They are around but at full size you are probably paying a premium price. I tend to buy fish online more now than in person just because I'm in a smaller city with a bad selection. My buddy has a 500 gallon Discus tank and bought 200 cardinals off Aquabid and 90% were DOA. The guy gave him credit and he ordered another 200. This time they came in 90% alive but looked like crap. Skinny as hell. Half died the first day and the rest of the batch over the next couple days besides about 20 he was able to salvage. Fought with the guy for a week before he got his money back. He's on Long Island. Told him a couple places to check out. Ill leave names out for now but the one had almost fully grown fat ones for $13 apiece. Crazy. He sent me a pic. Ill post it when I find it. But I wouldn't but any fish that delicate or expensive if there was a chance a fish in my tank could eat them. What kind of catfish are we talking about?
35 Gallon Stocking Ideas
- Thread starter trishmarie
- Start date
You almost never see big ones for sale, but nothing beats a tank of full grown cardinals. It is definitely something every fishkeeper should do at some point in their life. I don't know if I have seen 2" but probably 1.5-1.75", and it is amazing. You have to remember that these fish are either sold wild caught or farmed mostly in Asia. They grow slow once they hit a certain size and it cost a lot to keep growing them out. The other issue is freight. If you can pack 300 small cardinals in a bag you save a ton on freight compared to 150 large ones. In the US most of us pay freight at least twice. They get shipped to either California or Florida. Then they get repacked and shipped to where you live. If your LFS uses a smaller wholesaler they are adding a third trip on from the wholesaler to the store. We tend to think of freight more on large fish, but it certainly adds up on small fish as well. The trip from Asia is why Florida farmed fish (especially tetras) tend to be larger. Not crossing an ocean saves a ton of money. Unfortunately cardinals are not done in large numbers yet.
Jaguar catfish, midnight catfish even caught paynes catfish snacking on them. Rummynose tetras /emperor tetras were alot better for me to keep in those tanks. Im back to growing out Jagar cats. Got 5 of them at 2.5"-3" and 1 at 4.5" mark now. Right now i have red and blue columbian tetras in that tank. Plan for expanding and getting bigger acrylic tanks are on hold. Lost supplementary income/paying roomie. Damn COVID.
