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Stramn

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 8, 2011
262
1
16
Michigan
Well Today, I traded in a couple of my dinky little cichlids for a 5" RTC X TSN. Before I get flamed about tank size etc, the fish is happily situated in a 270 gallon aquarium, foot print is 72x36, so it should last him for at least a year. Poor lil guy was the only one left in stock at one of my favorite pet stores, and the employee's said he was the runt of the shipment, not that it matters, But I graciously named him Toby.

I have not attempted to feed him just yet as he seemed pretty stressed out, but he was eating live ghost shrimp at the shop, with regular "treats" of beefheart, brine shrimp, and blood worms. Now, the poor little guy upchucked everything in his stomach on the ride home, and he looks underfed and starved at the moment.

Do any other catfish keepers have any suggestions on how to keep him happy? Water quality is extremely important and I've read that these fish enjoy a decent rate of water flow in their habitat, and I hope I have that covered with my current filtration system, which is a DE Filter driven by a 1 1/4 hp hayward pump, a couple SunSun canister filters, paired with 55w UV sterilizers, and 300w Inline heaters(Note, that means each filter has a 300w heater, and a 55W UV unit attached). For the safety of my fish, I went external with everything. The canisters are setup for chemical filtration, running only fluval Zeo Carb in all 3 baskets, which hopefully will maximize flow rate through the poor undersized little things that will drive my heaters and my UVs. Now everything is attached via bulkhead, and thus no returns, or inlet pipes for the fish to swallow.

So that being said, are their any suggestions the Catfish experts have for me? Any tips or tricks to keep my little monster Toby happy?
 
I recently picked up a shovel nose hybrid mine seems extremely shy ATM. But I have a rtc and i got her around a month ago. Same story very shy and took a few days to get her to eat. I tryed everything and I mean everything she ended up eating night crawlers but was picky about doing so. And i never saw her. So I took out her cave after 2 weeks because she out grew and she started to be less shy. Now she will eat out of my hand. I'd give the Guy a little hiding spot for a while I'd wean him of guppies and live food. I do feed night crawlers to all my fish tho but they also get live/ boiled cray fish chicken beef steak u name it they'll eat it lol
Post some pictures!
 
Welcome to big cats! :) :) :)

What an excellent OP! You have a remarkable grow-out tank for your fish with a 6'x3' footprint that should last you at least 1-1.5 years and it sounds your overall system is superb. I personally never use carbon in my filters (I'd much rather have this space occupied by bio-filtration media) and neither do I use UV filters (except on my koi pond which would otherwise turn green soup). 1 1/4 HP pump is a monster of a pump usually used for big pond waterfalls and fountains. Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful but it runs your electric bill up. Having all external is perfect!

These guys IME and that of others don't care much for a flow. And they have no natural habitat - they are man-made hybrids produced for food in the first place in SA and we see a tiny portion of them in the ornamental fish trade. They do not occur in the wild.

Please look up the posts on MFK on this fish - it's one of the most written about catfishes here along with its parents, RTCs and TSNs. Only on the last month, I think, there were 20 threads started on this fish. Also here are two links to their parents' datasheets:
RTC: http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=305
TSN: http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=329

albeit one must mention that TSN is not one species but a genus of many species - http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/genus.php?genus_id=116#1943. No one knows the exact identity of the TSN parent, which in itself can be a hybrid between two TSNs or a TSN and something like Sorubimichthys planiceps.

Next you can/should read the stickies on RTC and TSN.

Here is your guy: http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=304. Be prepared that your fish will reach 1.5'-2' in ~1 year, 3' in ~2-3 years, and 4' in ~10 years. Just a rough guidance. Your mileage may vary.

Best of luck to you and Toby!
 
i wouldnt say flow or water quality are usually major concerns for rtcxtsn definately a tough fish. ive owned 2 before one i grew from 2"-23" in just under 8 months before it just stopped eating. i think mine got stressed from fast tankmates and just stopped eating. a proper diet and ample space are the biggest problems. careful though because they will throw up a meal if they get stressed and it will devistate water quality. other than that one of my favorite wet pets because the 2 i had both enjoyed being pet.
 
I never said natural habitat... I read some species of shovelnose cats love lots of waterflow, so I figured Toby would love it.

I am hoping he will eat some frozen beefheart, and a night crawler when I feed him today, -crosses fingers-

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Stramn said:
and I've read that these fish enjoy a decent rate of water flow in their habitat
Click to expand...
I apologize if I misconstrued your words.
 
thebiggerthebetter said:
I apologize if I misconstrued your words.
Click to expand...

Ah by habitat, I simply meant the habitat I was providing for it to live in, not a natural habitat. I believe the area in which supply our aquatic pets is a habitat, whether we allow it, and construct it to simulate a natural habitat from the native waters a fish is home to in the case of naturally occurring species, or that of the parents of a non naturally occurring hybrid are created from, or a habitat with clown puke gravel and little broken down plastic ships and neon plastic plants, either way as a fish enthusiast we give our fish accommodations and create a habitat, whether healthy or not for our fish.
 
cool i just pick my rtc/tsn up this week while i was buying fish food i got him in my 125 atm speaking hes only 4-6 inches long i feed him pellets he likes to come out at night with my other cats
 
Gotchya. No if. I've read too quickly and misconstrued and jumped to conclusions. Sorry. You are one of those rare people who have a deeper understanding of a habitat.
 
Still no luck on him eating either. I might have to drop in 20 or so baby convicts and see if he eats any of those. I hate feeding live.

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