RTC Water Changes

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A

abigman67

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 25, 2007
97
0
0
New York
Hello! I have a RTC around 10 inches, along with a 6 inch TSN, with 2 oscars 3 inch's, 2 Bala sharks, and a small clown knife! All of these fish are in a 125 gallon. What I wanted to know was how often I should do water changes and also how much? Ive had this tank set up for about 2 months now and its not (clear) the way I think it should be.

My filtration is listed
Two penguin power filters 350
Cascade 1000 (Canister)
Eheim 1700 (Canister)

All responses will be greatly appreciated Thanks.:)​
 
well your filtration seems pretty good... so i would do a 20-40 percent waterchange weekly.. and a 60-80 monthly
 
It all depends on howmuch you are feeding the cats they are prolific poopers and can dirty water very fast! I do on my big cats between 30 and 50% water changes a week!:)
 
abigman67;1402259; said:
Hello! I have a RTC around 10 inches, along with a 6 inch TSN, with 2 oscars 3 inch's, 2 Bala sharks, and a small clown knife! All of these fish are in a 125 gallon. What I wanted to know was how often I should do water changes and also how much? Ive had this tank set up for about 2 months now and its not (clear) the way I think it should be.

My filtration is listed
Two penguin power filters 350
Cascade 1000 (Canister)
Eheim 1700 (Canister)

All responses will be greatly appreciated Thanks.:)​
Click to expand...


First off you will have only one fish shortly and that will be the RTC :D I can almost guarantee that he will grow faster and consume ALL of his tankmates......Including the TSN :naughty:


But about the water changes.......Your water isnt clear probably because your tank hasnt "cycled" yet. I have seen this take longer that 8 weeks before, but rest ashore your water will clear. What you really need to do is feed the same amount of foods weekly and monitor your nitrate levels, this will give you a good indication of how much water you NEED to change. I currently have about 6 tanks going that are well over 100 gallons each and each tank requires a different water change schedule and amount of water changed. No need to change more than you have to and not good not to change enough. Each tank has different requirements. Your target for optimum growth and long term health should be to keep the nitrates on the low side of the chart, less is always better. After a few months you should have a good handle on it but just remember......Whether it twice a week or twice a month you MUST keep the same schedule, miss a water change and it throws everything out of balance and before you know it you will be on here asking why your catfish isnt acting right.

You have a bunch of sloppy eaters in that tank right now, my guess is your gonna have to change a big portion weekly to keep things right.



JMO...of course....




bob
 
Besides the fact that this is a fairly new tank, and it could just be an algae or bacteria bloom. You have bigger problems ahead of you. This tank is just through it's cycle, and you already have a 10" rtc. In my personal expirience you don't have very long before he outgrows this tank. They can grow anywhere from 16"-24" in their first year if it started out at around 2-3". Your cat will definitely have less than a year before you will need to upgrade. I hope that you have something else in the plans. As for the fish in the tank with it. I am amazed that 2 3" oscars are even there still. You'll be lucky to have them very long. The tsn is already eatible also. IMO the rtc should be moved to a larger tank immediately if you wish to keep any of your other fish. I knew it was comming and my rtc just ate my 18" CK and he is only 17". I've had my rtc for about 8 months. I got my rtc at 1.5" just 8 months ago. He's averaged 2" per month since I've owned him. He's grown almost 16". I wouldn't put him in a 125 gal. Now honestly water clarity is not your worst problem here. That's fairly common in a newly set up aquarium. Your biological filtration has yet to adjust to the ammount of fish that you have introduced to it. Give it a few weeks and keep up on your tank maintenance and things should go fine. I would get started on an indoor heated pond right away. You'd do best to get the rtc seperated right away. I raised two of my tsn's pretty descent sized before I got a rtc. one was 16", and the other was 12" when I got my 1.5" rtc. I have a 3rd tsn that is 11" right now and he will be raised seperate until I feel he is large enough to live with the rtc.

To get this straight I am not trying to be down on you. I just feel that you should know what you are up against. Many of us here in the catfish section have already went through all of this and continue to learn through each other. If you need any help with anything that you feel you can't bring up here don't be afraid to pm some of the members on here. I am pretty confident that they will all answer or at least point you in the right direction. Many people pm me all the time and I never turn them away or identify them on the forums.
 
:iagree: Your looking at at major issue with your tank in the sence of the major devistation that will come from the RTC, and the TSN... but the RTC will get the tank to itself one way or another... I Agree with Necro that you need to get started on your pond ASAP if thats your plan.

Stick with 20-40% water changes as often as you need to do them, which with your current Bio load... would be once a week and quickly moving up to twice a week as your 2 big cats get bigger (they are very messy for water quality).

There is a member of the forum which has a moto in his address (Wolf3101) it basically says... There are 2 types of fish in the world, RTC's and RTC food :ROFL: You'll either learn it ... or you'll live it!
 
Mystix212;1403323; said:
There are only 2 types of fish in this world. Red-tailed cats and Red-tailed catfood.
Click to expand...

Unless you have a jau, or filamentosum!!
 
I was once asked what sort of catfish cross I most feared and I answered....

A cross between a RTC and a walking Catfish...because then NOTHING on earth would be safe...

On a more serious note...YES RTC's are wonderful fish and are great to interact with but as you have already heard they are a HUGE responsability. Now I realize that a 6' tank (125) looks huge but it's WAY too thin for an RTC. Even at 10". RTC's have a LARGE body mass for thier length.

Think in terms of a minimum tank width of 2 feet...with twice that bieng a better target size and this will be needed in the next year with a future expantion on the way shortly after that...

Think in terms of a well shaped 800 or 1000 gallon tank to house a RTC for life and it will most likely be alone.

RTC's are very deceptive....even the best of us fall into the trap of thinking our RTC is differant...and if we just hand feed it enough and give it attention it will get along with other fish....WELL....it does happen on occasion but it's only for a while. I know of a 34" RTC that lived in peacefull co-existance with three large Pacu....each approching 24"... for over a year. One morning...the shop owner turned on the lights and was greeted with the sight of three dead Pacus....RTC's are not mean so much as they are unpredictable...

Your tanks still slightly cloudy because theres not enough BB established to counter the bio-load. This is because of two things....your tanks really new yet...and youve started out with too many messy fish. You also have FAST growing fish so your bio-loads growing faster than your BB (benificial bacteria) can keep up. This is a VERY common cause of white water syndrome. Remember cycling is an ongoing PROCESS...it's never really done...

What are your water peramitors? In any case pick up at least two tubes of bio spira...add it to the tank water and it should be crystal clear in 36 to 48 hours.
 
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