40 Gallon Breeder Cat Paradise
- Thread starter fishy12
- Start date
fishy12;4774154; said:
raphaels get big in 2-3 years in my experience. I have 3 stripped hitting over 8'' right now one spotted just at the 8''
keonetfish;4774733; said:
The OP already defined what was too "big" as a Jaguar catfish was "too big" Theres not many jaguar cats hitting over 8'' mark anyway
Pictus are way much more graceful than a raphael when maneuvering around the tank - They're way more streamlined so not put that in the equation though.
36''x18'' is not comfortable for a 8'' raphael catfish to maneuver around the tank. I know from my experience as downsized myself and those guys are very restricted right now as once I move, I'm getting those guys a bigger footprint tank/indoor pond whatever I can do in the new place. Their current tank is 4' with 12''-16'' at the widest point its flatback hex- with what I've seen 18'' will not cut it.
Plus to add: he is planning a catfish tank with multiple sets of cats- they need PLENTY of hiding spaces so therefore decor is a must such as driftwoods, rocks , plants whatnot OP decides to use That will severely cut the open swimming space for a big raphael.
Imagine a clumsy knight in a very very ancient mail armor.
Proteus;4774763; said:
I'm not understanding how it's difficult for an 8" fish to turn in a 18" wide tank. I understand that decorations could be obstacle, but that is avoidable by just putting most of the decorations in the middle of the tank.
keonetfish;4774826; said:
I have pvcs in my tank- they're already taken up 30% of the space. To be able to give them comfort zones. Then I had to put in HEAVY rocks to keep the pvcs very secure. SO rocks and caves to house other catfish is already at the 50% space.
Plus catfish keepers know this: spread out the hiding spaces instead of keeping them all in one place. The cats will try to duke it out.
Once a Raphael wants something under or is trying to push another fish out of its hideaway it will jar/knock everything and move everything out of the way to be able to do that. The raphael once they try to get something it's mostly going to be destroyed. Unless its really heavy. I had PVCs "thrown" into the walls (its acrylic) so it was fine. They're not great with plants. They will uproot/destroy plants if OP wants plants it'll be limited on where they can put them. Substances are very hard to keep the way you want it with a big raphael. They're really clumsy brutes on their surroundings. I will have to take a video someone will have to teach me how to do that for the internet thru my digital camera showing when the rapahel hits the objects with force.
I do have 2 unsecured pvc ts for the smaller cats such as bumblebees and the solo jaguar cat I have in there poor guys are constantly getting knocked out theyre in one spot and few hours later they're at the other end of the tank with the 1 1/2'' t connector that got knocked over there.
Its honestly hit and miss with them for the size- I got supposedly a 12 year old spotted at 3'' with its friend that was the same size last year and the last time I saw them they were at the 5'' mark.
PLUS my raphaels have become really overweight due to the lack of open swimming space. They're real pigs at heart and will try to beat every single fish for the last morsel I put in there. Its not healthy overall for a raphael if they get that big.
