I think Bgonz makes a good point. When I was 12 years old, 20 years ago, I saw a cool lookin' catfish in the store housed in a 30 gallon tank and they told me he grew really big. I looked all over long island NY for another one and bought it. He was 2", by the time he was 8" my amonia and PH were shot and the fish died. That is probably what happens to most of these fish. Flash foward 20 years I bought another RTC for a 75 Gallon and grew him to 13 inches and knew I had to put him in my buddy's pond, but I was sure this would be better for the fish than a young me buying him and letting him suffer in poor conditions before kicking the bucket. Now I have a 300+ gallon roof top pond and there are 8, yes 8 redtails of various size in the local pet store, Im guessing because they are bred as a fish food in South America. Every day im in there I have an urge to "save" one of these fish becuase I know what will happen If I don't. Tuff decision but I think they are always going to sell them and they seem more available now then ever before so if you can give it a good home and some joy in life before it goes fine by me.
Keep RTC in a 250g for life?
- Thread starter Tuda
- Start date
nishant_datta;881354; said:
check out dwa the are probaly only 5 feet not 6 feet....
check with zoodiver he used to work there.
my rtc is a baby, but at about 14" and has 8x2.5x2.5 tank, he uses 1 lil cubical corner of prolly less then 2ftx2ftx2ft. he doesn't even swim around lol. only when foods in the tank he goes on a rampage to find more.
of course bigger is better. but i doubt my rtc is comin out of my 400gal, along with my tsn
if bgonz can get 8yrs out of a 180. i think ill be set for a while in my 400.
of course bigger is better. but i doubt my rtc is comin out of my 400gal, along with my tsn
if bgonz can get 8yrs out of a 180. i think ill be set for a while in my 400.
ethnics;881546; said:
How often are you feeding him? If you keep your rtc's belly full all the time they hardly move. Just sit and digest. I've been feeding my rtc x tsn every other day now and s/he's swimming around much more!
I have the same with my RTC. I keep his belly full all the time and he is very inactive during daylight but when night falls he and the TSN are hunting.. well they ain't gonna find any prey but they are out hunting whole night..
I might just try to feed him twice a day and maybe he will become a lil more active
I might just try to feed him twice a day and maybe he will become a lil more active
geeze these threads irritate the crap outta me. Why would you want a fish that in 8 years SHOULD grow to 36" in a tank that is 24", possibly 30" wide?? All I'm saying. There is good info in this thread and BAD info.
We can all learn from this thread. Many sites, and books that I have state that rtc can live in excess of 30 years in the wild. I don't hear of too many people keeping them that long. Also the logic is always feed once a week so that they don't grow fast or mess up water qaulity. I think in the wild a rtc is an opportunistic hunter that eats whatever prey is availible to him. There are periods of glutony and periods of fast. Regardless, if you have ever been catfishing you know that catfish will still feed in the wild even when they are stuffed to the breaking point. I think several things happen here in our aqauriums. First are we feeding enough. If you only feed a fish the same amount of food eventually his metabolism will level out and he will stop growing due to diminishing returns. He has to eat more than his metabolism burns in order to grow. That said if you feed more than his metabolism burns he in theory should grow, as the majority of fish (especially catfish) grow their entire lives. I am not sure, I will tell you in a few years of growing my tsns and rtcs about how fast they get to certain sizes. I have a hybrid that is nearly 3' and not even 3 years old. That can't speak for the parent species. Unless someone can put up a timeline of photos of their rtc growing in a tank from 3" to 4 or 5' we can not end the debate on how big they can get in home aqauriums. I know for a fact I have seen a 48-50" rtc in a store in north carolina that has lived in the same 250 gal aqaurium for over 14 years now. They feed him like crazy, and his tank is plumbed into their central filter system for all their freshwater tanks so bioload is not a problem. I know he has serious trouble turning around and swims constantly. He has sores on his body from rubbing the glass all day long. I think if we can say anything it's yes you can keep rtc for long periods of time in smaller (125,150,250) gal aquariums, but what do you consider the true life span of a rtc? I don't think there have been many that have led a full enough life to see how big they can get in a home aqaurium. Just my 300 cent lol. I say do it if you want, but if you end up with a busted tank, or early death of this magnificient fish you'll be the one who has to deal with that. I think that fish stores should be more like the one where I got my new rtc. He doesn't order them unless he comes to your house and personally sees a tank large enough to house an adult rtc. It's the only reason I have one today. No offense to anyone, I just think that we should study a little more before we jump to conclusions. We can't make judgements from a few animals. It would need real long term study of people who keep them in home aqauriums for 10+ years to see how they can really do. JMO Hope everyone still loves me, lol.
