Short body red tail catfish

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thebiggerthebetter said:
Great info, vincentwugwg vincentwugwg What can you tell us about the under/over feeding?

It looks like SB varies, no? I always thought SB is a fish, for instance, as exemplified by Jay's photo above, without any gap between dorsal, adipose, and caudal fins. I see gaps in yours but they are clearly not full-bodied.

I may be way off, but I think that SB may be a result of intentional and extreme stunting.
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It's very possible that there are evildoers who might bend/break the spine of young rtcs in order to get the SB result/look but some of the birth defect SBRTCs look completely different when compared to normal RTC. When comparing similar sized/age RTCs (SB vs. normal) the SB exhibits a much broader head (perhaps 200% larger) and stunting or human intervention would not recreate this.
 
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I fed mine normally.. didn't control their feedings mainly because they were always kept with other fish. All my SBRTCs gorged themselves to the point of exploding... they are all still alive haha
 
This always was one of my most desired fish, but sadly it seems impossible to get one here (Germany).

Also i would not like the idea that the fish is deformed inside, but this seems to be up for debate. In the videos they swim almost like normal rtc, but with a little waddle-wobble.

Not that i want to offend anyone, but if you think about people with dwarfism, they are not just shorter, they do indeed suffer from severely deformed bones and many other issues, so they rarely reach old age.

Of course fish are not people, just sayin'.

Also from 9 to 24inch in less than a year does not sound like this fish is a much better optian compared to te normal rtc, looks like it is still much faster growing than most other catfish, let allone any other predators of that size.
 
Marcus_H said:
This always was one of my most desired fish, but sadly it seems impossible to get one here (Germany).

Also i would not like the idea that the fish is deformed inside, but this seems to be up for debate. In the videos they swim almost like normal rtc, but with a little waddle-wobble.

Not that i want to offend anyone, but if you think about people with dwarfism, they are not just shorter, they do indeed suffer from severely deformed bones and many other issues, so they rarely reach old age.

Of course fish are not people, just sayin'.

Also from 9 to 24inch in less than a year does not sound like this fish is a much better optian compared to te normal rtc, looks like it is still much faster growing than most other catfish, let allone any other predators of that size.
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If my Asian carries on growing at the rate he is he will hit 24 inches this year
 
Marcus_H said:
...Also from 9 to 24inch in less than a year does not sound like this fish is a much better optian compared to te normal rtc, looks like it is still much faster growing than most other catfish, let allone any other predators of that size.
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I'll advocate the side I oppose, to be fair. The key difference would be if we knew that SB would not exceed 2' by much. Of course, normal RTC exceed 2' by much. Captive record holders break 4'.

vincentwugwg said:
... but some of the birth defect SBRTCs look completely different when compared to normal RTC. When comparing similar sized/age RTCs (SB vs. normal) the SB exhibits a much broader head (perhaps 200% larger) and stunting or human intervention would not recreate this.
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While I largely agree, stunting is known to affect the skull / cranial shield growth the least, resulting in macrocephaly, a well known stunting tell tail sign.

You probably mean 100% = 2x. 200% = 3x - that'd look like a tadpole or a swimming candy apple. But I have not noticed a 2x in your SBRTCs. A head that's that much broader would jump out at you.

Looking at my rescue RTC 10-pack, I am starting to see what people usually say about sexing catfish in general - broader head, thinner body = male. Opposite - female. What I am saying is that gender may play into this too.

Also, I think, again looking at my RTCs (never had so many large ones together, 1.5'-2.5'), males appear to feature a flatter skull, females' skulls are taller, more sloping, hence appear shorter, while it may not be necessary so.

vincentwugwg said:
I fed mine normally.. didn't control their feedings mainly because they were always kept with other fish. All my SBRTCs gorged themselves to the point of exploding... they are all still alive haha
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I noted that, hence was my inquiry :) I stand corrected then for very sure! I am glad when data, which are firm, repetitive / consistent, and trustworthy and come from experience, dispel my naive suppositions.

I'm glad to paddle back from the 1000x-more-probable-overfeeding claim I made. I'd hang onto a... IDK, 2x claim?

Rghfor said:
If my Asian carries on growing at the rate he is he will hit 24 inches this year
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ARTC?
 
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You probably mean 100% = 2x. 200% = 3x - that'd look like a tadpole or a swimming candy apple. But I have not noticed a 2x in your SBRTCs. A head that's that much broader would jump out at you.

Looking at my rescue RTC 10-pack, I am starting to see what people usually say about sexing catfish in general - broader head, thinner body = male. Opposite - female. What I am saying is that gender may play into this too.

Also, I think, again looking at my RTCs (never had so many large ones together, 1.5'-2.5'), males appear to feature a flatter skull, females' skulls are taller, more sloping, hence appear shorter, while it may not be necessary so.


The video I posted was from 8 months ago... when I gave the bigger sbrtc away.. it looked like a giant toad.. I will try to find a better video :)
 
Toad I get.

It's the tadpole I doubt :)

But do hit me with your best shot :)

(gotta be more careful with quotes - cross-page-reading folks will think the silliness, that's mine, belongs to your pennage)
 
thebiggerthebetter thebiggerthebetter it is more apparent in this video but if you were to compare in person... much more so. In the later part of the video an additional rtc joins the sbrtc, they are equal in length but the head of the sbrtc is much bigger...as least to my eyes!
 
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