A COUPLE RED TAIL CAT QUESTIONS!!!

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FISHY FINGAZ

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 22, 2009
193
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CAP CITY, Cali
Question 1:
Ok so i paid a visit to my LFS and they have a huge 675 gallon tank. i may be wrong but im guessing the dimensions were about 3 1/2 feet tall 9 ft long and 3 ft wide. I asked him if i would be able to house sum pacu and a red tail for life in there and he looked at me like i was dumb, kinda laughed and said "yeah i think your more than good with that size". now i want to believe him but ive had a lot of people tell me that i need a lot more than that. so if i do need to go bigger than ill build one outta plywood but if thats good id rather save myself the blood sweat & tears and just cash him out for it. what do you guys think?

Question 2:
ive ha my red tail now approx 3 or 4 months. i got him when he was 2" and had to grow him out b4 i put him in my big tank. when i first got him his tail was all dark brown now that hes older (6 inches longer) his tail has lightened up at the top but the bottom is still brown. will this lighten up more with age? size? or duz he need a better diet? could this be stress? whatever info or opinions you guys got for me let me know its all appreciated! thz.
 
As for question one, it's a tough one. If you buy the tank, stock it, and you end up doing huge water changes due to nitrates, then it's too small. The only problem is that at that point, you'll have already spent the money out! Personally, I'd go ahead and build, that way you get exactly the size and dimensions which work best for the fish you want to keep.


As for two, you don't mention what you feed your Red Tail. Some foods that really bring out the color, as far as I can tell, are raw shrimp with shells on (heads too, if you can find them that way), and squid. The color comes from the shells of crustaceans that they eat in the wild, so these are the best ways I've found to replicate that.


Good luck with your new tank set-up/build! Your fish will love you for it, and reward you with a huge catfish grin daily.
 
Ok to answer ? number 1 no 3 feet is not wide enough you need at least 6 feet and more is better, as for ? 2 what size tank is he in now, what are you feeding him and how are the water parameters. A good varied diet is easy to feed ,market shrimp,scallopes,tilapia from the frozen section, bloodworms,silversides also try hycari sinking carnavore pellets ,cheaper then massivore. You may need to try differant things a few times ,let him go hungery for a day and see if he takes something new.
 
justonemoretank;3239783; said:
As for question one, it's a tough one. If you buy the tank, stock it, and you end up doing huge water changes due to nitrates, then it's too small. The only problem is that at that point, you'll have already spent the money out! Personally, I'd go ahead and build, that way you get exactly the size and dimensions which work best for the fish you want to keep.


As for two, you don't mention what you feed your Red Tail. Some foods that really bring out the color, as far as I can tell, are raw shrimp with shells on (heads too, if you can find them that way), and squid. The color comes from the shells of crustaceans that they eat in the wild, so these are the best ways I've found to replicate that.


Good luck with your new tank set-up/build! Your fish will love you for it, and reward you with a huge catfish grin daily.
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what do doing water changes have to do with it bein big enough or not? juss curious? will each water change make him grow more or something?
 
Frozen fish and shrimp, plus massivore delite, are great and easy ways to feed him. A bag of frozen tilapia and a bag of frozen shrimp are way cheaper, I'm sure, than those little cubes of beefheart. Also, you're going to want to feed him animals that come from the water. Would he normally encounter a cow's heart in the wild? Obviously, no. So definitely switch him to stuff he'd normally come across, or as close as you can get to it. As for the crayfish, I'm sure they're okay for him, if they aren't carrying any nasty parasites, but whole frozen shrimp with the shell on is easier to keep (Just pull a couple out of the freezer on feeding night and defrost them). Since he's probably too small to eat them whole, cut them into a mangeable size, but leave the shells on. Like I said, the heads are really the best part, but it can be difficult to find shrimps with heads, depending on where you're from. A box of calamari costs about three bucks, and they all have their heads. Just pull out the quills, cut them up, and freeze them in separate little baggies. When it's time to eat, defrost a baggie, and dump it in. It's really much simpler than going to the store to buy feeders, and better for him.
 
You need to go back to the drawing board. How much research have you done? Are you familiar with the nitrogen cycle? What type of filtration do you have now? Are you getting at least 6-8 times turnover per hour? Water changes are the only way to remove nitrate, which is the end result of the nitrogen cycle. This information is easy to find online. Do you test your water? What are your parameters? Research is the most-often skipped step in fishkeeping, and it's the most important.
 
well i have a 60 gallon, hang on back filter meant for 30-60 gallon and a powerhead sponge filter. and cant i rely on my bacteria to handle my nitrate issues? i don 1 25% water change mininum weekly but more like 2 or 3. as far as water parameters im not sure what you mean i get it tested every so often and they allways juss say "your waters good, a little hard but cichlids like that!" i guess your right about the beefheart being in the river but i dont buy the blocks i take my a s s to winco ( i dunno if u got 1 out there) and get it for a 100 for 2 lbs! and what is tilapia? cuz thats the name of one of my fish (tilapia polleni) and i dont think they sell those frozen at thr grocery store
 
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