Introducing myself

[Red Tail Fan]

I've been keeping fish for nearly 20 years and the biggest fish I have owned was a Synodontis, catfish and loaches are my favourites even little corydorus, but I have stupidly fallen for a Red Tail catfiish without any idea where I would put him, what tank size would he require, would he stunt in size in a smaller tank and if so does that matter?
What are snags? Ive read that these are the only decoration they can have , rocks are out as they could break the glass with them. I was reading a post about some indoor swimming pools but I can't find the link to it now.
How do you cope with water changes, how much and how often the bio load must be huge, I won't live feed him, it is illegal here in the UK and I don't agree with it anyway, Feeding live mice to piranhas, and rabbits to snakes is unbelievably cruel in my opinion.
So, what can I feed him, also he cant have any tank mates as he would obviously try to eat those as well., saw a film of one eating a whole carp, took him ages but he squeezed it down and then looked really fat afterwards.
I felt sorry for the carp. also heating and filtration I don't really know where to start.
Will really look forward to reading any replies and finding out what these snag things are.

Val

 

[tlindsey]

I've been keeping fish for nearly 20 years and the biggest fish I have owned was a Synodontis, catfish and loaches are my favourites even little corydorus, but I have stupidly fallen for a Red Tail catfiish without any idea where I would put him, what tank size would he require, would he stunt in size in a smaller tank and if so does that matter?
What are snags? Ive read that these are the only decoration they can have , rocks are out as they could break the glass with them. I was reading a post about some indoor swimming pools but I can't find the link to it now.
How do you cope with water changes, how much and how often the bio load must be huge, I won't live feed him, it is illegal here in the UK and I don't agree with it anyway, Feeding live mice to piranhas, and rabbits to snakes is unbelievably cruel in my opinion.
So, what can I feed him, also he cant have any tank mates as he would obviously try to eat those as well., saw a film of one eating a whole carp, took him ages but he squeezed it down and then looked really fat afterwards.
I felt sorry for the carp. also heating and filtration I don't really know where to start.
Will really look forward to reading any replies and finding out what these snag things are.

Val

Welcome aboard Val!

Yes Redtail Catfish grow too large for even the largest home aquarium.
thebiggerthebetter

 

[DawnMichele]

Welcome to MFK Valerie!!!

 

[BIG-G]

Welcome to MFK.
The only things I can think that is meant by snags is maybe sharp driftwood or something similar that the fish may snag itself or cut itself against.
Unless you want to get a huge pool or pond or extremely large aquarium and commit to 20 plus years to this fish I would consider returning or rehoming.
If you’re willing to make these commitments you’re in the right place for the information you need.
Red tails are monsters

 

[pops]

 

[Chicxulub]

Welcome to the forum!

Moved to Introduce Yourself

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

Welcome!

 

[moe214]

I've been keeping fish for nearly 20 years and the biggest fish I have owned was a Synodontis, catfish and loaches are my favourites even little corydorus, but I have stupidly fallen for a Red Tail catfiish without any idea where I would put him, what tank size would he require, would he stunt in size in a smaller tank and if so does that matter?
What are snags? Ive read that these are the only decoration they can have , rocks are out as they could break the glass with them. I was reading a post about some indoor swimming pools but I can't find the link to it now.
How do you cope with water changes, how much and how often the bio load must be huge, I won't live feed him, it is illegal here in the UK and I don't agree with it anyway, Feeding live mice to piranhas, and rabbits to snakes is unbelievably cruel in my opinion.
So, what can I feed him, also he cant have any tank mates as he would obviously try to eat those as well., saw a film of one eating a whole carp, took him ages but he squeezed it down and then looked really fat afterwards.
I felt sorry for the carp. also heating and filtration I don't really know where to start.
Will really look forward to reading any replies and finding out what these snag things are.

Val

Welcome, as stated above the only thing I'd think of as a snag would be driftwood. How large is the rtc you have? You can keep tankmates with them but generally want the tankmates to be larger just not so large it eats the rtc. Not a lot of fish grow at the same pace as an rtc so that's where the difficulty comes into play. As far as waterchanges, treat as any other system, make a schedule, say 50% a week. Or can look into auto drip systems to reduce the frequency. As far as how big the pond etc would have to be, foot print matters more than gallons, most fish in captivity seem to get to 3-3.5'. Id say 5-6' wide 8-10' length minimum. Some will say larger. Most don't agree with live feeding, not because cruelty towards the feeder but it's not the safest, can cause fish to get sick, in a snakes case rabbits etc can bite and cause harm to the snake. My first Python had a scar due to this, but he was the pickiest eater ever, he'd only take live, for years he'd only take hamsters, then rats for a few months then declined rats and wanted mice, went back to rats eventually. You wanna vary the diet though, pellets as a staple for now but will probably stop taking any when larger, will depend on the specimen really as to what they accept but most aren't picky. Then throw in other foods as treats like shrimp, tilapia etc. heating a large system can't say I've looked into as I don't have one. TBTB should be able to chime in here despite living in Florida lol. If not some others will.

 

[Red Tail Fan]

Thanks so much for all your replies, I haven't actually got an RTC I had one on order and cancelled it as I still wasn't happy I could accommodate him.
can they eat meat like chicken? or should it always be fish of some kind, shrimp is no problem don't see tilapia here much , again I wouldn't feed it live. Is there a gallery here of what others own/ have set up?

 

[moe214]

Thanks so much for all your replies, I haven't actually got an RTC I had one on order and cancelled it as I still wasn't happy I could accommodate him.
can they eat meat like chicken? or should it always be fish of some kind, shrimp is no problem don't see tilapia here much , again I wouldn't feed it live. Is there a gallery here of what others own/ have set up?

There’s a photo part of the forum but you’ll see all types of fish, not just rtc. Chicken isn’t particularly good for fish. Most land animals aren’t AFAIK. kno4te and thebiggerthebetter knows more than I.