RTC

[FLESHY]

My lab is considering buying an RTC.

I am posting this, not because I want to hear the pros or cons. I have heard all of that.

I just want to hear from people that are keeping them the right way, what sort of tanks and filtration systems they have them with.

RTC troubleshooting...things you wish you would have known going into it, and know now...etc.

What are you guys feeding, how much, how often.

We may be getting some space in the vivarium which features a large pond...and RTC was brought up in discussion. Im mainly concerned about filtration, as I dont think it will be adequate. But Im here to learn. What do you guys all have?

 

[derekp]

I have mine in a 300 gallon. He has been in that tank since he was 3 in long. He is now almost a foot long in not even 3 months. They grow extremely fast, there is no exaggeration when people say that about them. He eats whatever I throw in. Here is the list of what he eats.

Frozen bloodworms
Frozen brine shrimp
hikari staple pellets
hikari massivore pellets
hikari carnivore pellets
live feeders
spirulina wafers
and shrimp pellets

his normal diet is frozen shrimp and massive pellets daily.

For filtration there is a eheim professional, a rena xp3, and a 1200 gallon pond filter with a uv. I have to overfilter because my tank is very full right now.

 

[FLESHY]

Thanks, what about this vomiting I hear about? How much of a risk is that?

Has anyone had tank crashes and fish death due to it? That is the only thing I am concerned about. He would more than likely be the only resident in the pond...

15'x15'x4'

 

[derekp]

I don't think mine has vomited, but then again there are so many other fish in there I don't really know. My pacu eat anything and so does the marbled sailfin catfish.

That seems like enough room for him. Just don't have any fish slightly smaller than him in with him. My 10" rtc ate my 8"bala shark with no problem.

 

[Loshmitchell101]

Mine will usually vomit when I try moving to a larger tank,
I too bought mine at around 2.3-3''
I purchased in June of this year, last week we did one more
measurement and its currently at 16''
You will notice they grow longer then wider in the first year
you can expect two feet easily,
I feed 1 pound of slice talapia weekly
1/2 pound shell/tail uncooked shrimp weekly.
I have seriously seen this guy eat until he was having difficulty
moving, most of the time waddling left and right,
Filtration not only is very important but you will need to keep
up on massive water changes, Any given week im changing
75% of my water,
With a pond of that size you will need to worry about water temps,
Any time my water drops from 80 down to the mid 70's
it wont eat until the water is brought back 80 (cold water changes)
Also my RTC loves humans, it almost always will go to the top of
our pond not only for food but we can actually touch him
on top of his head and body, Most of the time I can feed directly
out of hand,
Best of luck,
please ask anything you have been wondering

 

[FLESHY]

Water temps arent an issue, our lab produces warm h2o for use with animals.

I have a display tank that gets 75% h2o changes daily, so we can keep up with h2o demand in that regard as well, we are hoping to establish constant drip on all of our systems as well.

The tank has a large waterfall, (not much flow though) that will be great as biological filtration.

Thanks so far everyone...

Anyone else with RTC?

 

[josh11]

i keep mine with a tiger shovelnose in a 150, currently the water isnt heated and they still have quite the appetite but not as insane as it usually would be. the growth rate is somewhat slower because of that. mine sometimes vomits but i find thats mostly if he eats too much.
im also feeding tilapia, sometimes shrimp as a change up, but i find they tend not to like too many types of frozen fish...i tried sole one day and they just ignored it.

 

[taksan]

How is a waterfall good for bio filtration ?

 

[taksan]

i keep mine with a tiger shovelnose in a 150, currently the water isnt heated and they still have quite the appetite but not as insane as it usually would be. the growth rate is somewhat slower because of that. mine sometimes vomits but i find thats mostly if he eats too much.
im also feeding tilapia, sometimes shrimp as a change up, but i find they tend not to like too many types of frozen fish...i tried sole one day and they just ignored it.

Fantastic way to keep fish you have there ....

 

[FLESHY]

How is a waterfall good for bio filtration ?

You have a large body of water moving over a porous surface...and it has exposure to air on and off. Its the biggest wetdry you could ask for.