Tigrinus Catfish in 180?

[oscar and arowana]

Hi everyone,
I have a 180 gallon tank with 10" oscar, 14" silver arowana, 7" red shoulder severum, and a 6" pleco. I really love how tigrinus look and want to put one in my tank. My lfs has a 5" one for $200 so it sounds good. The arowana will be going soon so no flaming please.

Thanks

 

[oscar and arowana]

The question is will the catfish be able to live in the tank and does he get along with my SA fish

 

[123456]

Not doubting your experience. But make sure you read up on Tigs as much as possible before you get a Tig.

There's been at least 3 different people that posted here within the last month that lost a Tig due to a lack of experience.

Many people have a really tough time raising a Tig from a 3" to 5" range.

Don't feed it any shrimp. They will not be able to digest if until they are at least 12" or bigger. Feeding them shrimp prior to that size will kill them.

I am not an expert, but I've had mine for over a year and I read up on a lot of info on them. So if you have any questions about them, ask away or PM me.

If you are well educated in keeping Tigs, them just ignore my non-sense

 

[oscar and arowana]

I am not well educated in the world of tigs. For some reason I had it in my head that they grew to 3 feet. So when I looked it up and found they get to around 24"; I was pleasently suprised. I decided against getting it though because I dont want any one fish to dominate my tank! I got a lima shovelnose instead. Thank you for your input

 

[balton777]

I bought one at 5" and kept it a few years before selling it to Flamenco-T at 20". I felt it was too big for my 265g tank but it was it's mean streak that made me get rid of him. He was extremely active when the sun went down and would tear up the other fish all night long. They could only get peace during the day when he'd sit motionless for hours like a bump on a log. It was a beautiful fish nonetheless and difficult for me to part with.

Not doubting your experience. But make sure you read up on Tigs as much as possible before you get a Tig.

There's been at least 3 different people that posted here within the last month that lost a Tig due to a lack of experience.

Many people have a really tough time raising a Tig from a 3" to 5" range.

Don't feed it any shrimp. They will not be able to digest if until they are at least 12" or bigger. Feeding them shrimp prior to that size will kill them.

I am not an expert, but I've had mine for over a year and I read up on a lot of info on them. So if you have any questions about them, ask away or PM me.

If you are well educated in keeping Tigs, them just ignore my non-sense

I got mine at 5" and the only thing he would eat was market shrimp. He ate that his whole life with me and nothing else except the pellets I would stuff into the shrimp meat. He grew to a healthy 20" and is now living with Flamenco-T as mentioned above.

 

[123456]

I got mine at 5" and the only thing he would eat was market shrimp. He ate that his whole life with me and nothing else except the pellets I would stuff into the shrimp meat. He grew to a healthy 20" and is now living with Flamenco-T as mentioned above.

I guess you got a lucky tig. T1KARMANN and taksan are very experienced Tig keepers and both agreed not to feed them shrimp until they reached 12". They have both kept more than 4 to 5 tigs.

It is common that many people are told to feed them shrimp and that's great for them if they can digest them. From the 4 threads of tigs that die here in the last month, the fingers all point to the the feeding of shrimp to young tigs that led to the death of them.

Glad that your tig didn't have much problems being fed shrimps at that size. You'd be one of the first I read, that did that without any issues.

 

[balton777]

I guess you got a lucky tig. T1KARMANN and taksan are very experienced Tig keepers and both agreed not to feed them shrimp until they reached 12". They have both kept more than 4 to 5 tigs.

It is common that many people are told to feed them shrimp and that's great for them if they can digest them. From the 4 threads of tigs that die here in the last month, the fingers all point to the the feeding of shrimp to young tigs that led to the death of them.

Glad that your tig didn't have much problems being fed shrimps at that size. You'd be one of the first I read, that did that without any issues.

Wow man, after hearing about all those guys' lost tigs, I feel very lucky to have grown mine to an adult. It was a great experience and he was a fantasitc fish but it just wasn't meant to be for me and him. Glad he's in a happy home with fish that can handle his attitude. Last I heard, he was in the Poly tank.

 

[RD.]

Buddy in town grew his tig from 2" to 24" in just over 2 years, it ate shrimp when smaller with no issues, and moved up to pellets (along with fish fillet) as it grew bigger.



IMO a 180 gallon tank is way too damn small for a full grown M. tigrinus.

 

[balton777]

IMO a 180 gallon tank is way too damn small for a full grown M. tigrinus.

I agree. It needs a wider tank because their body isn't very flexible. They need a lot of space for swimming because they're active fish...it's that they're active when most of us are sleeping.

 

[RD.]

My friends tank is 550 gallons, 32" wide, and it still made that tank seem too small for his tig to move around. He got rid of it when it began sizing up his 10" gold head xback aro. lol

BTW - Bret just called me about something else, and he confirmed that his tig ate plenty of shrimp when it was smaller, no problem.