7" CK eating pellets from hand!

[Fergy]

This is my first post after just finding this great site.

I got a 4 inch CK and a 6" TT about 4 months ago, CK now 7" and TT about 10". Both of which are not shy, eat worm from my hand, cruise around pretty much all day and they always come out when I walk into the room.

All the CK would eat was feeders and I really wanted to get all three fish off them. I also have a Tiger Oscar who stopped eating pellets when the feeders became available and a Feather Fin syndontis Cat that was never a problem.

I was using store bought feeders but it is too sketchy for disease and I don't want to breed them. Mostly because the Wife says we have too many tanks already, but, she is going to allow me one upgrade to a 240 when the fish I have need more room, great gal.

Anyhow, I started with laying small earth worms over the entrance to his lair and he would snatch them up after a few tries, if the TT didn't get em first. Soon he was coming to the surface and eating them out of my hand. I was bored tonight and tried pinching a Hikari carnivore pellet in my fingers and after a few nibbles at my fingers he snatched it! He ended up eating five of them and even chased a couple down that he knocked from my fingers. I Didn't even have to starve him.

Now if I can get the TT to take them I am set Just worms as treats once I can accomplish that.

 

[Red tail catking]

Yeah hopefully a bot will delete those. And welcome to MFK if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask but please before asking a question can you search the site to make sure that the question hasn't been already asked. Also thats great to hear about your CK what size tanks do you have, any other fish?

 

[Fergy]

Looks like the Bot Cleared my multi-posting mistake.

I have a 10g with a Pleco that is my hospital tank, an acrylic 18g in my two year olds room with three Fancy GF and a Pleco, A 29g with 4 Tiger Barbs, 2 cory cats and I want to put something else in it. The 7" CK, 10" TT eel, 4" Feather Fin cat and a 4" Tiger Oscar are in a 75g for the time being. I will probably eliminate the 10 when it is time to get the 240g.

Do you think the 240 would be big enough for these guys when fully grown? Maybe with another well thought out addition or two? I will have a good high volume filtration system and probably run a sump to increase the water volume.

What do you think?

 

[Red tail catking]

Looks like the Bot Cleared my multi-posting mistake.

I have a 10g with a Pleco that is my hospital tank, an acrylic 18g in my two year olds room with three Fancy GF and a Pleco, A 29g with 4 Tiger Barbs, 2 cory cats and I want to put something else in it. The 7" CK, 10" TT eel, 4" Feather Fin cat and a 4" Tiger Oscar are in a 75g for the time being. I will probably eliminate the 10 when it is time to get the 240g.

Do you think the 240 would be big enough for these guys when fully grown? Maybe with another well thought out addition or two? I will have a good high volume filtration system and probably run a sump to increase the water volume.

What do you think?

The CK and the tire track eel are both going to grow around 40". Now a tire track eel is flexible, but the clown knife on the other hand is not as much. I'm going to tell you two little secrets about keeping big fish (sarcastic about being secret). One is that when you have a longer fish you need to take in consideration on not how long the tank really is or high but WIDTH is your key dimension. As long as a fish can turn around conformably in its tank then its width is fine, but if you see the fish even struggle just a little bit, its to narrow for it to stay in there. The tank should actually be about at least 5" wider than the Total length TL of the fish its self. Sometimes this rule can be adjust when it comes to more flexible species such as your eel. Now for the second rule. (kind of portrays off of the first rule). You ask a question that really depends on what you got on hand. What I mean by that is its not so much the amount of gallonage a tank can contain but the dimensions of it is the important fact my friend. Heres a little Example for you. (self role play moment)

Hey Ted.

Ted: Whats up Greg?

Greg: I JUST GOT A 750 gallon aquarium!

Tom: No way!

Greg: Yeah come and see it. *they walk off to see it when Tom finds out that its just some extremely tall and narrow glass pedestal so thin you couldn't even fit a little puffer in there.*

Tom: Wow Greg thats.... really um cool I guess

(role play moment over LOL)

Point is you may have a tank with lots of water volume, but doesn't mean its going to hold a big fish. Thats how it some what connects to the previous rule. The rule where width is one of your main concern.

So I can most likely your tired of reading all this and I'm kind of getting tired of typing it. LOL So for me to honestly answer your questions and give you a good answer you'll need to first answer some questions for me. First off

What will be the dimensions of the 240 gallon aquarium? L x W x H

And second when you say high performance filtration specifically what kinds of filtration and how many GPH will they be pumping, what will they have as a great home for colonizing beneficial bacteria? Big fish = big turds meaning lots of ammonia. Heres some links on filtration if you need some help.

This one tells you all the different types of filtration out there and how their performance is. http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94937

This one tells you how to properly size a filter or pump to you sized aquarium http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47105

And this is a very good write up on the many different kinds of filter media you can use and how efficient they will be in the long run. http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88677

This one kind of tells you how you'll need to properly size your tank for your specific fish. http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88431

Remember you need to answer my questions first but now that you have this wonderful knowledge at your hands you may not have to get an answer from me after all, you may just come up with a solution yourself.

 

[Fergy]

Good info, Thanks.

The 240 I have been eyeing is 72LX24WX30H but it sounds like I may need to rethink a little. I assumed the eel would do fine full grown but I have heard mixed reports on how big the CK will get in a tank, ranging from 20-40". How quickly could a CK reach 40" and how common is it that they actually reach that size.

As far as filtration Pumps etc. I have not really done the research yet but I am the kind of guy that tends to do things right. Thanks for the links, I will definately check this stuff out before shelling out the $$$.

 

[Red tail catking]

Good info, Thanks.

The 240 I have been eyeing is 72LX24WX30H but it sounds like I may need to rethink a little. I assumed the eel would do fine full grown but I have heard mixed reports on how big the CK will get in a tank, ranging from 20-40". How quickly could a CK reach 40" and how common is it that they actually reach that size.

As far as filtration Pumps etc. I have not really done the research yet but I am the kind of guy that tends to do things right. Thanks for the links, I will definately check this stuff out before shelling out the $$$.

That sounds fairly good sized for the TT eel but the knife would yes be something to rethink. If your not to sure on how big CK can get you just tell me what you think.

Generally with big species of fish, they tend to grow real quickly with regular feedings but once they hit around half their size they tend to rapidly slow down on their growth. Really a fish will grow as big as you let it, fish never stop growing, as long as they have a good food supply and enough room, they can just keep growing till the day they die. Now when people say it will reach a max they say that as in either thats the largest reported size found or thats just when the fish's metabolism slows down so much to where the fish doesn't really look like its growing. The CK will grow as fast as much as you feed it, the more food and nutrition it gets the faster its cells will perform mitosis causing it to become huge in about the first year. With average feeding, I will guesstimate that it will take your 7" CK to reach 40" on average in about 3 years. remember thats just a guesstimate the fish will grow depending on how care for it. I'm glad you found the links useful, if your looking for supplies and tanks I suggest using Craig's List or the buy and sell marketplace section of MFK.

 

[Cholly]

I have personally seen a 36" tank raised CK. Supposedly it was 4 years old.

 

[Fergy]

Wow! That is an impressive pic. That thing is HUGE.

I have already been keeping my eye on the SoCal Craigs and I will start checking MFK for more options.

Thanks for all the info!

 

[Red tail catking]

Yeah I know that thing is so big you can repair a jet fighter plane with it, or you can tie it to a flag pole and solute to it on a windy day. lol

Your welcome and good luck remeber if you have any other questions for me you can just ask them here or feel free to PM me. Good luck with your search.

 

[benzjamin13]

While CKs do get huge by aquarium standards, asides from public aquariums, they tend to grow no bigger than 30" usually. They can reach 36" to 39" in the wild. The picture that Red tail catking posted is actually a picture of Chitala Lopis which is the biggest of the Chitala species reaching up to 60"

I think a 240g is fine for a CK, but the dimensions of that particular tank isn't bad. I would go with a 96" x 24" x 24" which would make maintainance much easier. I just got a 30" tall tank and I basically have to go snorkling if I need to do anything close to the bottom of the tank.