... but I have stupidly fallen for a Red Tail catfiish without any idea where I would put him,
*****In a body of water meeting or exceeding the basic humane keeping requirements?
what tank size would he require
*****the length of at least 4x the RTC length and the width at least 2x the RTC length at any point in its life
, would he stunt in size in a smaller tank
*****likely
and if so does that matter?
*****Of course. IMHO.
What are snags? Ive read that these are the only decoration they can have ,
*****IDK. First time I hear this.
rocks are out as they could break the glass with them.
*****Some keep theirs in ponds without the glass or with windows not reaching all the way to the bottom of the enclosure.
I was reading a post about some indoor swimming pools but I can't find the link to it now.
*****You can start by reading the stickie threads in this section, as well as try the search. It works well. Also google pulls up MFK stuff readily.
How do you cope with water changes, how much and how often
*****The target is to keep your nitrate reading not too much higher than your tap / incoming water. Say if you tap / well / incoming water has 0-10 ppm of nitrates, I'd shoot for no more than 20-40 ppm. Better 20 ppm.
the bio load must be huge,
*****For adult RTC, the bioload is comparable with that of a child, I guess.
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.
*****RTC need not live feed at all.
So, what can I feed him,
*****I feed mine pellets and thawed fish.
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.
*****You can have plenty of tankmates with an RTC but less so as it grows. You can check out my RTC thread to see what worked and what hasn't for me.
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...sh-at-fish-story-aquariuma-and-rescue.699790/
also heating and filtration I don't really know where to start.
*****?? You have kept fish for 20 years. It is all the same. Just bigger. 1000x times bigger than for a synodontis. Is all. If you're not made of money, it will require some DIY.
... 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.
*****Smart.
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.
*****Kno4te said it all. Avoid any non-aquatic feed, I'd recommend.
Is there a gallery here of what others own/ have set up?
*****There are Video and Photo sections on the bottom of the main page. Also, there is a section on filtration, DIY, etc. Also, as you do your reading of the search hits and the stickies, etc. you will be seeing those as well.