never seen one in captivity...caught some big ones but i havent seen them in the hobby or for sale. and yes i have caught true blue cats, not blue chanel cats
blue catfish
- Thread starter finsandfangs
- Start date
i kept a blue cat for years he now lives in a buddies pond,awsome fish slower growth than rtc pretty friendly overall.pics in my personal gallery
I've been told that most of the catfish being sold are really a hybrid of blue cats and channel cats. I do know that wild caught baby channel cats always seem to have lots of black spots along their sides, the ones sold in stores seldom have many spots at all. I've only seen one blue catfish, it was about 18" long and caught in the wild. It had no spots at all and was an amazing light blue color.
Tomhankstheshark;2025032; said:
Blue and flat heads get to be close to the same size. Here are the top three largest North American catfish. does anyone know the forth?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flathead_catfish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_catfish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_catfish
ive had a blue cat a shovel and channels. the blues are crazy and grow pretty fast but the shovel are lazy and grow too fast but channels are perfect but i do love catching blues and shovels in pay lakes but inless you have custom tank larger than 200 gallons i dont think you should get one but you could just let them go wen they get too large
Blues grow as quickly as channels but ultimately reach much larger sizes; in the wild it takes them 9-10 years to reach 3 feet in length, but they may grow much faster in a warm tank or indoor pond with a constant food supply. They continue growing after that, and can reach more than 5 feet long and well over 100 lbs.
I have not kept them myself and cannot comment on their personalities. Many public and commercial aquaria keep them; I know several Bass Pro Shops have blues, and so does the Tennessee Aquarium. If you are seriously thinking about keeping this fish, you should contact one of them.
Moontanman- I think number 4 is the white catfish (Ameiurus catus); the record is 17 lbs. I assume you're talking strictly freshwater cats; otherwise I think number 4 might be the gafftopsail cat (Bagrus marinus).
I'm a bit confused on the pet trade Ictalurus. Most of the "blue channel cats" I see are clearly normal channels; I assume the "blue" name is just to separate them from the albinos. But other people say they see fish that appear to be hybrids in the petstores.
I have not kept them myself and cannot comment on their personalities. Many public and commercial aquaria keep them; I know several Bass Pro Shops have blues, and so does the Tennessee Aquarium. If you are seriously thinking about keeping this fish, you should contact one of them.
Moontanman- I think number 4 is the white catfish (Ameiurus catus); the record is 17 lbs. I assume you're talking strictly freshwater cats; otherwise I think number 4 might be the gafftopsail cat (Bagrus marinus).
I'm a bit confused on the pet trade Ictalurus. Most of the "blue channel cats" I see are clearly normal channels; I assume the "blue" name is just to separate them from the albinos. But other people say they see fish that appear to be hybrids in the petstores.
What? This is against rules about let them back in the wild after they outgrow the tank. Diseases, nonnative, lots of issues. whats shovel? are you talk about paddlefish and not shovelnose catfish?
