Blue cat vs. RTC- Humor me with this guys...

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
My experience with the blues rather matches yours, Zeke. Great posts, btw.

All of the ones that I've had have been very picky eaters, they've not been swimming trash cans like channels or RTCs. I never really had trouble transitioning them to either type of pellets though. Very active swimmers, too. My most recent blue could handle the 8000 gph in my 150 gallon African tigerfish growout better than the tigers could! I was very impressed at that.

The main difference with mine as opposed to what you've described has been that when I tried keeping my last one at upper 80* temps, it became VERY predatory-aggressive and was taking bites out of my tigerfishes and my beautiful $400 arowana. When I dropped the temps the problems stopped.

I'm considering setting up a tank again so I can get another blue. I've got a line on some fry from the spawn that will happen in a couple of months. If I can't find one sooner, I'm probably going to go for that!
 
I am not sure. I will try to dig some up. The over 80+ temps with the highly aggressive state coincides with the shark-like behavior I have witnessed in the wild. I have witnessed dozens of LARGE blues just absolutely shredding schools of shad. They chase them completely out of the water over 40-70' depths pushing them to the surface where they can't escape easily, then the gulls push the shad right back down in the water column to the waiting catfish below. It's really amazing to see first hand. They practically surround the boat in some instances! You are right about the current also. The more water moving, the better.
 
Zeke said:
Correct. I have seen it happen numerous times. I can get you any size you want. Just may take some time for a true giant. You would have to hire a fish truck with aeration to move a big'in. Lol.
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Much appreciate the offer. It'll be a while (even if God is willing). I've no problem with transport. My 12'x6' trailer-turned-pond on wheels will do. I've brought ~200 lbs of koi in it from upstate NY to southern FL on a 40 h non-stop 1500 mile trip.

Anyhow, sorry, Rob. I am derailing. Let's go back, please, to Blue+RTC combo.
 
No worries Viktor!

I am doing another tank just for a blue btw; I'm setting up my 365 for the first time. I have a thread over in GAD.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Rob have you tried contacting tbinchrist, since he (afaik) keeps a blue with several other catfish species, albeit not south american.
 
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