Fish eating Catfish

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ccdoido38

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2007
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I read about redtailcats eating and chasing almost any other tankmate, but is this generally true?
I can see an adult cat eating a adult oscar, but what about peacock bass and stingrays?


Are tiger shovelnose catfish, a big mean fish chaser/eater like the redtail? i can't see well but it looks like the tigers have much smaller longer mouths, while the redtails have short extra wide mouths.

what about the tsnxrtx catfish?
what are compatible with 3 catfish mentioned above?
 
I have all three and they can fit things much bigger than their mouths!!! the redtail and the cross's are more agressive and the TSN is more of an ambush pred!!:eek:
 
i'm worried about 3 fish since they would probably be the smallest in the tank but.
will peacock bass, leopoldi & motoro stingrays, and tinfoil barbs co-exist with tiger shovelnose and the hybrid?

i'm not getting a redtail, probably never will
 
Peacock bass will be fine as adults, that is if your cats stay under 40". Don't count on that. I know tons of people from asia with them over 38"-40". Mine is currently 37", and there is someone on here with them in the 38"-40" range. Keep food in mind also. I feed my one 37" hybrid about 5 lbs of shrimp and fish every week. He probably weighs close to 35 lbs. He was 30 lbs at 35". If I spread my hand out it's not as wide as his head. Can you imagine a rtc at that size? I'll find out in a year or two lol. If the stingrays are large I don't think you'll have a problem there either. TSN mouths are deceptively small. They are actually very large. They can swallow prey about wider than their heads. IE if they have a 3" wide head they can swallow a fish that is about 3.5" thick. RTC mouths are not as flexible as tsn. TSN skulls kinda pull apart much lik a snake to swallow large prey. RTC must swallow something a tiny bit smaller than the width of their mouths. Not to say they won't try for something larger, but generally this will end in their death as well. So don't be fooled by tsn. My smallest is 11" and his head is about 1" wide. He can still eat a whole jumbo shrimp that's like a 2" circle. It's funny to watch, but he eventually gets them down. The hybrids are like the best of both worlds. They have a generally tsn like head, with a rtc personality. They pummle prey to death if it's large then devour it. They will even kill fish that threaten their territory. Mine ripped the tail off of my 26" planiceps when he was 31".
 
i'm plan to feed maybe once or twice a week once they get big but is that fine? or will they start going after the tankmates?
i'm not worried about the iridescent sharks or pacus, but the flat stingrays and the peacock bass are what worries me.

what about the hybrid cats? with a tsn head will they eat like tsn? redtail personality...meaning a bi9ch?
 
The hybrid loves attention as in being petted and hand fed, and if you only feed your rtc once or twice per week he might go after other fish. I feed mine smaller meals every other day. I think it's healthier to give them smaller meals more often than huge meals infrequently. Just my opinion though. Once per week works well for others, but I'm not sure how many tankmates theirs have, and how fast they are trying to grow them out. I'm trying to get mine in with the big hybrid ASAP. I don't overstuff them as they get larger they need less and less food compared to their size. My big hybrid weighs around 35 lbs, and eats 5 lbs per week. Sounds like a lot, but think about how much a baby can eat per day compared to their size. I think babies eat about 25% of their body weight every day on average. My big hybrid eats only a fraction of that percent over a week's period. Their metabolism slows down drastically as adults. They might fast for long periods sometimes. It's just how they're wired! If the bass and stingrays are already large I don't see a problem. Singrays might have a proble, but I don't know never kept them.
 
what about small meals everyday and then one big meal once a week.

wouldn't that get a "new tank syndrom" thought? since the filter is used to small feedings?
 
If you are going to do small meals daily just stick with that. Don't worry about large meals once per week. The key is to taper the meals as they grow. Eventually when full grown you could feed a small meal every 3 or 4 days and be good. When small they digest very fast though.
 
As necro says, when small they burn up all the energy from their food very fast due to their growth rates, I'm sure you can immagine that it takes alot of food for something to grow so fast. When they get older, the growth rate slows down so they don't need so much food (not that they wouldn't take it if offered, They are wired to take advantage of these types of Windfalls in the wild as they never know when their next meal will be available)
 
ok thanks, i'll do normal feedings everyday for their whole entire lifetime

what fish are compatible with the tsn and hybrid cat?
 
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