave the cover off because of the temperature drop? You must have a hellofa electric bill warming all of that water? Love it though!!

[necrocanis]

my electric bill with all my tanks here in montana is way cheaper than just having 3 tanks in north carolina. My power bill runs about $75 a month. My water bill runs about $15 per month. As for the pond, when it is very cold you will need an insulated lid. I built the pond jacuzzi style. It has hella insulation all around it. 2" plastic coated foam insulation all around, all gaps filled with great stuff, and inside of that insulation regular attic insulation in 16" batts. The lid has blown in insulation on top about 7" thick, and underneath it has the 2" plastic coated foam insulationl, all wrapped in a tarp. As a suggestion I would use something besides a tarp as it does not prove very water resistant and all the insulation there is now soaked. Just for gee wizz the pond is now in my garage, the outside deal was a temporary fix, because my idiot landlord wouldn't let me keep it in my garage at the time. I now am buying my own house, and I am going buck wild on my aquatic hobby. 2 new tanks in the plans right now. Hoping to at least get my 300-350 gal aquarium up and running this summer, and next summer have my 2500 gal aquarium up and running. Oh, and with all that insulation once the water got to around 78 f. it stayed there and the heater barely ran at all unless I opened the top to feed. Hope this helps. Where you are I would get one of these cattle troughs and bury it, there shouldn't be perma frost where you are during the winter so you should be fine to bury it, and just make an insulated lid for the winter. That will save you lots of dough.

[100GAL]

But you would still insulate around the trough? Or just bury It and use a heater and a lid? What kind of heater do you recommend?

[necrocanis]

I would definitely use a titanium heater. Depends on how cold it will get there during the winter as to what size heater you will need. go here to calculated the size of your pond and the amount of wattage you will need in a heater http://boonedocks.net/fishtank/ftweb.php it's a really great resource. I would say just bury the pond I would think that the insulation around it wouldn't do much.

[necrocanis]

one thought that comes to mind is that if you dig a hole bigger than the pond you want to make, line it so that no moisture would get to the insulation, then you could put the pond on the insulation and seal it between the liner and the pond. That would provide you some great insulation. That way it is not in touch with the air or the ground. Should retain heat really good. I used 2 500w titanium heaters with a controller. Kept the temp 78 f. even at -30f. Just remember that only works with the insulated lid though. So you should be good like that otherwise you are looking at some major money to make an above ground pond capable of withstanding harse winter temps and weather.

[necrocanis]

Hey guys,
Here's the latest update. First off I am so greatfull to have such an understanding wife. She never says I have too many catfish. lol. Lucky me. I will be adding a 2100 gal pond to my setups. Hopefully within the next month. BIG NEWS!!!!!! I finally have a RTC!!!!!!! YAY!!!!! I had to bargain with the owner of a lfs in order to get one in. I showed him all my tanks and catfish. He was awestruck by my big hybrid. He said he trusted that I could definitely take care of a rtc, so he ordered it. It came in yesterday as I got back from work. I went and picked it up and took him home. He was a little bit skinny, but I mixed up some smashed blood worms and red cichlid pellets in some aquarium water, and sucked them up in a small medicine dropper. He came right to the dropper and sucked up the food as I squirted it into his mouth. It was hillarious. YAY again. He ate instantly when I put him in the tank. He is only 1.5" by far the smallest catfish I have ever bought. I had no choice but to put him in the 10 gal for now, lol. My cory cats dwarf him as you will see in the pics. I have had my new tsn for 2 weeks now. He's grown from 3" to 5" as you will see again in the pics. It amazes me everytime how fast tsn babies grow. Now for the bad news, with the new comes the old. My belove planiceps died yesterday from a severe infection of his torn tail. I tried to house him with my hybrid and he got the short end of the stick. The hybrid ripped half his tail off. I immediately quarantined him, and started a salt, and melafix treatment. When i got home last night he was dead :irked: he was 24" long, and I had him for about 7 months since he was 13". He will be severely missed. Such a beautiful catfish, and so hard to obtain. My albino channels are now approaching 9", and have beautiful fins. They are a far cry from the finless tadpoles I first rescued. Their fins are imaculate now. Judge for yourself in the pics. They had barely any fins at all when I first got them. They are fat as hell now lol. My lump head tsn is about 13", and very skittish right now. Can't wait to get my new pond up and running. There will be about a total of 200 gals of filter media, and sumps on it, and I will hopefully be turning over roughly 10,000 gph on it. It will be enormous. 12" dia. and 30" deep. Enjoy the pics.

[necrocanis]

more pics

[sicxspeed]

Nice, very nice. Can you give us updates on the big old TSNXRTC size and the Lima's.

[necrocanis]

the tsn x rtc is somewhere around 33" and still growing. The limas are 11", 11", and 13-14". My biggest tsn with the lump head is close to the length of the biggest lima now. lol. It's been kinda funny to see the limas bigger than one of those guys for the past 4 1/2 months. The tsn has grown from 3 1/;2" to his current 13" in that time frame. My other tsn I have had for a little over 2 weeks and he is currently 5" got him the same size as the other one. The big hybrid is a loner for now. Might be a year before anyone can be housed with him. Then it will be up in the air. I will be putting my two tsn, and rtc in my 350 gal pond until they are big enough to go in with the hybrid. I so wish my planiceps hadn't died. It was the most beautiful catfish I have ever owned. I might also end up putting the limas in the pond after I move the larger cats. I want to try and breed them. I will be getting several more for this attempt. I hope to have 8 full grown limas in the pond for my breeding attempt. I am going to do a lot of research on it.

[stotty]

AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa good to see you finally got one and nice to see the owner of the LFS takeing
some interest in were the fish was going. Big boy is looking stunning now a real jewel in the crown of the catfish collection there. Keep up the good work and keep us updated.

[necrocanis]

Tnx stotty,
Here's a pic I just snapped I love to take pics of him eating. Unfortunate news. My baby rtc has gill curl I believe. I have no expirience on how to deal with it. I have only had it for 2 days now. I thought it was breathing really heavy when i brought it home, but I thought that maybe it was due to some kind of chemicals that the importer sent it in. I took it straight from the lfs as soon as they got it. I looked close today and sure enough looks like gill curl, hard to tell on this little guy. He's eating like a champ though. I've read that it doesn't kill them, but may lead to gill infections. I increased the salt in his tank a tad, added extra areation, and filtration. Anyone have any suggestions? Would really sux to loose this guy in a tank with perfect params after I have looked for 2 years now. He said he can get another one, but I already like this little guy. I'll post a pic so you guys can tell me if it's gill curl. Just bare with the photos, hard to get a nice shot on a fish this small. Maybe I am just paranoid?

[AwolAngler]

Hey necrocanis, my rtc x tsn seemed to have the same problem, he was breathing really heavy and I could see this thin sheet of clear gill past his plate slightly overlapping his pectorals. So I separated him into a hospital tank and used store bought water (I heard hard water conditions and cause gill curl and you can cure it if cot early, if not you might eventually need to preform surgery) I put in melafix, some slim coat meds (with alovera) and some aquarium salt and within a week he's been it cleared up and his breathing is fine. I introduced him back into the main tank (about 2 weeks ago) and everything has been fin and he's grown about an inch since.
ps. I got him eating those tiny canned shrimp to help bring out the red/orange in his tail, he loves em :)

[necrocanis]

good job awol, after just a few hours of extra filtration and areation my rtc seems a little better. He's not breathing as hard, and he ate his 3rd meal with me. Kinda cute to feed this little guy with an eye dropper. I crushed up some freeze dried plankton, and blood worms, into a pulp, mixed with water and he eats the heck out of it. He's a fatty already lol. Can't wait to watch him grow into a monster. Hope the gill curl goes all the way away. Wish he was kept in better conditions before I got him, but he's doing better. He was so skinny I thought he would starve to death at such a size, but I know from expirience that a cat that small usually will eat crushed food from a dropper.

[AwolAngler]

Well good to hear that he's looking better and best of luck man!!!
well it's really late and I think I'm heading to be, I just reread that last post of mine, and there are way to many typos hahaha.

[necrocanis]

lol, good job awol. Here's some new pics of my tsn(lumpy), and my limas. Someone asked about them and I figure it's not fair to put pics of everyone else and not them. so enjoy!

[necrocanis]

Here's a pic of the newest member of my family. I call him snowflake lol. It's yet another rescued channel catfish. This guy is supposedly a year and half old, and only 6 inches. He was raised simply on flake food. He now gets a healthy serving of shrimp, cichlid pellets, and chopped worms in hopes that he will start to grow and keep up with my other two. The lady who owned him thought he was so small because of the size tank he was in a 55g tall. I didn't bother to explain much except that they get to 3ft or larger. She was amazed and thought he was already a monster. He's also the palest white I have ever seen in a hybrid. My other two are a nice cream color. He is paper white. Maybe they are different color morphs? Anyway here's a pic or two of him. Also a pic the same day of my two for color comparison. What do you guys think?

[courtneem]

Your catfish are just stunning. I love all the pictures you post and love reading up on them. :) Thew new addition is beautiful, the coloring is great!

[pimbuddy]

I gotta say man, this is by far one of the most informative and well documented posts I've ever seen. Gives a real cronology of gowth rates and major factors that effect fish health. Great job, your providing a service to us all. Do you have any more pics of the old TSN x Marble. If I recall you said you had one that died during the power outage.

[Tuda]

oh, those cats are nice.

[ani-mal-lvr]

Necrocanis, you are a wealth of information!!!
I love your collection of cats!!!

[necrocanis]

tnx guys, Man I love this site lol. Great ego boost I guess. I pride myself with catfish. They have been my number one since day one. Something about them, and yes my first cat was a rtc. Very stupidly since I had no idea what I was doing. Took me a few years and sadly a few catfish deaths to learn that. I just hope that the things I post here and elsewhere makes some catfish' life a little better if their owners are better informed. I truely believe that anyone who can afford to set up a 125 gal tank can afford to keep adult rtc, and tsn. Just get a cattle trough instead of the 125 gal. Cheaper. lol. A 350 gal trough will buy you enough time(like 3 years) to build a nice big aquarium or larger pond. Just for updates I would think that my hybrid has breached the 34" mark. I just need to measure it. When he lays cross-ways in his pond he is over half the dia now. It is 6ft dia, but that's to the outer edge of pond. It's more like 5 1/2' dia on the bottom. He's about 2-3 inches over half the dia. So I am saying 34-35" lol 3' is just down the road a couple months. He just doesn't stop growing. He amazes me everyday. Tnx again guys. I am sure together we can all make great homes for our fine whiskered friends.

[plausible]

thanks, here's another pic of him for you! Some info on him. He is around 17", has 9" barbels, and so far only eats large hikari cichlid pellets from the top. I have had all the hybrids about 7 months now.
wow they look even bigger now compare to like last month

[killerfish]

nice cats man

[necrocanis]

nice cats man

tnx

[necrocanis]

Here's a little update on my big boy and my little boy lol. Well as everyone knows the newest addition my baby rtc was sick with fin and tail rot, and gill curl when I bought him. You'll be happy to hear he's all healed up except gill curl on one gill still. I continue to do water changes daily and a salt and heat treatment. I also used half dose of maroxy tc I believe. Don't really remember the name. Well I took some pics the other day and upon review I couldn't believe my eyes. His adipose fin had rotted too, and when it grew back it had soft fin rays!!!!!! WTF I said to myself. This is some wierd sh@$. Well I took a close look and yup that's what it is. I'll let the pics do the talking, but the adipose fin is supposed to be made of only cartilage and skin. It was normal when I first got him and he was developing fin and tail rot, but now he's got like an extra fin on top!! Anyone else Use this product with similar results? Just curious, now I have a freak tsn and a freak rtc. Here's some pics of before his fins rotted all the way, half way grown back and now with his new extra fin? lol, kinda funny but not sure how this could have happened. Hmmmm oh well. wonder if it will stay forever. Be kinda wierd to see when he's older.

[necrocanis]

Ok now the big boy. He's fat, large and in charge. I can't wait till he breaks the 3' mark. Should be in a month or two at this rate. He's somewhere around 34-35". Wow, not quite two years I've had him. He's been through hell and back for 6 moves since I got him. Fasting for a month or so each time, and yet he still grew from 22" to 34" in about 19 months. He's growing faster now than ever since I've had him. He's finally steady, and will only move maybe once or twice more in his life. He will be going from his home in the small pond to the new temporary 1200 gal in a year or so. After that he will just wait till I get my big tank finished. Should be a huge project. I have decided to see where my money situation is when i go to build, and I might go really monsterous. Like 10k gal or more. We'll see. For now though I am almost finished cycling the 1200 gal, and it will recieve it's first wiskered denizens next time i am home. Hope you guys enjoy these pics of my big boy feeding.:naughty:

[Tuda]

aw, cant belive how cute that lil Redtail is

[necrocanis]

aw, cant belive how cute that lil Redtail is

Tnx, I've had him for about 3 weeks, and he's grown from 2 1/2" to 4 1/2" even with gill curl and fin and tail rot. He has quite the appetite. I've been stuffing him with blood worms and krill, and the occasional one of my wife's fish as he grows in the 10 gal lol. He's going into the 75 gal in two weeks, and into the 1200 gal in another 3 months after that. Why not straight for the 1200 gal? Well that would mean that he'd have to face 2 tsns that are much larger, and 3 larger channels, and a large knife fish lol. I think I'll wait till he's wide enough not to get eaten.:)

[quadpop]

Nice TSN x RTC hybrid!

[necrocanis]

tnx quadpop.

[Andri Pogo]

Great thread !
How are thoese limas working out together? can you tell what sex they are?

[necrocanis]

no clue on sexing them except one is growing much larger and faster than the other two, and doesn't have vivid spots. I think it might be a female and the other two are male. The smallest one I think is a male doesn't swim with the other two, and that might possibly be because the other two have paired? Not sure. Never bredd fish before, and I cannot find any documentation on breeding limas in captivity. Once my big boy is moved to the 1100 gal tank, these limas and maybe a few more will be moved to the 350 gal for an attempt at breeding. That way they can be in a tank alone. Right now they are in with a tsn and two oscars. I think they are too intimidated right now to try and mate. We'll see though. They have been acting really strange lately. Usually they swim together, but this last week they have been swimming verticle in the open water with the big one on top and the little one on bottom, and they will just hover for hours like that. Strange huh? The other one just hangs on the drift wood. I really hope to breed them.

[necrocanis]

well thought it was about time for another update on my rtc. I now have 2 rtc. The new baby is about 2 1/2" and is eating ok, but seems really shy. The other one that I bought just about a month and a half ago is 8" already. I know that 6" of growth seems impossible for a month and a half, but just look back in this thread to when I posted the first pics and look at these new pics. It's the most incredibly fast growth I have ever seen in a fish. I have bought a rtc x marble catfish hybrid, but due to a shipping error it's not being shipped til monday along with my new jau. We'll see if they make it here before I go to work next time. If they do then I will post up some pics for ya'll to enjoy! hehe. My smallest tsn is around 11" now, biggest is 14-15", my three channels are 13", 11", and 8". My baby shark cat is 4" chillin in his new brackish tank! The tsn x rtc hybrid is happy as can be somewhere around 35" and eating like a pig. About 1/2 lb. of shrimp every night while I am home and every other night while i am at work! Just fed him a ball park frank to see if he would eat it, and he did, but no plans on feeding him those I was just curious!

[necrocanis]

oh yeah, here's some pics lol! Oh, and yes he's getting moved tomorrow for the first time since I've had him. Going from the 10 gal to a 75 gal, and after it finishes cycling he'll go into the 1100 gal along with all the other catfish besides the shark, and the rtc x tsn hybrid. Also has anyone ever kept a jau? Just wondering their temperment. The new rtc has a touch of fin and tail rot, just like the other one had when I got him. I don't think my lfs supplier is very good, but it's the only way for me to get them. Kinda funny they are so availible everywhere but here in montana. lol enjoy!:D

p.s. the last pic is of the rtc from when I first got him 6 weeks ago. He's really grown!

[Bgonz]

I know that 6" of growth seems impossible for a month and a half, but just look back in this thread to when I posted the first pics and look at these new pics. It's the most incredibly fast growth I have ever seen in a fish.



Not with good water quality and keeping him FAT "all" the time :D


I have found that RTC's are healthier and better appearing when not powerfed when young. I'm sure yours has grown this amount due your vigorous feeding schedule, but for the long haul you may want to slow down a bit. I dont think that growth rate is healthy. I've done the same thing in the past and those RTC's seemed inferior to my slower grown ones. It may just be coincidence, maybe not.


Good luck on feeding that cat collection when they all get big :D


NICE CATS by the way.....


bob

[nishant_datta]

RTC looks good.. so does the TSN... My RTC is almost as pretty... ButI noticed that urs also has four symmetric white spots near the dorsal fin.. so does mine.. what I haven't these on grown ups .. I can't say I have seen too many juvis .. but are these markings on all juvi RTCs...

[necrocanis]

Tnx for the kind words guys. Not too worried about over feeding them. I only feed them when their bellies go down completely. For my big catfish that's everyday. 1/2 lb. never fills him up. About a month ago to see how much he could eat I fed him till he stopped eating and he ate 1 1/2 lbs. of shrimp in one sitting. I waited two days to feed him again. I've noticed that when I feed fish it takes 2 or 3 days for his belly to go down, but if I feed worms or shrimp he'll be ready the next day. Anyway he's been on this type of feeding schedule for 2 years with no problems. All my other catfish are on the same kind of diet. As for the white spots every juvenile or baby rtc I have ever had, has these spots. They always seem to get smaller or go away when they get big though. As for feeding them when they all get huge, hell that's what I am waiting on. lol, feeding time will be amazing. I am gathering supplies to make my 8,000-12,000 gal heated outdoor aquarium. Start breaking ground next year. I am sure that the fish will eat less when they get huge because their metabolism slows way down as adults. The hybrid is far from being full grown, and still eats like a juv. due to hybrid vigor I am not sure when he will slow his eating. Rtc I have had in the past slowed their eating alot when they were in the 2-3' range. Only time will tell. Thinking of starting my own website with webcam. Let me know what you guys think.

[TheMightyOscar]

great shots, awesome cats :)

[amazonfishman]

Necrocanis: from what I've read about the Jau I would expect its temperment to be much like the RTC. Huge appetite, grows considerably bigger than RTC's, big mouth so anything half its size or smaller would be food probably as you know. Riverine catfish so faster water than most RTC's I'd think, probably a decent dissolved oxygen content and it might enjoy hanging out in the current of your tank much like a planiceps in that aspect. Really haven't been many people with Jau on the forums from what I've seen, I can account for only a small handful of pics that I've found with a few members having them ~Trent

[filiportela]

nice cats :naughty:

[necrocanis]

yeah trent, I know what you mean. I was just kinda hoping beyond all doubt that someone who has expirience with them would chime in. I guess it's a good thing that these cats are not readily availible to us. Everyone thinks that rtc's are a problem fish in aquariums just imagine a jau lol. I've read up on them, all accounts say they get to 7' and are thicker than rtc. The max recorded size I have found was 317 lbs. by commercial fishermen. It's also stated that they grow considerably slower than other pims. So I think this will be an interesting journey I am about to take on. Feel kinda bad he spent the first few months of his life in a 55 gal tank with no filtration, no air, and people were flicking their cigerettes in his water and toys, it's just amazing he survived at all. I want to give him a good home. I think the tank I have planned will prove benificial for him and my other cats. If they grow as slow as everything I read, it will be a while before he goes in with the others.

Tnx

[necrocanis]

JAU AND HYBRID ARE HERE!!!! Both looking good, I'll post pics later!!!!!

[Bgonz]

JAU AND HYBRID ARE HERE!!!!



New to the lingo's.......Whats a JAU ?????


I ordered a few of those Hybrids myself, I hope he can still get them.



bob

[necrocanis]

A jau is a Zungaro zungaro Look it up on fishbase.org, or planetcatfish.com, they get huge, like 7 ft in the wild, and over 250 lbs. Here's the pics of mine, and the rtc x marble hybrid. Enjoy! Post up some pics of your's when you get them. Mine has healing fins and whiskers. Looks like he use to have a touch of fin and tail rot. Hopefully he'll be fine! Jau is 12", and the hybrid is 4".:headbang2 The jau will go in the pond after the filter adjusts to the fish I just put in.

[necrocanis]

here's a pic of a 200+ lbs one.

[ZOO YORK 207]

Cliff you seriously got a Jau? You're a crazy catfish freak lol

[AwolAngler]

Cliff you seriously got a Jau? You're a crazy catfish freak lol
Lmao I second that!!!

[Bgonz]

I guess I third that :screwy:


Thats an INSANE catfish.


I wonder what type of personality they have ??? I'm sure you'll grow em quick too :D I know where to draw the line, but how much and from who ????


Best of luck..........



bob

[necrocanis]

Try free! This is a rescue. A lady in New Jersey rescued this fish from a 55 gal aquarium. The owner seperated from her husband who owned the fish, she unhooked the filters and air lines. They used it as an ash tray from what I am told the water was black, and there were toys in the water, and the fish was swimming the top for air. She took the fish home, and contacted me for an identification. I think the lfs sold it to her friend as a marble catfish. That's a huge missidentification lol! I'm going to do as good by him as I can. I don't care what I have to do. I will keep this fish for life. So far his personality is dominating. I threw some goldfish out of the pond in his tank and he demolished them. It reminded me of a snakehead I saw eating in a lfs before they were banned. He ripped one in half that was 3". He also ate some shrimp so I think I'll be good to go on shrimp feeding from now on. Just was kinda curious on the hunting habits. Now I know "INSANE" lol. Once he's through with he quarantine I'll put him in the pond. He ate within an hour of being in the tank. This cat appears to have no fear. The one wierd thing that I did note is that his eyes are further on top of his head than any other pimelodid I have kept to date. He has about a 2" trailer at the top of his tail. I'll keep you guys updated, and yes it was free except $55 for packaging and shipping. The lady who sent it did a very good job packing it for the trip overnight. There was a note in the box, from a child I would think that said his name was Ryan, and to take really good care of him. I promise to take really good care of this fish. I know I am a crazy catfish nut, I think everyone already can tell that from all my other threads. This brings me to 20 catfish total. 10 of which can grow to more than 3'. Oh turns out my neighbor does construction work, and is anxious to help with the tank I am going to build.

[Tuda]

Yet again... awsome

[Bgonz]

Yet again... awsome




I'll stick with INSANE !!!!:eek:


Good luck, and nice save. ;)





bob

[necrocanis]

tnx guys.

[tonymarinara]

thanks for the compliments on my packaging. :D Im so glad hes doing so well. sorry he ate your lima! lol. yeah my own research told me how aggressive and voracious they are. I thought his eye placement was a little unusual too-funny you said that. It really was sad where he was. They were going to throw him out the front door into the street, except they didn't know how to get him out of the tank.....hell, they didnt even know they had a gravel vac under the tank stand! much less how to work it!!!!!!! :WHOA: and your description of his previous home.....doesnt begin to do it justice. I've seen a lot of terrible tanks, but.....youd never believe it. honestly. :devil: :nono: :shakehead I couldnt leave him there, and thanks for the help with everything necro. I know youll give him the best home possible. :cool-1:

ps- the 'child' just turned 22. lol. just.....emotional, and overly sentimental. :hearts: keep pics up man! glad youre so happy with him, hes one strong mother..... been through a lot, and nothing seems to phase him, huh? lol. keep updated on how hes doing in the 1100. and always pics! and im in ny not nj! :raspberry
:headbang2

[amazonfishman]

Cliff, Jau is looking good bro so is the hybrid, supposedly some more are coming in this week so I should be picking mine up early next week maybe wednesday I'm hoping...

I have Jau envy...and still no luck on the filamentosum but I'm going to keep looking. Keep us posted! ~Trent

[necrocanis]

lol, sorry about the location, they are the same anyways right? lol. jk, but yeah Ryan is doing great in his new pond. He's almost cleaned out all the goldfish and perch that were in there to cycle it to begin with. His belly is always full, and he eats the shrimp that I throw in on top of that. He's got a lil hiding spot behind the filter right now, but he switches from there to the fake plants depending on where lunch is. As soon as he is done with the last big goldfish in there I am going to try and keep him on a steady diet of shrimp. He's ate 4 goldfish and perch that were 3-5" long so far, and tons of shrimp. He's really insatiable. Hoping my other cats will be good, and so far he's not bothered them in his bigger housing. Don't have jau envy anyone, unless you like a real monster. Might have to sacrafice some of your others to have one lol.

[necrocanis]

Thought you guys might like to know that while in one of my smaller tanks the jau ate one of my 11" limas, and he himself is 12". Also he's been moved to the 1100 gal pond and is doing much better there. My rtc is 9" long from 1.5" in a little over 2 months. My 2 stone cats, and 1 black bullhead are all looking good and eating. They are insane, and are the roughest cats I've ever kept. My smallest stunted channel cat is in with them. The two other channels now reside in the 1100 gal tank. My two biggest limas that did not get eaten are doing great and are eating like champs now that they have less tankmates. My rtcxmarble catfish hybrid is doing good and is around 5" after 2 weeks. I have a new baby tsn that I am hoping is a corruscans. Not sure yet, but has a different head shape than my other two fasciatums did when I got them this size. I'll have to wait till he grows and his pattern starts to develope. My sharkcat is doing ok, and will have his own brackish tank shortly. Last but not least is my tsn x rtc hybrid. I've been feeding him every other day, sometimes once every three days. I've been feeding him tilapia fillets. Usually 1-2 lbs in one sitting. He always acts like he could eat more, and his belly is never plumped up from this so I may feed more and space his meals out a little. Like feed 3-4 lbs at once and wait 2-4 days before feeding again. I'll let you know how it works. I'll try to get some new pics on here next week.

[TLkmDN]

it must be hard to get all this carnivorous food for ure cats living in the US. if u lived in malaysia ud have a much easier time at one third the price. plus we can get any fish cause import banns are unknown here.

[RodG]

Great set ups and fantastic cats!!!

[necrocanis]

it must be hard to get all this carnivorous food for ure cats living in the US. if u lived in malaysia ud have a much easier time at one third the price. plus we can get any fish cause import banns are unknown here.

I'm jealous, but catching worms in the middle of the night for just the cost of water sprayed on the ground is as cheap as it gets. I can usually catch about 2 lbs. a night of worms.:D

[necrocanis]

Ok here's the pics I've been promissing. Won't bore you with details you'll have to ask lol.:headbang2

[necrocanis]

R.I.P. My wife didn't feed my fish last night, and my jau ripped one of my channel cats in half. I wish I didn't have to come out to work.

[necrocanis]

5 days at work is too much when you have fish like mine.

[necrocanis]

Sorry for that lil wierdness. Just kinda irks me when one of my fish dies and I am out here at work for 5 days. I keep the jau on a heavy feeding schedule in hopes of not losing more fish, but the wife doesn't like to feed them so I end up losing fish. All the cats in the pond are roughly the same size, but the jau doesn't care he'll eat any fish that can fit in his mouth or that he can bite into chunks. Which is pretty much everyone.

[doubledragon]

I'm jealous, but catching worms in the middle of the night for just the cost of water sprayed on the ground is as cheap as it gets. I can usually catch about 2 lbs. a night of worms.:D

Dang necro, how do you get your fish to pose like that for you? Your rtcxtsn makes that pond look so small. Just kiddin, awesome cat's sorry to hear about your channel.

[necrocanis]

Dang necro, how do you get your fish to pose like that for you? Your rtcxtsn makes that pond look so small. Just kiddin, awesome cat's sorry to hear about your channel.

Tnd double. I just stuff them and they sit still lol.

[tonymarinara]

omg!!!!! ryan is bad ass!!!!! sorry hes causing grief, thanks again for taking him, and i know you knew(somewhat at least) what you were getting in to. He looks great though. You truly are a catfish GOD not just for taking him, but for attempting to do what he needs, despite the difficulty involved. voracious doesnt begin to describe i guess........

[killerfish]

R.I.P. My wife didn't feed my fish last night, and my jau ripped one of my channel cats in half. I wish I didn't have to come out to work.
sorry man that sucks

[necrocanis]

He's grown to about 14" right now. Much faster than I thought lol.

[necrocanis]

Here's some updated pics. I moved the rtc to the 1100 gal. There's a whole sequence of the move. Also some pics of the jau, jau and red tail reunited. I don't think the jau will mess with him anymore since the rtc is 12" and just as thick as the 15" jau. The jau so long as he's stuffed every night is actually rather peacefull. I just hope that I can get my wife to understand that. The jau(Ryan) has grown 3" since I first got him. His spots are slowly fading. The rtc and the jau are both about 3 1/2" wide at the head. My medium tsn is around 10" isn't he gorgeous? he's developing a bump on the end of his nose that worries me though. It looks like a wart and is soft and fleshy. It grows bigger every day. I am hoping it's not a tumor. My rtc x marble is growing. he's 6" now. Enjoy the pics. Oh and fish might get moved again so that my big hybrid can have a bigger tank. he just looks cramped in the 350 gal. We'll see though.

[necrocanis]

forgot pics again dang lol. Oh I moved the rtc about 2 weeks ago. Sorry for the slow posting lol. He was 11" when I moved him and now he's 12". The blocked pattern on the pond makes measuring easy. lol.

[lighter]

Looks like new good friends made!

[necrocanis]

Looks like new good friends made!

That was when I first put the RTC in there. Now they stay seperate, and the Jau(ryan) is the tank bully lol. He hasn't killed anyone lately, but that's cause I've been stuffing the hell out of him.:D

[Snake_Eyes]

R.I.P. My wife didn't feed my fish last night, and my jau ripped one of my channel cats in half. I wish I didn't have to come out to work.
:eek:

[necrocanis]

:eek:

He's really aggressive, you just have to make sure to keep him stuffed, and he generally will do very little harrasment. He's just doing what's in his nature, and I can't fault him for that. I just have to make sure that my wife and I are really carefull in the future about what goes in with him.

[Snake_Eyes]

I had a snakehead that ripped a channel cat in half once but never would of thought another catfish (yarrelli excluded) could do it.

[necrocanis]

Well get yourself a Jau lol. They are as aggressive as they come. He ate a 11" lima the first day I had him in my q-tank. He was 13", now he's over 15". He tried to eat the channel tail first and just ended up biting the head off and eating the tail. found the head floating the next day. He eats 6" perch whenever I catch them. I've been feeding him cod fillets, and shrimp lately. He's really mellow when full.

[Snake_Eyes]

I think if I were to get a nasty catfish it would have to be H.wyckii.

Either way you have an awesome collection and I always look foward to seeing your pics. :thumbsup:

[necrocanis]

Tnx, I enjoy expanding my knowledge, learning, and helping others work through their problems fishkeeping.

[tonymarinara]

Im glad to hear Ryan is doing well.....despite the fact that he's a menace. i love that pic of him with the rtc. keep me updated!

[necrocanis]

Im glad to hear Ryan is doing well.....despite the fact that he's a menace. i love that pic of him with the rtc. keep me updated!

Ryan is doing really good. He has been quite calm lately. Probably because he's been getting his fill of cod, and shrimp lol. He's the fattest cat in the tank right now. The RTC is catching up in size, but he's still the boss for now. I think when I fed yesterday was the first time that I saw the rtc actually take food out of his mouth. As sign of turning tides?? We'll see lol. He's pushing 16" and the rtc is pushing 14 1/2". The rtc is growing crazy fast again after he is now use to his new home again. My rtc x marble hybrid is close to 7" now. I look forward to moving him into a larger tank this next break. RTC got a soft belly btw. lol. Somehow the second channel cat has survived, but I don't think he gets much to eat with the other cats in there so I have started to feed him during the day. My largest tsn is 15", second is 13", and will be added to the pond next week, and my smallest is 5 1/2". My two remaining limas are fat and healthy. My sharkcat is now 5" and will be moved to a larger tank as well. The big boy has been on a hunger strike for a while until yesterday and he ate about 1 lbs of shrimp. The fish in the 1100 gal pond are definitely comming out of their shells more and more all the time. The jau will even let me touch it, but will usually give me a nip for it.:naughty:

[tonymarinara]

aw!!! lol. thats cute. ill tell my friend and shell say "i wanna pet Ryan!" lol. im glad things are calming down and everyones getting settled. wish i didnt live so far-id LOVE to check out your tanks!

[TLkmDN]

damn man ure RTC*TSN hybrid is just the most amazing ive ever seen. i kinda wish i bought that instead of my two TSN because they r so skittish and dont grow as fast. the hybrid seems to be just as personable as a RTC, if not more. true beauty. well done.

[malawi haps]

necro you are the reason I got back in to catfish !!! The inspiration alone makes me want to go out and get a tub fron tsc(Tractor supply co) and get a rtc but I think for now I stay with my B. bagarius. I think that is what he is he has grown 2"in the two weeks Ive had him???Eats 24 ghost shrimp every 4 days and a doz guppies.

[necrocanis]

Tnx for all the comments guys. I just took updated pics of all my cats, and you can expect a detailed update on all of them later today. Everyone keeps asking so I got pics of them all. lol

[jconley]

Definitely looking forward to seeing updated pics!

[Aquaman_95]

Nice Catfish People

[necrocanis]

Let's see if I can get all these pics on here lol. Some info. I have 3 tsn 2 are in the 1100 gal pond. Lumpy as you will see in the pics is getting worse with his cranial deformity. When he was young he was almost normal, and as he grows the curvature of his skull gets worse and worse. I have now raised him from 2" to 17" in about 10 months. He would probably be 18" or longer if not for the curvature, but I love him anyway. His lower jaw now protrudes in front of the upper. I have to chop shrimp small so that he can eat them. I hope to have him for a long time to come. The other tsns are 14" and 8". You'll see them throughout the pics. My marble red tail catfish as it was coined is about 10" and thick as hell. He's very calm and just lays there even at night only moving to eat his nightly portion of shrimp. My columbian sharkcat is about 6" now, and will be moved to a larger tank soon. My bullhead has grown from 7" when I first caught her to 8 1/2" now. She's a fatty, I call her precious, she was gravid with eggs when I caught her, but I gut hooked her severely bad so I kept her to heal and maybe catch her a mate next year. My big boy is eating again after fasting. I am pretty sure that the filtration is to blame as I have to feed smaller portions more often to keep him happy. I can't wait to make my giant tank and put him and the other cats in it. He's still somewhere around 3' mark. He's thickened back up nicely. The Jau(Ryan) is around 17" and thick from head to tail. He no longer tries to eat larger tank mates. He lives and lets live, but did eat a 5" jaguar cichlid that I put in the pond. It was harrassing my limas and that's a no go lol. The limas are great and very gorgeous. They are eating like pigs, and getting huge. The biggest is still dark as can be, and the other one is getting thicker as he is now eating again. Finally there's my newest additions the ID sharks. I got them 3 weeks ago at 2", and they are 4" now. This is the best pair I have seen locally ever for sale in Montana so I am hopefull they will get huge.

[necrocanis]

more pics

[necrocanis]

you can see the battle scar on the channel that the jau left one night. It's fin just refuses to grow back lol. He is very wary of the jau now. The jau is much better tempered than he use to be though.

[jconley]

I can't even begin to describe how jealous I am!!!! Awesome collection!!!

[TLkmDN]

awesome man. im still loving the hybrid. the jau looks awesome too. i just need to buy the hybrid next week to complete the collection of TSN, RTC and hybrid! i guess ure one step ahead of me. i duno if i shud risk keeping a jau. i heard they grow HUGEEEEEEEE

[malawi haps]

Once again well done and keep up the good work !Awesome collection

[necrocanis]

Tnx guys. They are my pride and joy. Just fed them and the rtc and jau fight over shrimp lol. The rtc has become quit the bully. Jau can reach 6 or 7 ft in the wild and there are reports of them getting over 300 lbs.

[malawi haps]

Geese let's hope for your sake it dosent get that big (forshadow) Hey has anyone heard from necrocanis lately ?? No not since he went out to feed the jau! lol!!!

[necrocanis]

Geese let's hope for your sake it dosent get that big (forshadow) Hey has anyone heard from necrocanis lately ?? No not since he went out to feed the jau! lol!!!

Goind to grow him large as possible, and what better way to go lol!
Thought you guys might like this also here's a 2' pic vs a 3' pic!:headbang2

[killerfish]

awsome pics how many tanks/ponds do you have it looks like two ponds

[malawi haps]

Damin!Looks like a completly diffrent fish ! Looks like they also get darker with age and growth.

[necrocanis]

awsome pics how many tanks/ponds do you have it looks like two ponds

I have 5 tanks in my house ranging from 10 gals to 90 gals. In my garage there are 3 ponds, only two hold fish the other my painted turtle. They are 30 gals for the turtle, 350 gals for the hybrid, and my biggest is 1100 gals. Thinking of doing a fish swap in the next couple of months. Put the big boy into the 1100 gal, and put the smaller cats into the 350 gal. Not sure that the 350 gal filtration can handle the bioload of all those large fish. I'll have to upgrade the filtration.

Damin!Looks like a completly diffrent fish ! Looks like they also get darker with age and growth.

I know it's amazing how much he's changed since I've owned him. He's 3', and I can only imagine how big he would be if not for the stress of 4 moves in the past 2 years. He's only grown 12" in the past 2 years that I have had him, but I feel confident that he will do great from now on. Most cats do get darker with age, and their spots and stripes slowly fade to very thin and spotty to nothing at all. Filamentosum, and Zungaro zungaro lose their spots almost completely as adults. filamentosum was once thought to be 2 species, the natives call small individuals(under 200 lbs) phillote, and ones over that Piraiba(up to 500 lbs) Zungaro was also once considered 2 seperate species. They turn a dark black to olive drab color as adults. As immature individuals they are a greyish green with many dark black spots. Just some gee wiz there lol. Love my hybrid though, and will never part with him unless I have no other choice!

[TLkmDN]

yeh truly amazing. u can really see the vast difference from 2' to 3' in terms of girth and colour. do u think ull ever be able to keep ure hybrid with some of the others?

[necrocanis]

going to try. I have the ponds set up the way they are right now for a reason. Initially I was thinking that maybe I could grow out the others and when they are big enough not to be eaten I can put the big boy in with them. Only one problem he has never tolerated other fish very much. He'll let them live so long as they stay out of his way otherwise he's a tail nipper. He likes to tear the tails off of other catfish. He killed my planiceps that way. My planiceps was 27" and he was 33". I figured all would be good, but he did it anyway. He ripped half the tail off of a P. blochii x tsn hybrid another time also. He need more aggressive fish or he'll kill them. I've never tried housing him with another tsn or rtc I am keeping my fingers crossed. Kinda powerfeeding everyone getting them ready for him in the future. Right now I am feeding about 5 lbs of shrimp per week between all of my catfish. The pond with all the future monsters gets probably 3 of those, and the rest goes to the big boy and my catfish in the house.

[TLkmDN]

oooo nice. i can see him, the jau and the RTC coexisting considering none of them will back down! i didnt know hybrids were so scary and feirce. i guess they would probably getg along better in your 1100 gal cause theres lots of space to chill away from one another. i think it could work. the minute my catfish moved into the big pond they seemed to have lost their aggressive tendencies.

[necrocanis]

here's a pic of 5 catfish all over 13" on one end of the pond

[TLkmDN]

wow that jau looks very impressive indeed...im glad to see ure tigers have managed to keep on par with the RTC. it wont be the case for long though. my RTCs are at least a foot longer than my TSNs even with a year's head start! my youngest RTC outgrew the oldest RTC even with 2 years headstart! goes to show that each fish truly grows to their own specifications.

[necrocanis]

lol yeah, would still love to see some current pics of all your fish when you get a chance. I'll be building a tank somewhere around the size pond you have listed in your qoute. Hoping to keep my rtc growing for a long time to come. I have no worries weather he maxes out at 3' or at 5' I'll have a home for him. I am also going to build a filter box that will be directly connected to the aquarium. I figure the aquarium will be around 3000 to 4000 gals. Haven't really calculated it yet, but the filter should be around 500 gals. Do you think that will be adequate?

[TLkmDN]

i mean to be honest my knowledge of filters is below ures considering i dont build my own tanks or pond. judging by how clean ure water always seems and how much u carry our water changes i would definitely trust yur judgement. my exams actually finish this wednesday and im flying back home on the thursday so ill be able to post tonnes of pictures then. havent seen the fish in 6 months cause i had surgery in perth but my 'helper' tells me that they have grown enormous. apparently the CKs have even outgrown the RTCs to my shock and horror. so yeh, just 4 more days and ill post sum up in ure thread.

[necrocanis]

cool. Really look forward to them. I can't imagine being away from my fish for 6 months. My CK is looking smaller and smaller all the time compared to my catfish. Waiting to see his tail hanging from a kitties mouth one day. he's like 14", but you know how thin they are. Good thing he's got a nasty attitude. I am filling the filter with pot scrubbers so I think probably 200 gals of pot scrubbers should work good for the bio needs lol. You should get a filamentosum for your pond.

[TLkmDN]

wat exactly is a filamentosum and wat does it do for a pond???

[necrocanis]

wat exactly is a filamentosum and wat does it do for a pond???

The largest of all south american catfish. Brachyplatystoma filamentosum. Gets to 8'-10' in the wild and can weigh over 400 lbs with reports much larger. As for what it does for a pond, probably the same as any other catfish. Relaxes and waits for food and tons of it. lol:D

[TLkmDN]

also, have u ever thought about keeping a wallago catifsh??? like either the attu or leeri type. after looking at arapaimags videos ive been awestruck. im sure ull be tempted to keep such crazy animals after u build ure 3000-4000gal setup.

[TLkmDN]

oooo 10 foot!!! that would be kinda mean though cause i dont have the resources to keep it for life. it would be irresponsible but definitely tempting being a hardcore catfish lover :p ill check it out.

[TLkmDN]

lol i just googled the Brachyplatystoma filamentosum and its the same fish that guy posted the thread on b4. the catfish that looks like a devil shark! simply amazing. but im torn between that and the wallago. i love how the wallago's tail evens out at the ends to look like a CKs tail. nature at its finest. on the other hand having a substitute shark has its perks too. ahhhhhh the choices...

[necrocanis]

Biggest I have seen in aquarium was like 4', but I am sure they could go 5 or 6' in captivity. I have always been tempted to keep wallago, but always felt they needed a tank to themselves with their temperments, but with a large enough tank I guess anything is possible

[TLkmDN]

in arapaimags video they showed the wallago peacefully coexisting with a decent sized RTC (still like 1/4 the size of the wallago) but then again the wallago had just cleared out a school of 12'' oscars! so yeh ure probably right. very risky fish to keep indeed indeed. i can totally envision a wallago feasting on my TSNs which have fallen behind in the growth race.

[necrocanis]

they actually consider them man eaters too. They are known to take chunks out of peoples legs, and feast on the dead dumped in the river. I am afraid to put anyfish with serious teeth in with my relatively peaceful catfish. The jau is aggressive enough lol, and he gets huge anyway!

[TLkmDN]

LOL exactly. i dont think ure fiance would appreciate it either :s is she ever freaked out about all ure monster fish? im still afraid to bring girls back cause they mite be like: WEIRDO :s lol

[necrocanis]

lol, that's how I got her, and she's my wife now. I told her to come back to my place and pet my catfish. She thought I was being kinky and laughed when I showed them to her. She likes them, and is not affraid of them, but definitely doesn't like to take care of them while i am gone lol. I had other girls before her scream their heads off and run away though. Some girls like it others are freaked. Might as well start bringing them around so that you can weed out the wimps.

[TLkmDN]

so true thanks for the fatherly advise i guess haha. anyways i gotta go study for exams now! ill post the pics thursday! later.

[amazonfishman]

Cliff, very nice updates man. Glad to see all your shovelnose and various other kitties are doing well. I do need a favor....some indepth filtration pics/info via pm...I still haven't done it :(

Also I noticed in a couple of the pics it looks like your TSN's have lightened up alot color wise especially behind the gills to the tail. Are they eating normally still and fine? Reason I'm asking is mine did the same thing when I moved it into the pond. Eating like a horse still but definately alot lighter especilally at night. I need to take some updated pics of mine but have been lazy lately. Do you have any full or mostly full overhead shots of the whole pond?

How far off is your "real" pond the 4000 gallon one? I'm plotting much like yourself about mine down the road to house my shovelnose and actually in the market (pending I don't blow all my cash on azuls and other pbass in the near future) for a large Juruense since I lost my smaller one and maybe another planiceps since its about the right time for the babies to come into Baltimore area again. Glad to see all is well bro ~Trent

[TLkmDN]

yeh that seems to be the case with my TSN as well. im assuming it has sumthing to do with being exposed to more light. i can only imagine the differences between an enclosed tank and an open pond setup. tigers truly strive in open spaces. they are actually active even during the day. the RTCs on the other hand....hmmmmmm zzzzzzzzz

[Bgonz]

maybe another planiceps since its about the right time for the babies to come into Baltimore area again. ~Trent


Keep me posted on the Planiceps run :D I still havent been able to get one :confused:


Thanks....



bob

[necrocanis]

Cliff, very nice updates man. Glad to see all your shovelnose and various other kitties are doing well. I do need a favor....some indepth filtration pics/info via pm...I still haven't done it :(

Ummm, my filtration on the pond is lacking. I have the stuff to do it up right, but seems like I have to repair a leak everytime I turn around. This pool is just irritating. I can't wait to have the bigger tank up and running. I will be adding another 5 gal bucket full of scrubbies to the 1100 gal and to the 350 gal to keep up with the growing demands on the bioload. Think I will just try to focus on getting my tank built. Best thing I can say to do is get a large tote like 40 gals, put a divider in it with silicone. Drill holes on one end, this end will have pillow batting to take out debris. drill smaller holes in the divider. Fill the other side with pot scrubbies, and put a pump or two in this chamber also. Now drill a hole for the outlet. Fix the tubes from the pumps to go out of the tote. Put the lid on, and crank her up. That should be some great filtration for the time being. That's pretty much what I did just on a smaller tote. I will either add a 5 gal bucket full of scrubbies, or just make a bigger tote to put the old and new scrubbies in with the same pump. Another note is that this type of filter is like an in the tank canister filter(sorta), it will want to float at first so you will need to put some rocks in the bottom, and some rocks on the lid to keep it from floating off or come up with some plastic clips to hold the sides down.

Also I noticed in a couple of the pics it looks like your TSN's have lightened up alot color wise especially behind the gills to the tail. Are they eating normally still and fine? Reason I'm asking is mine did the same thing when I moved it into the pond. Eating like a horse still but definately alot lighter especilally at night. I need to take some updated pics of mine but have been lazy lately. Do you have any full or mostly full overhead shots of the whole pond?

I will try to get some overhead shots of the pond, lol have to stand on the other pond to do it. The tsn have definitely lightened up, but I think it is due to the fact that they are actually in the dark for longer periods of time, and when I turn on the lights they go pale for a little while, but resume their normal colors after about 30 mins or so of the lights being on. They eat fine, and grow quicker than ever. They are rather lazy in the pond. Of course I kept them with limas before they entered the pond, and they just schooled with the limas and acted like them. After they settled into the pond they just lay around all day and are just active at night which seems normal enough. All my fish are lighter colored when I first turn on the lights though. Seems to spook them like they just saw a ghost. The jau is the worst.

How far off is your "real" pond the 4000 gallon one? I'm plotting much like yourself about mine down the road to house my shovelnose and actually in the market (pending I don't blow all my cash on azuls and other pbass in the near future) for a large Juruense since I lost my smaller one and maybe another planiceps since its about the right time for the babies to come into Baltimore area again. Glad to see all is well bro ~Trent

I have the glass for that tank(consider it an actual tank because it will be viewable from one side.) I am going over the price of everything. Seems like just the lumber for the frame is going to cost right at $580 dollars. After than I have to figure in cost of plywood, a case of silicone, some kind of sealant for the wood. I will be coating all surfaces with fiberglass before I seal it. Right now I am pretty much comming up with a very smart idea for framing the window. I will be starting an article soon, but this will be a long drawn out process. I expect working alone, with very little help it will take me at least a year. I am going with a very sturdy design that I will share soon. The filter will probably be at least 500 gal capacity. Might even keep some fish in ther lol.

[necrocanis]

lol that ended up weird. I answered between your qoute. Definitely interested in another planiceps.

[amazonfishman]

Hehe yeah the quote was a little obscure. Glad to hear your in the planning stages already. I won't be starting my big tank like that for probably another 2 years or so and then after I start I will be in the same boat as you, the only person working on it and working on it gradually over a long time because going big isn't cheap ;)

My TSN is lazy also it sits in the same spot with my planiceps in my pond all day and occasionally makes a lap around the pond. The Lima cruises the pond non stop its really neat to watch and its very intrigued at feeding time, it will just about eat shrimp out of my hand and for a Lima I thought that was pretty good. I posted up a few new pics of all mine in the pond under my thread, you can see a little of the lighter color I was talking about in the pics but not like you do when I come in at night and turn the lights on, I mean honestly my TSN looks xanthic almost its weird...

I will let you know about the planiceps when I hear if they are available again, and you got pm about the other catfish we were talking about :)

[necrocanis]

Tnx appreciate it trent. The wife is putting some limits on my fish keeping activities, think I'll have to put some limits on her purse keeping activities lol.

[TLkmDN]

HEY GUYS. IM BACK IN MALAYSIA!!! just arrived home baby! i know uve been waiting AGES for pond pictures and i took a couple of shots of the pond and my new custom made tank. i have to say that the pictures are really bad cause its so dark. but tomorow morning when the sun is shining i promise to take more. This will have to do for now :p sorry the strong lighting at night combined with the darkness makes things look weird. tomorow will be better i promise!

[TLkmDN]

here

[TLkmDN]

more

[DrZacharyus]

sick pond and nice FISH

[TLkmDN]

heres the rest of them...more updates tomorow morning...

[TLkmDN]

i know its very hard to see from the picture but the CKs are actually the longest fish in the pond (to my shock and horror after not seeing them for 7 months) but yeh hard to judge size in these pics considering the pond is 5 foot deep...

[jconley]

Dude, that's just awesome. Is it a converted swimming pool? Love the landscaping too!

[TLkmDN]

no my mum just wanted green swimming pool tiles...i have no freaking idea why. if i had it my way i would have made the bottom a plain sandy colour...imitating the sea.

[pirarucu319]

look like super NICE...
where 8ft tank??
any new candidates??
i'am watin tomorrow dude..
have you ever swim/snorkel together??


ANCIENT MONSTER RULEZ :arapaimag :asianarow

[necrocanis]

no my mum just wanted green swimming pool tiles...i have no freaking idea why. if i had it my way i would have made the bottom a plain sandy colour...imitating the sea.

That's sweet man. My wife won't let me do anything like that. That's why I am making a removable wood tank. What do you feed your CKs? Mine seem to barely grow at all, and I am affraid that my catfish will eat him eventually. They are awesome fish with a nasty attitude. You're gonna have to get in there with them for size comparison, or just hold up a ruler beside the tile so that we can see how big it is for comparison. Rather see you in there with them lol, good luck swimming with CKs that huge lol.

[malawi haps]

Sweet pond you need to start a thread of this so you can update it with pics as time passes !!

[TLkmDN]

That's sweet man. My wife won't let me do anything like that. That's why I am making a removable wood tank. What do you feed your CKs? Mine seem to barely grow at all, and I am affraid that my catfish will eat him eventually. They are awesome fish with a nasty attitude. You're gonna have to get in there with them for size comparison, or just hold up a ruler beside the tile so that we can see how big it is for comparison. Rather see you in there with them lol, good luck swimming with CKs that huge lol.
lol yeh for sure...another alternative is to net them and put them on land for a bit while i measure and take pics. stressful but it could work. the problem is that i could never do that to my RTCs. they are simply too strong and too heavy. i dont have a net which can hold them :( all the fish in the pond eat live food. as in feeder fish that i specially order from a supplier in malaysia. but like i sed b4, my one goal in this holiday i to train ALL of them to eat pellets...cheaper and less chance of disease.

[amazonfishman]

1) That pond is amazing bro!
2) I forsee alot of Hikari Massivore Pellets in your future and alot of Market Prawns or something similar :)

~Trent

[pirarucu319]

could you please post some sample of Hikari Massivore Pellets
maybe differ place have differ design or etc..
but the ingredient of Hikari Massivore Pellets is??
it is totally for carnivore right??

ANCIENT MONSTER RULEZ :arapaimag :asianarow

[TLkmDN]

heres some pics during the day as promised! i also went to the aquaria amazonian exhibit today. check out those pics in the lounge section with the thread name being TLkmDN's Amazonian adventure in aquaria.

[necrocanis]

very nice. Makes more sense to see it during the day lol. Looks great, and your rtc are amazing, the one is thick as hell.

[TLkmDN]

thanks for all the kind words...check out my thread in the photos lounge on the flooded amazon exhibit...its freaking awesome. necro.....ull especially love it the most...they had 4 feet RTCS that made mine look like lil kid :p

[necrocanis]

Checked it out and loved it. There's no public aquariums within 700 miles of where I live. According to several people I have talked to I might have one of the largest indoor fish dwellings in montana. My poor lill 1100 gal heated indoor pond is the largest tank that any of the 3 lfs owners here in my city have ever heard of. The second to mine is a 750 gal saltwater tank.

[TLkmDN]

lol at least u can proudly claim to have the most humane living conditions for catfish in the whole of montana!

[tommy1982]

hi ppl this is my first time on this sight i just sighned up. other ppl said thay can not help me because im in sydney australia. here is my question. where can i buy big fish im getting a 12 foot tank brand new for australian$350.00. i want the fish to be big and bright colours can you ppl help me my email is ivanovic_t@hotmail.com

regards tommy ivanovic.

[necrocanis]

hi ppl this is my first time on this sight i just sighned up. other ppl said thay can not help me because im in sydney australia. here is my question. where can i buy big fish im getting a 12 foot tank brand new for australian$350.00. i want the fish to be big and bright colours can you ppl help me my email is ivanovic_t@hotmail.com

regards tommy ivanovic.

You're in the right website, but in the catfish section of MFK. Try the lounge. To everyone else. I'll be gone for a month. Good luck to everyone. I'll give you guys an update on my fish when i return. No internet, as my family still lives in the stone age. Too bad my laptop died.:D

[ZOO YORK 207]

Cliff when you get back home we need an update of the Jau.

[malawi haps]

Happy traveling!!

[DrZacharyus]

jau = beast master

[necrocanis]

Cliff when you get back home we need an update of the Jau.

I'll have to take some more pics just for you, but in the mean time. I made it back safe from my trip to hit a mule deer doe after 2600 miles on the road visiting family. I'm fine, but cant say the same for my car. Ryan is close to 17-18", but my RTC is catching up and is the same bulk if not more. He's only about 15-16", but will well outgrow the jau in another month or two. The jau seems to have slowed in his growth quite a bit. Hard for the jau to get food with the gluttonous RTC eating up everything. I need to find a cheaper food source lol. Shrimp are starting to get expensive feeding about 25-30 lbs of shrimp per month to all my cats. They don't like fish fillets too good. Luckily the big guy will eat whatever so long as it's meaty so I'm not worried about him, but my other fish are so picky lol. Can't wait til they are bigger maybe they won't be so picky then. Oh the channel had the most supprising growth along with my rtc x marble. The hybrid grew from 11 or 12" to 13or 14" in a month. The channel grew from 15" to 17 or 18". The jau if you remember ate the other channel I had when it was 12" and the jau was 13" the channel catfish will definitely outgrow the jau too. I just hope I can raise them all to adulthood without any fatalities. Lumpy is a good 17 or 18" long, the other tsn in the tank is around 15 or 16". My two oscars, and jaguar cichlid live in increasing fear as they catfish are starting to get larger than them. lol, but my oscars are 14", and 13", and the jaguar cichlid is 15" so they should be good for a while. after my big tank is built I will house them and my limas in the 350 gal. I'll have to find some smaller catfish to keep in the house. Maybe some pictus, and ornates. My bullhead is close to 10". I've had the RTC x Marble hybrid only about 5 months and it has grown from 4" to 13 or 14". It will be going into the pond in another month. Still powerfeeding it to get it up to par with the rtc and jau. I've been feeding those two less so that it can catch up, but growth is amazing on all of them.

[malawi haps]

Sorry to hear about you car good to see you back While you were gone I got a rtc and rtc/tsn hybrid all around 4" currently .The hybrid does the wierdest thing I think he thinks he is a lima he spends most of his day vertical with nose down up against a rock???

[necrocanis]

Sorry to hear about you car good to see you back While you were gone I got a rtc and rtc/tsn hybrid all around 4" currently .The hybrid does the wierdest thing I think he thinks he is a lima he spends most of his day vertical with nose down up against a rock???

that's the tsn in him, they do it from time to time also. Very rare behavior, but I've seen mine do it on ocassion. My hybrid I can't speak for he doesn't have deep enough water to sit verticle. his water depth is 24", and he's 36" so doesn't work to well!!

[malawi haps]

Ill have to get a pic of it . So Ive been iching to ask you I also have the tsn .I can get a 6 foot diameter plastic water storage container that is 40 in tall for $289.I was going to cut it at 35 so I can fit it through the basement door and use the top for a lid( hinged) how long do you personally think I can house them in their for?? I am not power feeding nore care at what rate they grow just planning on trying to keep them comfortible. I also have my eye on a 1000 gallon storage container of same height but 8 foot in diameter if the small one works out I will eventually go for the big one ( if I can talk the wife in to it ) If not it will go in my shop 30'x60'.

[necrocanis]

are you just housing the TSN? Filtration is the key for any size tank. The massively filtered it is the longer you can house it. It could live in there up to 4' in size so long as you have it properly filtered for the amount of waste a fish that size would produce. Somewhere there is a calculator for how much filtration you would need for the biomass(wieght of live fish) of your tank. Bigger is better for the filtration, but you will also need to do massive regular water changes as he gets larger. I have a 3' hybrid in a 6' dia cattle trough, and it works great, but I find as he grows I have to change the water more and more often to keep nitrates low. I do about a 40% water change every 5 days right now. It's amazing how fast the water gets dirty with a 3' fish.

[malawi haps]

I was concidering keeping all three of them in their the filtration is via a 150 gal rubbermaid container with 3 bio towers filled to the teeth with bio balls and a carbon pad in the top one to catch particles . In side the tank their will be a 1750 gph pump moving the water around in a circular motion to collect the waste in the middle for easier w/c's.

[necrocanis]

I was concidering keeping all three of them in their the filtration is via a 150 gal rubbermaid container with 3 bio towers filled to the teeth with bio balls and a carbon pad in the top one to catch particles . In side the tank their will be a 1750 gph pump moving the water around in a circular motion to collect the waste in the middle for easier w/c's.

The circular moving water definitely works really good. The debris will always settle in the center unless you have decorations or rocks in there then they will settle in the center and build up behind everything else. bare bottom is probably best so that they do not establish territories and will not fight as much. My hybrids were fighting alot when I had tons of decoration in there. They would rip each others fins, and I am having the same problems with the fish in my big pond right now. All of the decorations will have to go. Only problem with this is it makes the fish more skittish. So yeah you kinda have to balance the two.

[malawi haps]

Well if I get your stamp of approval I am going for it .Like I said b4 the tsn is 4 in the hybrid is also 4in and the rtc is 3.5 in .I hope this would house them for at least 4 years so I can get the wife attached to them in order to get the the hall pass for the big tank!!!

[necrocanis]

Hmmm, I am not sure you could keep all three in a tank that size for 4 years. They would probably all be 30"to40" by that time. It would be kinda crowded. They could definitely fit, but swimming space would be limited. If you cut it tall as possible then you should be ok, but expect them to squabble more and more as they grow bigger and bigger. Catfish tend to tear each others fins in territorial disputes. Or at least all the big pims that I have owned do. It might work, but I'd say more like 3 years 4 is pushing it, but it might work. You would definitely have to hook some major filtration for those bad boys though. You could start off with smaller filtration like I did and slowly increase it or you will start to see ammonia spikes as they grow, they will outgrow the biofilters, and they will need to get larger and larger with the fish. I'd say you need about at least 20 gals of biomaterial per 36" fish. That's not the size of the filter that's just the bacterial housing materials. Adding sand and rocks will increase the capacity also, just remember that rocks should be large enough not to be swallowed within the timeframe they are in the tank. I go with rocks that are 8" in dia or larger, and playsand or pool filter sand. The two mixed looks really cool and natural. the 150 gal tub would work good for a filter just look in the diy section at some of the home made filters. I'd set aside 60 gals of wetdry area for those fish. For my big tank I am trying to go somewhere between 500-600 gals capacity for the filter alone. To include 250-300 gals of pot scrubbers.

[malawi haps]

Thanks for the input .I may decide to just keep 1 or 2 of them out of the three If I could only keep one it would be the hybrid if two the red tail and the hybrid .Too tough of a decision to make at the moment.

[necrocanis]

Here's a few pics of my MRTC, and my smallest TSN. I will try to post some pics of everyone else later if I get time. He's grown from 4" to 13" in 5 months. Sounds like good growth but is kinda slow compared to my other cats. Some of the pics are from about a month ago, and the new ones are of him hiding, and with the red gravel

[laura65536]

beautiful cat!

[malawi haps]

Lookin good!! How's the little tsn??

[necrocanis]

The little tsn is great he's about 9-10", and will be moved soon. Haven't seen any for a while. Think that I convinced the local shop owners not to get any in unless it is for a special order and the people know what they are getting into. Here's some pics I just took of some of my other cats and their friends. My two gorgeous oscars and my jag. There's a few pics of my gorgeous albino channel you can see his pectorial fin never grew back all the way after the jau bit it off a few months back. There's just a nub. Lumpy the TSN is huge, around 17-18", and would be larger if not for the curvature of his skull. You can see in the pics that the larger he grows the worse the curvature gets. He has a severe underbite, and look at a normal tsn they have a severe overbite normally. You can see the dental plates clearly in the pics. There's a pic of the second largest TSN in the pics also, he's about 15", and is an A-typical TSN. That's what they are meant to look like. Long narrow flat skull. The RTC is 15-16", and has battle scars from fighting for the best hiding spots with the jau, and looking at the pics of the Jau you can see who won out on that one. The rtc is greedy like most and swims around to scoop up all the shrimp he can before anyone else can. Him and the channel are funny to watch they will eat soo much shrimp I think they will explode before they stop. I hand feed lumpy as he has a hard time getting food in his mouth. I put cut up chunks of shrimp in front of him, and he really has to tear in to get them in. Enjoy all the pics!

[necrocanis]

Wow, forgot a few for you guys and gals. Here's some better pics of the Jau caught him out in the open for the first time since back from my vacation. Also great pic of the lima, and some comparison shots of all the catfish together. That shot really shows how fast the channel is growing. Was the smallest catfish in that tank when i left now look lol. And the big boy being beautiful and begging for more attention.

[newlove4fish]

your room temp is 76 degrees.. where do you live? I would love to have an indoor pond when I have house in about a year or so but donot know if it is possible for where I live without a heater. I personally have two irredescant catfish that max at 3 feet and two pangasius sanitwongsei who max out at about 4 feet but they also get deep (girth) if you know what I mean so a four foot pangasius would be about 2 feet deep plus a foot long pectoral fin. I am looking at at least a 3 foot deep pond in my basement. I would like to know your thoughts.

[necrocanis]

sounds like a plan. Personally I would make an insulated pond with an insulated lid. You'll have almost no evaporation, and the tank will use much less energy to heat. That's my suggestion for you. I have a cattle trough for just one fish right now that's 3', I would suggest you go way, way bigger. Not sure truely how big a paroon shark can get in a tank since I have not seen any definitive pics of one at 20+ years old. In the wild their numbers are way down, and so is fish size. You have some real potential monsters. I'd probably make a brick or wood pond with thick insulation all around. You'll be fine like that.

[TLkmDN]

awesome pics of ure fish necro but its gona be ages b4 any of them can live with ure rtc/tsn hybrid. its pretty funy how they all have battle scars. im surprised ure oscars r still alive. how old is the big old hybrid anyways??

[malawi haps]

Awesome pics my lfs just got in a 12" tsn that had the same deformity of the skull his tail is very small compared to his size also .I think he as usual was in a tank way to small for him and he has a bump on his nose that looks to be scar tissue from rubbing the tank glass trying to turn around.He is currently in a 265 at the lfs but they have a indoor pond they used to keep koi in that is approx 1500 gal it is 41@ deep 12 foot long and at the narrowest is 2 foot it is a kidney shaped pond .I have convinced them (i think ) in to turning it in to a monster pond !

[necrocanis]

awesome pics of ure fish necro but its gona be ages b4 any of them can live with ure rtc/tsn hybrid. its pretty funy how they all have battle scars. im surprised ure oscars r still alive. how old is the big old hybrid anyways??

The oscars are way too big for the time being to be eaten. They are about a year old and 12", and 13". The big hybrid is approx. 3-4 years old. He was almost 2' when I got him 2 years ago. Took 2 years to get from 2' to 3', but he was massively stressed with 5 moves in that time period. He has been at my current house for 6 months. He's also killed 2 other large fish, and I believe it was due to space limits in the 350 gal pond, so now he lives alone until I can make a tank or pond large enough for him and everyone else. I'd like the other fish to be at least 2' for the rtc, because he will be too wide for the hybrid to eat at that point. At 16" the rtc is already 4.5" wide. I am sure at 24" he will be at least 6-7" wide. I have the skull of a 26" rtc and it's 8" wide. That's how wide the hybrid's head is. But the TSN will be a bit longer. I want them to be at least 28-30" before I put them in with him. The jau I want at least 26" before he goes in. We'll see though.

Awesome pics my lfs just got in a 12" tsn that had the same deformity of the skull his tail is very small compared to his size also .I think he as usual was in a tank way to small for him and he has a bump on his nose that looks to be scar tissue from rubbing the tank glass trying to turn around.He is currently in a 265 at the lfs but they have a indoor pond they used to keep koi in that is approx 1500 gal it is 41@ deep 12 foot long and at the narrowest is 2 foot it is a kidney shaped pond .I have convinced them (i think ) in to turning it in to a monster pond !


Maybe so. I got mine at 2" and his skull has always been deformed. It was very slight when he was small and as he has grown it has gotten worse and worse. I can't even imagine what he would look like from the side now. Look back through this thread to see what he looked like before he went into the pond at 13". He's grown 4" since going into the pond. He's around 17-18", but would be at least an inch longer if not for the bowing of his skull. Probably more like 1.5". He's massive for his length. The other TSN is almost as long, but no where near the girth.

[Bgonz]

When I was up at shark aquarium they had a cat listed as a Zangara ??? Is that the same as your Jau ??? He was about 10" and listed for $69.00. He seemed pretty cool but didnt seem too have as many spots as yours.

Very cool cat collection by the way :cheers:but you better get started on something bigger to keep them in before the real rumbling begins :D


bob

[necrocanis]

Yeah I know. Cost of a large tank seems to mean it will take a long time before I am able to do that so for now I will be making a larger pond in the garage. I will then save up the money to build a proper large aquarium. The pond I am planning will be simple, but large. Going 3' x 8' x 15'. It's all I can do until I can afford to build a bigger tank. This pond will be insulated as well, and have a tight fitting lid. I will use plywood for the lid and maybe hone some fiberglassing skills on it.

[necrocanis]

If it's a jau it's eyes will appear to be almost on top of it's head compared with other pims. Also the barbells will not be as long as a marble cat. Mine was not this spotted up when I first got him at 12". Go back through the thread to see side pics of when he was quarantined.

[yama]

giant whiptail, can anyone help me to find?

[yama]

HELP!

[necrocanis]

giant whiptail, can anyone help me to find?

Tnx for spamming my thread maybe you should try the plecos section or the buy and sell section.

[TLkmDN]

hey cliff hows ure jau buddy? grown much yet? have u seen john PTC's channel catfish??? hes so cute (in a ugly sort of way)....it looks so munted man...ure chanel cat looks slightly more clean cut. post sum pics soon! i wana see all ure fish and full setup shots. thanks :)

[necrocanis]

hey cliff hows ure jau buddy? grown much yet? have u seen john PTC's channel catfish??? hes so cute (in a ugly sort of way)....it looks so munted man...ure chanel cat looks slightly more clean cut. post sum pics soon! i wana see all ure fish and full setup shots. thanks :)

I'll have to work on those full shot pics, setup is crappy ghetto, but it works lol. Here's a few pics of my hybrid which is almost 14" and deifnitely ready to go in the pond, I just hate to put him there with how gorgeous he is. Also some pics of my limas. I will work on the shots of the pond. The Jau is growing slow as hell now. All the other cats are outgrowing him 3 to 1. That's the way of a jau though. Takes them forever to get huge. A member once told me it took 5 years for his to get 33". Looks like when the new pond is done he will eventually get to live in the big boy's pond until he can get a little bigger.

[necrocanis]

oh here's the pics and yeah John's channel is the ugliest, but most impressive channel I have ever seen, and I once caught one that was 35 lbs myself. One pic of the 14.5" lima right after she ate 5 large shrimp. I hate to stuff her like that, but she won't let the rest of the fish get any food til she eats 5 of the 3" shrimp.

[necrocanis]

compare the two limas anyone think I have two different species? These both get the same diet, and obviously have been in the same tank for a year.

[jconley]

Lookin' good Cliff!!! I'll look in to comparing those Limas and give you my opinion lol.

[Bgonz]

compare the two limas anyone think I have two different species? These both get the same diet, and obviously have been in the same tank for a year.




Male and Female maybe ????





bob

[TLkmDN]

those 2 limas r so beautiful!!! i prefer the fat one of course haha. damn must have taken u a while to get the limas to 14'' very impressive mate. i love ure RTC/Marble catfish! mine still wont eat dead food so they r much skinnier and smaller than ure chubby cat. he looks great! healthy colouration as well. how big is the hybrid?

[OddBark16]

Man i cant wait till my 1"er grows....im mean my RTC x TSN.....Hey..How big do these guys get and what their growth rate on these guys....mines will be put into either a 600 gallon pool i got from target...or a man made cemented tank thats like 900 gallon...well thats like the plan though...i dont have the pool yet but ill get it at Christmas...=)

[necrocanis]

So very sad to report that my Jau died 3 days ago. One of my heaters malfunctioned while I was at work, and when i got home he was belly up. All the other cats are ok, but still not eating. I spent the last 3 days insulating the pond and bringing the temps back up. The temp in the 1100 gal pond was 56 f. When I came out to work today the temp was back up to 74 f. The RTC had to be emergency put into a hospital tank. He had a spot of fungus on his whiskers, but it's all cleared now. Only the channel cat seems to be eating right now. The other catfish are still pretty lathargic after their episode. Starting to build the bigger better more insulated pond next week. I'll post up some of the progress in the DIY section. I'd like to think that some day I will get to own another jau, but it seems impossible. I already miss him so much. I feel like I failed that poor fish. He was 18", and gorgeous as hell. Hope that you all will remember him fondly and can always see his pictures here forever.

[jconley]

:cry: Man I am sorry to hear that:(. My condolences. Glad to hear that everyone else is O.K. though!

[willys-1]

So sorry to hear of your loss! Catfish are my favorite species of fish. I lost an entire tank of native bullheads to the same problem, only the heater stayed on. Soup It was very sad. Hope that you will be able to find another Jau in the future.

I follow your threads with great antisipation,nice to see other souls so envolved with catfish.

Dick.F

[basslover34]

dang Cliff... sorry to hear that... I had no idea... I knew you had been less active on the board the last few days but I had no idea that this was why ... Bummer.. was a great looking fish!

[necrocanis]

Tnx guys. I am forever sad that my chance to own such a magnificient creature has come to an end so fast. I had him for 7 months. In that time he grew from 11-12" to
18".

[Bgonz]

I'd like to think that some day I will get to own another jau, but it seems impossible.


Very sorry for your loss but...... I can ship you another one if you really need one. $59.99 plus shipping. I agree though very, very rare.



bob

[basslover34]

Very sorry for your loss but...... I can ship you another one if you really need one. $59.99 plus shipping. I agree though very, very rare.



bob
What size is it when you ship?:naughty:

[necrocanis]

What size is it when you ship?:naughty:

You move quick lol.