big catfish with tiny fish?

[OTp1144]

So I know there's the rule for fish "if it fits in their mouth, it gets eaten" and this goes doubly so for catfish. But, I pose this question:

Has anyone kept an adult red tail (or similarly large fish) with tiny fish? I'm talking no bigger than a guppy.

Obviously a growing red tail is going to eat everything, large or small so long as they can get their chompers around it. But what about an adult/semi-adult, like 30"+. In my mind, a 30" fish isn't going to bother with a tiny 2" fish, or even smaller, because the energy to reward just isn't worth it. I mean I think it'd be really cool to have a 4'+ red tail swimming in a pond with 100+ cardinal tetras. I just don't want to go drop $300 on tetras and have it be the most expensive meal the cat's ever eaten.

A while ago I did try something like this. I put 4 baby angelfish no bigger than a nickel in with my red tail (26"+ at the time) in to a somewhat planted 300 gallon . He completely ignored them. But this could've been because they were hiding in the plants/pots, or he was just well fed, or they were absolutely tiny and he couldn't find them being only 4.

Anyone ever tried anything like this on a bigger scale?

 

[celebrist]

One guy has huge wolf with 100+ cardinals on here, or at least used to

 

[moe214]

Wolves behave much differently than catfish. It would probably ignore them though.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I've not encountered this being done much. Rather rarely and usually in big ponds. I think it's doable.

Is it a problem to try with 10, then, if works, add another 30, then, if works, add another 60? Would 10 cardinals not be nice to each other?

I'd probably not try it with fish like bass and arowana and other fish that go after insects, neither gar or predatory characins and cyprinids...

 

[Fatlungy]

I was thinking of trying this with my African lungfish. I was thinking alot of floating or hanging wood for the guppies to hide in.

 

[monkeybike]

If you want a big catfish with tiny fish you should get a Pterodoras Granulosus.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Instead of tetras u should get celestial danios(get a dozen and you'll have hundreds in a few months),redtail catfish generally ignore anything small that isn't in its face when adults.

 

[OTp1144]

Instead of tetras u should get celestial danios(get a dozen and you'll have hundreds in a few months),redtail catfish generally ignore anything small that isn't in its face when adults.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Celestial pearl danios? They're really that easy to breed?

 

[Narwhal]

What I have heard about celestial pearls, as long as you have lots of java moss and plants for fry to hide they should breed, They were bred within weeks upon their first importation. Similar to the thoughts about how I would set up a Goonch tank, keep it with a school of white clouds. I just posted in the puffer section about a tank I saw at an aquarium with a 2 ft+ mbu puffer with some small rock dwelling cichlids. Perhaps the best tankmates for some of these monsters are the little guys that will breed, and can hide in the nooks that a giant just cannot get to them.

 

[esparonisproud]

Although not near to this, My juvenile red tailed is in a tank with several guppies and hasn't bothered with them, at this rate i'd be safe to leave neons in there too. No doubt if a guppy did get real close he would gobble it up but i think with enough space between them there shouldnt be an issue