Tank Decor
- Thread starter GBG
- Start date
look in my thread labelled catfish bonanza. I keep large rocks that cannot fit into their mouths, sand, and large pieces of driftwood mostly. I also get really large fake plants to go in with them as they tear the crap out of real plants. I plan out my tanks to have hiding spots. You can plan your tanks so that your fish' hiding spots are in plain view. In ponds put hiding spots wherever. Go with what you feel like. Just remember that big cats are curious, and will swallow anything that will fit in their mouths. Heaters are best if titanium when in the tank, and anything will work if you have an external sump you can put the heater in. Glass heaters are swallowed or broken very easily. Big cats are brutes, and if you don't aquascape the right way you could end up injuring your fish. I had a large rock in the tank with a rtc one time, and he broke his jaw ramming into it one night. Also my big hybrid swallowed some large stones that he sucked up when feeding. Just plan it out accordingly. Probably the best way to keep them for viewing, and for tank maintanence is bare bottom. No decor at all.
I'd be carefull of anything clay. Large catfish migh break it and cut themselves. There's a link on here from a few years ago of a guy's tsn that ate a piece of clay pottery he had in his tank, after a few weeks it worked it's way through the bottom of the fish. The guy had to remove the piece by pulling it through the skin, and then sewed the fish back up. Might be ok if it's really really large, and cannot be broken by a large fish.
Wow man that's pretty nuts!!! What happened to your guy? Sound like he got pretty bashed by someone....bukster;954129; said:
As for the? I would just use some really large smooth granit or maybe quortz rocks... if you wanna put the money into it black and white marble would look amazing on some really light sang... add some floating plants and maybe some large pieces of drtift wood and your golden!
True they are tough. Not sure how marble or quartz might affect ph levels though. I had a large piece of whit quartz in a tank once, and the water kinda looked milky white after a while. It was really faint white though. I've had one get a spine in his side from a channel catfish. I pulled it out and he acted like nothing ever happened.
as for my tsn i had a power outtage a few weeks ago and had to take a few of my fish to a lfs. they're really knowledgable there but not real great with cats. my tsn and tsn x rtc was in with a big wolf and calico convict. when the employee there tried to dip out the tsn the fish wigged out and dig a few death rolls (lol crikey). when he did the the guy dropped the net and let him settle down (bad move) and he broke both of his pectoral fins and hurt his tail.
I think that minimal decor is best but this doesn't mean that you have to have a bare tank though.