I've been thinking about a red tail so my amazon tank is rounded out with a catfish, the red wolf fish, and a peacock bass, there's an ornate bichir ijust because I love them, but point is any conflicts appear to be arising with this setup?
Red Tails
- Thread starter Dr.Gonzo4
- Start date
Pending the size of the rtc, all your other fish could be dinner, starting with the bichir.
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What size tank? because in all likely hood everything you've mentioned Is potential food for a big cat.. so far my cats do not bother their tank-mates... everyone is fed very well and they have plenty of space to each fish to avoid conflict/easy predation.. but it is very possible I will lose fish in the future to my cats if I do not separate them down the line ( which is my intention)
"Never trust a catfish" is one of the truest statements I've learned reading other peoples experiances with even some of the smaller catfish... however something like a lima might work out much better as they will stay fairly small yet still large enough to neither become prey 'nore large enough to swallow its tank-mates.
imo once a red-tail hits 12-18" he will be a danger to his tank-mates in your set-up. at 24"+ even an adult pbass could become food.. that's after everything else has already been eaten.
"Never trust a catfish" is one of the truest statements I've learned reading other peoples experiances with even some of the smaller catfish... however something like a lima might work out much better as they will stay fairly small yet still large enough to neither become prey 'nore large enough to swallow its tank-mates.
imo once a red-tail hits 12-18" he will be a danger to his tank-mates in your set-up. at 24"+ even an adult pbass could become food.. that's after everything else has already been eaten.
There are vids all over youtube of RTC owners being pissed because they thought they had the one that wouldn't eat his tankmates. Catfish are predators, and they have that huge mouth because they are opportunistic. I'm gonna go find you a vid to demonstrate what I am talking about lol. Even if the fish is 2/3 their size there is a potential eventually that it will become a meal. With RTC you have a dilema. You get them when they are little they are the potential meal, but as they grow they devour tankmates that fall behind the growth race. You get them larger and they soon just eat everything anyway. 
RTC like the sweet puppy dog from hell lol. brb with vid.
RTC like the sweet puppy dog from hell lol. brb with vid.
[video=youtube;Cj7_dF5GCBo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj7_dF5GCBo[/video]
This vid is typical of rtc owner mistakes. Thought the other fish was safe and boom came in to see this lol.
This vid is typical of rtc owner mistakes. Thought the other fish was safe and boom came in to see this lol.
Ok watch this vid all the way through. This one shocked even me and I have seen catfish eat some crazy stuff. This is pretty nuts although not a rtc, but NA blue catfish have a much smaller mouth for their size than RTC. Imagine a RTC that size could eat a massive fish!!! So yeah never trust a catfish lol. At least with smaller fish anyway. My old RTC x TSN hybrid would rip the tails of anything put in his tank to shreds if he couldn't eat it. 3' long and tried to eat a 28" rtc I put in with him lol. Couldn't quit fit in his mouth so he just shreded it's tail.
[video=youtube;F77abkoPHL0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F77abkoPHL0[/video]
[video=youtube;F77abkoPHL0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F77abkoPHL0[/video]
HOLY ****E!! I knew they could eat things pretty large but that's insane!!! And by TSN do you mean a tigrinnus? Would love to see a pic of that hybrid! But with this info I'm more iffy on them, the ones they sell at my LFS are about 4 to 5 in, my red wolf fish is 6in and my ornate is 10 in, I think they'd be safe for a while, and after watching and reading about them I talked to my guy down at the LFS and he said he'd buy it back from me once I started worrying about it eating other pets, or just trade for another 4 in, I know they wouldn't be food (well maybe for the ornate) but my red wolf and ornate get along fantastically, dogpile and everything have had the combo for months w/o probs, not even a fin nip.
They can grow a couple inches a month if properly fed. 10 years ago, mine grew from 2 inches to 24 in a year, and that is only in a not so ideal 110 gallon tank!
So awhile might be very short time indeed.
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So awhile might be very short time indeed.
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Given the size of your current stock, I'd say if you bought a 5 inch rtc you would have about a month before your wolf fish was in danger and another two and your ornate would be lunch. They can and will eat something half their size. Especially something somewhat slender like a wolf fish.
No more redtails for me I've learned my lesson with some expensive meals. Some of the redtail meals cost more than a nice dinner ou with the wife.
Just know what your getting yourself into...
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Just know what your getting yourself into...
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