Red Tailed catfish and tiger shovelnose

[Renier]

Hi Guys.

I'm a new registered user, but have been reading allot on the forum as a guest.

Question on feeders for the 2 catfish mentioned in the topic title.

There is allot of info on the net saying not to feed feeders.

I can understand the part that it might bring parasites and make your fish sick if the feeder was sick.

What I don't understand is that people is saying it does not have the nutrition....

This sound so false as that is all the tiger shovelnose eats in the wild... And hey...... They do all right there.... lol

Can anyone tell me why people are saying that, coz I want to start giving mine some feeders(Not feeders, but other healthy fish)

Thanks in advance

 

[Gar88]

Hi Guys.

I'm a new registered user, but have been reading allot on the forum as a guest.

Question on feeders for the 2 catfish mentioned in the topic title.

There is allot of info on the net saying not to feed feeders.

I can understand the part that it might bring parasites and make your fish sick if the feeder was sick.

What I don't understand is that people is saying it does not have the nutrition....

This sound so false as that is all the tiger shovelnose eats in the wild... And hey...... They do all right there.... lol

Can anyone tell me why people are saying that, coz I want to start giving mine some feeders(Not feeders, but other healthy fish)

Thanks in advance

Welcome to MFK....

the reason people say is usually the feeder fish you get is not fed very well, the conditions they are kept in, parasites etc etc... if you are breeding some fish on your own or having the feeder fish with you for a while making sure they get nourished well and no disease i dont see any problem...

for ma RTC i feed him market shrimps loaded with pellets, fish fillet and massivore.... he is 7"... and from the advice i got here i feed him once in two days...

 

[Renier]

Thanks for the reply... The thing is, I don't buy feeders, I buy healthy fish from the store and use them as feeders. Might be more expensive, but you know the quality is good.

My RTC is about the same size as yours and eats everything and anything. Shovelnose is about 1" bigger, but he has some personal issues when eating... He ignores everything except bloodworms. And at that size I don't think it's sufficient.

That's the reason why I'm getting into some feeder fish habits.(I've starved him for more than a week, but he still would not eat catfish pellets or algae wavers)

My arrow is also being an *** and only want to eat live things(Crickets I feed him) - also starved him for 3weeks!!!! no luck on arrow pellets(Tried more than 1 brand)

Strange enough my hi-fin pangasius is eating arrow pellets and ignoring catfish pellets... (Scratch head)

All my fish are healthy and water conditions are good. 160 gallon and planning to upgrade soon.

 

[Gar88]

Usually a RTC will eat as much as you will feed. Yes, the stress of the move and new tankmates will cause him to feed less. A lot of people tend to over feed their RTC. A healthy RTC can go weeks without eating and still be fine. My RTC is about 20" and comes to the top of the tank every time I walk by, wanting fed. When I leave the side of the tank he settles back to the bottom. Not hungry just an opportunistic feeder. When the RTC becomes hungry, he will swim around the tank non-stop till he finds food. If you have been feeding your RTC daily till now, I would suggest moving to an every other day feeding till it is about 12" then to every 3-4 days. When the RTC reaches 24" go to once a week feedings. Keep the diet varied like you have been and the RTC will be a healthier, happier cat. At 6" I would not feed more than 1 market shrimp and maybe a few pellets per feeding. I try to feed my RTC enough food to meet nutritional needs and not have the distended stomach. Overfeeding causes stress. Hope this helps and you have many years with a healthy happy RTC.

here i pasted this reply i got from one of the fellow mate.... hope this helps for your RTC.... on Shovelnose i have no idea as i am waiting to get hold of one myself... will keenly look for the replies u get

I have 3 silver aros 11", 8" and 5" aprox neva measured them but guessing... they were on live feeders and shrimp for a while... i used to crush some of the Hikari excel pellets or the gold pellets and mix them with the shrimps and give.... over a month i did this... and say 10 days ago started giving them only the pellets... the 11" would just mouth them but not eat the other two would finish them all.... its been 4 days since all of ma aros are on pellets.... and ma 3.5" Jardini is stubborn as hell... only mouthing and crushing them... i am sure he will come around as well.... life is so much easy now that they are on pellets... i can afford to leave town sometime

as for the crickets i am not sure if they are your best bet... surely somebody here will give you some tips

 

[Spyder001 USA]

I hope you know that your RTC will be 24"'s in the first year and will require a 1000 gal tank at minium. You should really not overfeed them and try to restrict their growth as much as possible

 

[Renier]

I hope you know that your RTC will be 24"'s in the first year and will require a 1000 gal tank at minium. You should really not overfeed them and try to restrict their growth as much as possible

Not to be mean or something, but is that answer related to my question?

Think there is an auto bot on the net. When the words RTC, TSN and Pangasius comes up, it randomly selects a reply about the size and tank size...

Think even people that knows nothing about fish even knows this as it's shattered all over the internet.