I was out fishing today and stopped in at the local bait shop. They've got a 75 gallon there that the owner setup and I finally got to talk to him about it. Apparently he doesn't know crap about tanks, he has 8 feeder goldfish, 3 hogsuckers, 2 brown bullheads, and a red ear slider turtle all jammed in a 75 gallon and you can't even see the back of the tank it's so dirty. I tried talking to him about it but there were many customers so I couldn't really help much. Some of the info I did manage to get is that he commonly gets in brown bullheads about 1.5-2" that slip in with feeder minnows from either Minnesota or Arkansas where he gets them from. He told me if I wanted a bullhead ever just to come talk to him and he'd get me a small one. One other thing I worry about with the bullhead is it's coming in with feeder minnows (keyword there "feeder") so it may have disease and I don't have a quarantine tank, but then again it's sunfish tank mate is going to be wild caught so I guess it's a risk for either.
The other catfish I'm considering is a channel. I'm highly aware an adult would be much to large for any of my current setups but now that I've been in my local fish club for a few months I'm starting to get to know people that have ponds. That being said I've always wanted a channel catfish and I'd love to grow one out for a while. If I started a small one (2.5-3") in let's say a 30 gallon long with a single green sunfish (approx same size) how long would I have before upgrading or one of the fish tries to kill or eat the other one?
For both fish I'd be starting in a 30 long, then to a 75, then to a 180 if they don't get ridiculously fast to quick otherwise a friends pond of over 1,000 gallons. So I'm looking for an upgrade or aggression time frame for both fish (brown bullhead and channel catfish). Also like I said I'd be starting it in a 30 long with a green sunfish so, what would my weekly water change schedule be (I'll do weekly 60s but I'm not doing any more often or larger than that so I'd upgrade at that point).
So, should I do a bullhead, channel cat, or neither?
The other catfish I'm considering is a channel. I'm highly aware an adult would be much to large for any of my current setups but now that I've been in my local fish club for a few months I'm starting to get to know people that have ponds. That being said I've always wanted a channel catfish and I'd love to grow one out for a while. If I started a small one (2.5-3") in let's say a 30 gallon long with a single green sunfish (approx same size) how long would I have before upgrading or one of the fish tries to kill or eat the other one?
For both fish I'd be starting in a 30 long, then to a 75, then to a 180 if they don't get ridiculously fast to quick otherwise a friends pond of over 1,000 gallons. So I'm looking for an upgrade or aggression time frame for both fish (brown bullhead and channel catfish). Also like I said I'd be starting it in a 30 long with a green sunfish so, what would my weekly water change schedule be (I'll do weekly 60s but I'm not doing any more often or larger than that so I'd upgrade at that point).
So, should I do a bullhead, channel cat, or neither?
