The End All Red Tail Catfish debate thread!!!! :)

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obviously a tank will look better, it all comes down to the MONEY.. your building these things to look at your fish, and you can look at them the best through glass. lets be serious here if you were THAT concerned with having the best habitat for these fish then you would leave them in their natural environment, and not encourage the fish keeping hobby to begin with... so at the end of the day we do build these tanks for US more than for the fish. if you were showing off to someone coming into your home, a giant tank would win there too. having a tank that big the fish would most likely be at eye level and have a better ability to see you coming, and imo have a lesser chance of being spooked unlike with a pond having a dark figure standing over it which it could possibly mistake for a large predator. NOW that being said, before you pond people hate me, let me say that someday i will be building a massive indoor POND. why? because the price difference between the two simply isnt even close to worth the benefits a giant tank would provide over a nicely made indoor pond.

and my comparison here would be like necro said.. same gallonage, filtration, etc.


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m8r8j said:
obviously a tank will look better, it all comes down to the MONEY.. your building these things to look at your fish, and you can look at them the best through glass. lets be serious here if you were THAT concerned with having the best habitat for these fish then you would leave them in their natural environment, and not encourage the fish keeping hobby to begin with... so at the end of the day we do build these tanks for US more than for the fish. if you were showing off to someone coming into your home, a giant tank would win there too. having a tank that big the fish would most likely be at eye level and have a better ability to see you coming, and imo have a lesser chance of being spooked unlike with a pond having a dark figure standing over it which it could possibly mistake for a large predator. NOW that being said, before you pond people hate me, let me say that someday i will be building a massive indoor POND. why? because the price difference between the two simply isnt even close to worth the benefits a giant tank would provide over a nicely made indoor pond.

and my comparison here would be like necro said.. same gallonage, filtration, etc.


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I've noticed with my small jardini arowana that he is much more startled by my presence now in an opaque tank than he was in a transparent tank. I would assume it's because in a glass tank he could see me coming and now he doesn't see me until I'm already right at the tank. I'm not sure this effects cats, particularly large cats, to the same extent but it seems to me that as juveniles it may be beneficial to have a viewing window or transparent tank.

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I don't hate anyone's opinion (even if it's wrong lol, not that your's is) These are valid points. On the other hand having had large catfish in both tanks and ponds I can say that mine freaked out way more in tanks than they did in ponds. Now this point I just made may be nullified by something else I observed in my catfish. When I would enter the garage they would circle the tops of the ponds looking for food, being petted, ect. When a stranger was with me, or fish sitting they would try to hide. Not really freak out so much, but just try to hide or stay still. I think a natural fear of the unknown but for sure the fish could recognize me versus other people that would come in the garage. They never seemed startled by shadows so much. One think about tanks is that it seems that when the fish do get startled they are more likely to forget the glass is there when swimming away and bounce off the sides. Not that they dont bounce off the sides in a pond also. Round ponds tend to have the advantage, in that when the fish startles they more times than not just glance off the side instead of smashing into solid glass. I will say that night time viewing is easier in an aquarium though. You can get lower than the tank and view the fish using only moonlight through a window and seeing catfish in the moon light being active is amazing! But yeah my fish freaked less in the ponds. RTC don't tend to freak much anyway no matter what, even during capture. TSN and other shovelnosed catfish are really the ones that benefit from round ponds more.


m8r8j said:
obviously a tank will look better, it all comes down to the MONEY.. your building these things to look at your fish, and you can look at them the best through glass. lets be serious here if you were THAT concerned with having the best habitat for these fish then you would leave them in their natural environment, and not encourage the fish keeping hobby to begin with... so at the end of the day we do build these tanks for US more than for the fish. if you were showing off to someone coming into your home, a giant tank would win there too. having a tank that big the fish would most likely be at eye level and have a better ability to see you coming, and imo have a lesser chance of being spooked unlike with a pond having a dark figure standing over it which it could possibly mistake for a large predator. NOW that being said, before you pond people hate me, let me say that someday i will be building a massive indoor POND. why? because the price difference between the two simply isnt even close to worth the benefits a giant tank would provide over a nicely made indoor pond.

and my comparison here would be like necro said.. same gallonage, filtration, etc.


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An interesting note for sure. Not sure it would have any real difference in the reaction of a RTC though. :)

houie925 said:
I've noticed with my small jardini arowana that he is much more startled by my presence now in an opaque tank than he was in a transparent tank. I would assume it's because in a glass tank he could see me coming and now he doesn't see me until I'm already right at the tank. I'm not sure this effects cats, particularly large cats, to the same extent but it seems to me that as juveniles it may be beneficial to have a viewing window or transparent tank.

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m8r8j said:
obviously a tank will look better, it all comes down to the MONEY.. your building these things to look at your fish, and you can look at them the best through glass. lets be serious here if you were THAT concerned with having the best habitat for these fish then you would leave them in their natural environment, and not encourage the fish keeping hobby to begin with... so at the end of the day we do build these tanks for US more than for the fish. if you were showing off to someone coming into your home, a giant tank would win there too. having a tank that big the fish would most likely be at eye level and have a better ability to see you coming, and imo have a lesser chance of being spooked unlike with a pond having a dark figure standing over it which it could possibly mistake for a large predator. NOW that being said, before you pond people hate me, let me say that someday i will be building a massive indoor POND. why? because the price difference between the two simply isnt even close to worth the benefits a giant tank would provide over a nicely made indoor pond.

and my comparison here would be like necro said.. same gallonage, filtration, etc.


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Hate is a very strong word.. no reason to hate others for differences in oppinions.. but your kinda being a hypocrite in what your saying. On one hand your saying tanks look way better.. and keeping fish in a pond vs a tank because others feel its in the best interest of the fish... we shouldn't keep them at all if we care that much ( also implying we care more about our fish because we don't have to see them threw pane of glass/acrylic/ect) .. then go on to say you're going to join the rest of us and build a pond ;)

There are def some fish that would do best in seeing you coming and it does at the end of the day depend on the fish and your over-all set-up. You can honestly argue either side pretty venimently and make reasonable sense to the other if they are willing to listen.

Your last statement in a nutshell is why I have zero internal conflicts for my feelings towards viewing my fish from above vs the side ect... I am willing to sacrifice a little of my "viewing pleasure" for the health and well-being of my pets, as apparently so are you at the end of the day if that's what it came down too.

Because the reality is at the end of the day we all have jobs, families, life, ect... Money IS apart of the equation. I had to choose between redoing our only full bathroom and building a "nice looking" set-up for our fish this year... So we re-did the bathroom on a budget.. AND made accomidations for the fish for the next few years. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed nothing else fun pops up that needs money thrown at it .. lol but i'm sure there will be something!
 
Could any one indicate the estimated sizes of an average RTC per half a month to year, to following up to it's monster size? when bought as a juvi to sub-adult to adult stage? What would be the temporary sizes of aquarium can support the RTC.

example
Juvi - 4-6"inches - after 6 months 11-13 inches - 75 gallon tank. (it's an example ok? Don't flame me while I'm asking the right thing)
 
m8r8j said:
yes but i would much rather have a giant tank.. but a pond is better than nothing :) plus i want to be able to hand feed my rays without a ladder haha :)


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Come to the darkside... we have Cookies! :D
 
E.C. said:
Could any one indicate the estimated sizes of an average RTC per half a month to year, to following up to it's monster size? when bought as a juvi to sub-adult to adult stage? What would be the temporary sizes of aquarium can support the RTC.

example
Juvi - 4-6"inches - after 6 months 11-13 inches - 75 gallon tank. (it's an example ok? Don't flame me while I'm asking the right thing)
Click to expand...

well from my experiances w/ a RTC ( I have a hybrid and TSN now... my RTC died from mechanical failure almost taking my TSN as well)

My 40Breeder was lasting up to approx. 4 monthes iir. He was averageing 1" a week at the beginning .. Most people I think get trapped by inadequate filtration to handle the bio-load + the increase in it. Not neccisarily the "space" if that makes sense. Your filteration needs that water volume more then the fish actually does imo.

When I find the right RTC to replace my old one I plan on housing it from the start in a 40B by itself w/ 2 emp 400's for filtration. Once it hits 12"+ it will either go into the pool and take its chances w/ my big boys or moved to either our 75 or 120 ( the 120 will likely be housing our aba aba knife by then and less then ideal for a tank-mate) So likely the 75 to try and buy it a few more inches.. That being said I will get to a point where 50%+ wcs will be done every 3 days approx. I expect this to happen in under 6 monthes total.

Past that I only have seen/heard they grow to 24"+ fast before slowing.
 
E.C. said:
Could any one indicate the estimated sizes of an average RTC per half a month to year, to following up to it's monster size? when bought as a juvi to sub-adult to adult stage? What would be the temporary sizes of aquarium can support the RTC.

example
Juvi - 4-6"inches - after 6 months 11-13 inches - 75 gallon tank. (it's an example ok? Don't flame me while I'm asking the right thing)
Click to expand...

This should be interesting. I'll stand back and let the monkey poo hit someone else for once. The only thing I have to add is that growth in any fish species is very dependent on factors that we as keepers can control. The fish just has to eat, poo, and grow!!! Now if the fish don't eat, then obviously he won't poo, or grow! So basically you are looking to split into size groups Juvie, Subadult, and Adult? What do you consider an adult? I know I threw those last two in there. Remember RTC become sexually mature at a relatively small size in comparison to what they have a potential for. At the end of it though the RTC must survive decades to reach a true max size! So a max size is really what size the fish survive til. So at his biggest he dies! So if one died at 2" and another dies at 12" the max size would be 12", and the average would be 6". This is an example also. I'm just looking to fuel the debate some. :)
 
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