Channel Catfish Advice new to MFK

Hi guys

Thought i would post here as i am struggling to find any knowledge online or locally.

I purchased 2 Albino Channel Cats back last august when they were about 2 inches long, They've grown on fast over the past year and they are currently both around 12 inches. They are the sole 2 fish in a 55 gallon at the moment, I have bought a new 125 gallon setup which i have not setup yet as just about to move house and eventually they will go into a pond.

I was keeping them in about 29 Degrees Celsius as i found online this was the most productive temperature to encourage growth and feeding etc. I recently reduced the temperature in the tank to around 24 degrees as i was treating a fish wound and the medication advised to lower the temperature contrary to most medications.

Anyway after the temperature decrease the fish have shown alot of signs of aggression towards each other i have never seen before, biting tails charging at each other mouth open leaving some marks really look like they will kill each other.. Im wondering if this is spawning behaviour due to the water temperature change? but isnt it usually the opposite of cold to warmer that would induce this, or is it some kind of dominance now they are no longer juveniles and wanting to mark their own resting area?

Currently i have taken a large fishing net and put it in half the tank and weighed the corners down which i have placed one cat in to stop them fighting for now but this is only temporary and im worried about the catfish getting caught in the net and possibly drowning itself.

Any tips or knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou

Chris

Hi thanks for your reponse, yeah I always knew I would need to go bigger really, the 125 was going to tie them over until I had built the pond but I do appreciate the 125 is still too small. The ultimate goal was to put them in a pond in my garden but have had moving delays. Im just really curious as to if there behaviour would return to being normal if I slowly rose the temperature back up or not or just divided them for a while. I wondered if it was strictly the catfish aggression towards the other catfish so placed a koi in there but they just attacked him aswell.

Just thought i would provide an update, the aggressive behavior seemed to be directly related to the water temperature, i increased the temperature back up to the previous 28 degrees and they show no signs of aggression towards each other. They have been moved into their 125 gallon, i have ordered a 240 gallon which should be delivered in a couple of weeks to hold them whilst i construct my pond.

Thanks for the replies