Baby red tail cat ate my pleco...

[Tputty]

unlike everyone else who is complaining about you buying a rtc on the spot, i'd like to wish you luck and hope you enjoy your redtail as much as i enjoy mine. i'd like to see some pictures of your rtc myself.

 

[Oddball]

I wasn't trying to ostracize you for your RTC purchase. There are many people that may view your thread and think that a 220 is sufficient for this species. That's why I pointed out this cats growth potential. I'm sure you noticed that I answered your question before making the additional comment.

Now, onto your diet choice. IMO you'd be better off serving up a coldwater or marine species of fish. Tilapia contains little beneficial omega-3 and levels of omega-6 fatty acids equal to levels found in hamburger and bacon. Omega-6 has been linked to cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, and reduced platelet development.

 

[Oddball]

You could try not doing any water changes. Maybe a filthy cesspool will stunt it's growth.

It's called methemoglobinemia: Brown blood disease. More commonly called nitrite poisoning. It results from poor aquarium maintenance practices. The fishes stunt due to prolonged poisoning in their own waste products.

 

[HyPHyISM42o]

kongrats on your rtc. Im sure you know what you have enjoy your fish. like I do mine

 

[ctoychik]

Most likely he will regurgitate the half digested pleco (be ready to do water changes)... as for the growth ... well it gets big soon enough.

good luck with your RTC ... interesting about the 20" RTC in ten years. mines are approaching 5 years and they are almost 4' .. though the growth (lengthwise) slowed down quite significantly.

 

[dhardwick]

All I can say is good luck they are great fish love mine but in 14 months my tsn went from about 4" to 30" have only had my rtc about 2 months he came at about 13 or 14"they in a 1400 gallon pond sorry I dont have any pics of the rtc on my phone. I'm just saying to be ready to go bigger