What can a Walking catfish have as food??

[cleverGorilla78]

You've got an impressive-looking, active and voracious fish in that Clarias; I'd say just keep it alone and enjoy it. The Clarias I owned were relentless in their constant harassment of other fish and would eventually kill anything else kept with them. It was just a constant nibble-nibble-nibble that quickly resulted in missing scales, fins, etc. Death by a thousand cuts, not a nice way to go.

That being said, I don't think you have mentioned the size of tank this fish is occupying, or did I miss it? That would be a huge determining factor in possible tankmates.

Currently half it in. 4X1X1 ft tank approx 120liters. Due to financial circumstances and the unexpected nature of having him in not yet ready to purchase a larger tank for him but I would say he’s comfortable and free roaming plenty. Preferably want him in a 350L easy but not wanting to break the bank for one

Stowaway neon tetra? Time to set up another tank for it and at least 5 others and embrace the reality that is my username (if you haven't already) ?

As for walking catfish tank mates, you could try tinfoil barbs or large pimelodids (eg: sailfin pictus catfish, zebra shovelnose catfish). They can stand up for themselves without being eaten.

I’m waiting on my friend to give me his small trop tank

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Currently half it in. 4X1X1 ft tank approx 120liters. Due to financial circumstances and the unexpected nature of having him in not yet ready to purchase a larger tank for him but I would say he’s comfortable and free roaming plenty. Preferably want him in a 350L easy but not wanting to break the bank for one

A 350 liter is not going to be enough. As walking catfish get to at least 45 cm (possibly up to 60-100 cm), you want something at least 270x67.5 cm footprint (following the 6x the length and 1.5x the width rules from Practical Fishkeeping and Seriously Fish).
That's going to hold much more water than 350 liters unless it's far too shallow for the catfish.

Good luck with your catfish and tetras by the way!

 

[xenacanth9]

+1

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Large fish are known sometimes to not pay attention to tiny tank mates.

In smaller tanks like 240 US gal and under, 1ft-1.5ft walking catfish can hard to keep with tank mates. In our 4500 gal we had a dozen with a lot of tank mates without problems.

 

[jjohnwm]

Large fish are known sometimes to not pay attention to tiny tank mates.

In smaller tanks like 240 US gal and under, 1ft-1.5ft walking catfish can hard to keep with tank mates. In our 4500 gal we had a dozen with a lot of tank mates without problems.

There ya go! The neon is safe simply because it's too small too attract the cat's attention...even if he could perceive it, he'd burn more calories chasing it than he would derive from eating it. But someday, it will accidentally swim right in front of his mouth, and...well, you know...

Tankmates? Probably okay in 4500 gallons ...not so much in 120 gallons (my old tank)...now, I wonder what would happen in 30 gallons? Besides, you will be plenty busy doing numerous high-volume water changes with the cat all by himself. Clarias are as closer to bulletproof as fish come, but 30 gallons is ridiculously small for a 12-inch-plus fish.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Whilst not ideal as per the “rules” of 6xfish length etc. a 350l would house a solitary Clarias batrachus for life noting a full grown probable adult size of 18” and the type of fish. Due to the nature of the fish he will “live” in a 4x1x1 but you cannot expect to keep any other none catfish types with him as he will just hassle (or eat) them at night, and the tank would not be large enough anyway.
Unfortunately at 12-14” already i think you need to start saving and scouring for large second hand tanks as even now a 4x1x1 won’t give him width or height to turn around, going up for air is tricky as he touches both the top and bottom of the tank.

 

[cleverGorilla78]

Whilst not ideal as per the “rules” of 6xfish length etc. a 350l would house a solitary Clarias batrachus for life noting a full grown probable adult size of 18” and the type of fish. Due to the nature of the fish he will “live” in a 4x1x1 but you cannot expect to keep any other none catfish types with him as he will just hassle (or eat) them at night, and the tank would not be large enough anyway.
Unfortunately at 12-14” already i think you need to start saving and scouring for large second hand tanks as even now a 4x1x1 won’t give him width or height to turn around, going up for air is tricky as he touches both the top and bottom of the tank.

Trust me I’m saving and searching every day! It’s my only issue I’m finding at the moment with having him is the worry he’s not in the right size tank. The tank I have is suitable for now but I fully agree it’s not something that’s gonna last long.

 

[cleverGorilla78]

Honestly can’t thank everybody enough for how informative and helpful you are all being. Learnt more off these 4 pages of thread than hours and hours of searching online. Appreciate it all and love still learning

 

[xenacanth9]

No problem

 

[cleverGorilla78]

Just another picture