RTC and TSN Information

**ZOO YORK 207** · 06-06-2007, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by necrocanis;901903;

Good link zoo almost forgot about that one. As for catfish swallowing rocks, my hybrid swallowed 2 rocks both about twice the size of a golf ball. About 2 months later he puked them back up after I fed him a massive meal of night crawlers. I'd say if you are worried about your rtc or tsn or hybrid eating rocks or decorations do away with them all together or get some large enough that they can't eat them. Also with these cats. They are brutes, and when they are on their nightly journey for food they tend to break and eat anything in the tank. Once they are over a foot long glass heaters in the tank are a bad idea. I have switched to titanium for this very reason. I had a sliver of glass work it's way through the abdominal cavity of a rtc before. Got shocked litterally when my hybrid broke his heater, and I couldn't tell till I was shocked two or three times. So be safe go for titanium, or heater external in a sump or hooked to a return line.

OR just go barebottom like my 180.

**killerfish** · 06-06-2007, 2:16 PM

yes brutes is a good way to describe them very strong fish the can sometimes be skiddish and can easily break glass tanks and i've heard storys of big ones being placed in those plastic swimming pools and spliting the side

**necrocanis** · 06-08-2007, 11:22 PM

Suprisingly no new posts here since we put it up. Feel free everyone to post any rumors or questions you have ever heard or had about rtc, or tsn. We'll do our best to answer them.

**z24autox** · 06-09-2007, 6:16 AM

I have been thinking of getting either an RTC or Lima Shovelnose, currently I have a 55 gallon and know that both of these guys will out grow it, the question is How Soon? what is the growth rate of an RTC and LSN, what effects their growth rate (water conditions, types of food)? If i do get one I want to be as prepared as possible for it!

**necrocanis** · 06-09-2007, 7:47 AM

if you are getting a lima it will take a while for it to outgrow a 55 gal. That being said a little while is like 8 months to a year. A rtc would outgrow it in less than 4 or 5 months 6 if you're lucky. I would only feed blood worms, and krill when smaller 2-4 inches, and as they grow increase the size and amount of food they eat. You can start giving them cut shrimp after 4", and silversides. After they get to a foot feed whole shrimp, silversides, or other frozen fish from your grocery store. Don't over feed as they might get sick in the water, and foul it. Massive water changes are no fun. To be prepared as possible you'd need a 125 gal settup within a few months of getting your kitties. If you go with a lima, you'll probably be ok with a 125 gal for life, but with a rtc, you're looking at 8 months to a year before they hit the 18-24" mark! That means that you would need to start setting up a large indoor pond or gigantic tank for the rtc within 6 months of him going into the 125 gal. If you plan on housing in an aquarium go for the dimensions of 10'x4'x3', and pond 8' dia and 3' in height. For the lima again 125 would do for life, you could possibly get away with a 90 gal for just one or two of them, but you'd need massive filtration. Regardless, as they grow you will need massive filtration and massive weekly water changes. I currently do 30-40% water changes on all my catfish tanks, keeps me at 10 ppm on the nitrites. Just so that you know my baby rtc has grown from less than 2" to almost 5" in less than a month. Sometimes with limas it could take them a long time to get over the 8" mark, I have read where several members have had limas for a year and they are still at 8". I have 3 of them, 2 are at 10" and one is 14". One of the ones at 10" is only 5 months old, the other is a year old. My biggest is only 10 months old and 14". RTC can get brown blood desiese if your nitrites are too high. Most pims are delicate to ammonia, and can develope a number of desiese if ammonia is present. Most common are fin, and tail rot, ich, gill curl, popeye, and low oxygen absorbtion, gill desiese, ect. To avoid desiese I suggest putting 2 teaspoons of salt per 5 gals of water and keeping the temps above 80 f. Works well for me. Hope this helps.

**z24autox** · 06-09-2007, 5:06 PM

Thanks for all the great information! I was told by one of the employees at my LFS that a LSN would be fine in a 55 gallon for several years. I will keep your advise in mind, today I get to start adding fish to my new tank!!

**necrocanis** · 06-09-2007, 9:50 PM

It really just depends on your individual limas. As I said in the example of my three one would have been ok in a 55 gal for at least a year, but the other two grow way to fast to last in one. Good luck, and hope to hear more from you in the catfish section.

**plausible** · 06-18-2007, 3:27 PM

i saw one big 2-3 foot tsn get cut up ,wrapped in banana leaf and bbq-ed on animal planet while some guy austin steven or something is looking for his snake !!

**monster chiclid keeper** · 06-18-2007, 7:02 PM

i am going to get one soon will him and my tiger shouvle nose breed if they do i shall call it red tail tiger catfish.

**necrocanis** · 06-18-2007, 8:26 PM

If you are talking about a rtc x tsn hybrid they already exist. There is about a 1 in a billion chance that they will every naturally breed. These fish are produced by injecting males and females with hormones to make the females gravid with eggs and the males laden with milk(sperm). Then they milk them both into the same container, and from what I have been told about 100 out of 10,000 eggs are fertilized this way. That means only about 1% of the eggs are able to except the sperm of a different species. The farther apart the two animals are genetically the less likely they are to be able to hybridize. I currently have a 35" hybrid. If you really wish this to work you will need to do a lot of research into hormone injecting fish for reproduction. Another disadvantage is that no one has ever sucessfully reproduced rtc in aquaria. There has been tsn reproduced, but I believe there is some controversy over weather or not they were injected or reproduced naturally.