I understand the water quality issues everybody has mentioned. The way I've got the 10 gallon tanks setup is I have a row of 10 10 gallon tanks that are hooked up to a 150 gallon tank that serves as a sump. I do two 25% water changes a week on all the tanks and I've never had any problems with water quality. But mainly what I was asking is, in a two week time period shouldn't the catfish grow at least a little bit? I don't understand it. This is my first redtail cat and I've heard from many people their growth rate is something like an inch a week. I've kept a few TSN's before and they grew like crazy, so I was expecting the same out of the RTC.
Baby Redtail Cat Question...
- Thread starter CAnRB
- Start date
Sounds like you have an ideal setup for starting out an RTC. It's slow start-out growth may be due to how it was kept before you got it. If it was kept in less-than-ideal conditions before arriving in your tank, it may already have symptoms of brown-blood disease. If the gills are less than a healthy red-rose color, it'll need some time to purge its system of the effects of high nitrites. This can take several weeks. For now, just monitor water and feeding. If possible, give it it's own 10gal so you can better monitor its food intake. To help it purge, feed it 2 days then skip a day.
black_monster said:
I don't think a 10 gallon is too small for a fish that's only 2". I don't think the 10 gallon is the reason it isn't growing either. This is the way I keep all my fish, I buy them as babies and move them to proper sized tanks as they grow. If I moved it to a bigger tank with it being as small as it is, it would get eaten right away.
Oddball... your probably right. I wouldn't be suprised at all if the wholesalers tanks were less than ideal. I guess I just give it some time and see how it does. Thanks for the help.
ya give him some time and im sure he will strat growing like a week sometimes i have a fish for a month and they are the same then after that they grow like weeds, maybe there is to many fush in the tank. is he geting enough foodCAnRB said:
USMCtanker said:
I don't know if it's getting enough food or not. I'm at work most of the day, so I don't really get a lot of time to sit and watch him. The ghost shrimp I put in there are getting eaten by somebody, and the RTC is the only one with a big enough mouth to be getting them, so I'm under the impression it's eating alright.
HE WILL GROW AND FAST I BOUGHT MY RTC HE WAS AROUND 4INCHES 6 MONTHS LATER HE WAS 12 INCHES. NOW 9MONTHS LATER HGE IS AROUND 18INCHES. HE IS A BEAST EATS EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING.I AM UP TO A 265 AND ALREADY THINKING OF A BIGGER TANK
try feeding him with the lights off they are more active in the dark make sure that everything is eaten with a tank that small you don't want any food lying in the gravel
I use to start all my rtc an tsn in a 5 1/2 gallon tank which was my feeder tank and the only reall time they eat is in the dark.
Did you check your Ph leveL? is it eating anythin? Have your ph level at 7.7 to 7.8 and add a 2 table spoon of marine salt. Alot of commotion around the tank can cause the fish to stress out and not eat. Also i had one in with sand it eat some of the sand and turn it into hard gravel (which does stink like dog crap.) Rtc ar highly terrioial.
Did you check your Ph leveL? is it eating anythin? Have your ph level at 7.7 to 7.8 and add a 2 table spoon of marine salt. Alot of commotion around the tank can cause the fish to stress out and not eat. Also i had one in with sand it eat some of the sand and turn it into hard gravel (which does stink like dog crap.) Rtc ar highly terrioial.
CAnRB listen to phil's (oddball) advice....If everything is in check which I believe you as you sound like you know what your doing ...then the only thing I would offer up is taking one of the 10s in your line-up and use large gravel or bare...move the RTC there so you can monitor his intake and keep his environment pristine...I would worry with a sand substrate as they will consume bottom material that they cant spit out and the sand could cause some problems down the line. I have a WC RTC that came in from south america approx 4 weeks ago and at first he wasnt eating(figured it was due to transit ect) so I would throw in 3 pieces of freeze dried krill every day before work...come home and remove it(easy to do and doesnt make a mess)...I kept this up for almost 4 days before all was gone one day(he is alone in a 40gal breeder tank...so I knew he ate it) after he started eating steady for 3 days I would wait and feed when I got home so I could monitor his feeding and feed him enough(their activity level will rise and he will swim about constant when hungry)...so now I feed him and he comes right up for it and he settles down when full(carefull not to overfeed a RTC as they will regurgitate and wreek havoc on your water quality)....I can now watch him and know when hes hungry while I am home due to his activity ect.......I have seen a good 1" growth in approx a week now(he is 4" baby) and he has definately perked up and gained girth also.
Hang in there and get him in a position you can watch him and know 100% if hes eating....he may have just needed a little adjustment time. good luck with him...they are wonderful cats to have for those who can house them.
Hang in there and get him in a position you can watch him and know 100% if hes eating....he may have just needed a little adjustment time. good luck with him...they are wonderful cats to have for those who can house them.
