thanks for the advice to those who are actually on this site to help out, not so much to those others. ill start him in the 40 gal and move him gradually as he grows. ill post pictures in a month or so.
first time rtc owner
- Thread starter kayvaughan
- Start date
he would really be perfectly fine in the 120 at a few inches as long as theres nothing in there that could eat him. maybe even in the pond if he cant get eaten. I bought mine at 2" put him in a 100gal until he was 4" than on to the 1000gal pond. He was just fine in there. Now about 3 months later hes 13-14"
9 foot long by 5 foot wide by 3 foot tall. its not huge im planning on rebuilding it or possibly elongating it so they have more swimming space.
hey kayvaughan..all the best with the rtc.. i got mine at about 3" early this month and he does seem to be visibly bulkin up.. did go thru the thread.. lot of flaring.. chill man.. i'm sure you are doing the right thing.. all the best again.. cheers..
lujor;4421012; said:
He was always a nice fish, only ate pellets and raw shrimp/tilapia/etc - never even knew what a feeder was. So I wasn't too worried about him being in the 450g tank with all the other fish, however, when he started to push the 2' mark, I got a little worried.
The pond was being dug and process was being made and I probably shouldn't have taken him out of the 450g but I was afraid he'd go after one of my dats.
The pond was about two weeks away, so I set up a 210g for him all to himself. He was a bit unruly in the 210 - constantly banging on the filter intake, trying to push open the lids, etc. At one point, I took the filter intake off and just had the hose...which he still tried to eat. I also put the tank light over the lids where they opened to prevent him from opening those. I piled various other things on the lids too. I thought between the light and a few 5lb buckets of NLS, it would suffice.
Nope. I got home from work and noticed the tank lid open. Came in the room farther and noticed a second lid open. Then I noticed he wasn't in the tank. He also wasn't laying anywhere near the tank. He had flopped about 10 feet and was on his way into the master bedroom. He had to be out for awhile because he was stuck to the floor and fairly dry.
I got the camera to document my f'up. When I took a picture, his gills moved. He was gasping. I immediately picked him up, put him in a large net/sling and placed him in the flow of water in the tank. Within 10 minutes or so he was twitching, taking larger gasps, but still couldn't right himself properly. I left him in the flow of water in the sling for a few hours. I actually took video, thinking it would make for a great story if I could save him. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.
So that's my story. Don't get large cats unless you already have a pond built for them. To the OP, don't worry about the 10,20,30,40g tank. I'd put him in the 120g now and hope your 1000g+ pond is ready for him in a couple of months.
PayaraMan;4421080; said:
If this post is directed at me...please read my above post. I take offense to this. My RTC was healthy, happy, and well taken care of. Mistakes happen. Do you think I'm happy about the situation? I built an $8000 pond for that fish and I didn't even get the chance to put him in it.
hey man dont take that kid seriuosly. look at his sig. 13 years old and he thinks he can say stuff like thatSpeshulEd;4422498; said:
but you did a great job tryin to do the right thing. those cats are brutes and i guess if they want to do somethin there isnt much you can do to stop them.
hope you get another rtc for your pond soon
SpeshulEd;4422498; said:
No worries, your dedication was noted man. Nice pictures, and nice stock.
So to the op.... What about outside temperatures? Your fish will bake in summer and cold in winter will it not? Or have you tested water temps throughout the seasons in your area already? It would cost thousands to heat and cool a pond that size a month...
A pond is a nice setup for an rtc, but i hate how everyone thinks they can just dig a hole in the ground throw some liner in and and BAM!!! Instant home for the fish that is suppose to live across the world....
