I Hear This Question A Lot..

Red_Man

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Sep 14, 2010
446
140
61
38
Indiana
So I Just bought... well traded a TSN for an RTC at my LFS. The owner was so excited to see a TSN at 8 inches that they gave me a straight trade for a 4 inch RTC. The little guy is in a 55 for now and will go in my 125 when he doubles his size. Come next April I will be building a 10' x 5' x 3' pond. I need suggestions for filtration and heating something of that size. Ive heard of guys using pool gear but is it really safe? I'd really like to make my own filter system but I would have no clue where to start. The 125 is the biggest tank I have ever has canister filters hooked up to it. Any tips or links would be great!
 

apennell07

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 14, 2010
95
0
0
South Australia/Illinois lol
i got my rtc at about 2"-3". he wouldnt touch pellets so i fed him feeders and night crawlers. as he got bigger i started feeding him sunfish and bass in the summer, but in the winter when the lakes froze he was eating 3doz. gold fish a day. me being just a kid back then could not afford this lol. so when he was about 20in i started buying large $5 rats. bad thing was i had to kill them and skin them so hair didnt get all over the tank. but he loved them. and it would take him a few days to digest. in 12mo he grew to 24" and out grew my 150gl and i had to give him away... next time i get one ill have an 8x4 built so i can keep him forever. and i think ill fill a freezer with sunfish caught in summer to feed it during winter. wasnt fun skinning rats but at the time i didnt have any better ideas..
 

SpeshulEd

Fire Eel
MFK Member
apennell07;4489101; said:
i got my rtc at about 2"-3". he wouldnt touch pellets so i fed him feeders and night crawlers. as he got bigger i started feeding him sunfish and bass in the summer, but in the winter when the lakes froze he was eating 3doz. gold fish a day. me being just a kid back then could not afford this lol. so when he was about 20in i started buying large $5 rats. bad thing was i had to kill them and skin them so hair didnt get all over the tank. but he loved them. and it would take him a few days to digest. in 12mo he grew to 24" and out grew my 150gl and i had to give him away... next time i get one ill have an 8x4 built so i can keep him forever. and i think ill fill a freezer with sunfish caught in summer to feed it during winter. wasnt fun skinning rats but at the time i didnt have any better ideas..
:(
 

cc247

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 30, 2010
263
0
0
Indiana
i don't think you feeding him daily made him grow faster... i got mine at 2 inch and in 9 months he is roughly around 20 inch... i only feed once everyother day to every 3 day and i'm getting the same growth rate as you... so i wouldn't say to get them to grow fast to feed everyday... just keep the water right, don't miss water changes, and vary there diet... don't power feed... more money and they don't need it to get good growth rates... just my experience...
 

KTrain

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 6, 2011
48
0
6
Columbus, Ohio
This is good information. I just bought a TSN recently and am in the process of monitoring it to understand its eating habits and the like. I never see him eat, but he has a swollen belly. I think he's eating the Danios that I'm using to cycle my tank water.
 
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