I've been at college for a few months now and have really been missing my electric catfish - I had to give it up when I left because my current living situation doesn't allow for fish tanks large enough to support one. Anyway, when I get to a position where I'm more capable of caring for one again, I'd like to set up an enclosure big enough to house one for life. But I'd like to make it a riparium or paludarium style enclosure - half filled with water, with branches and other plants above the water line. My question is how large does the enclosure need to be in order to provide the animal with the proper environment for it to thrive. The water will of course be heated and filtered, with appropriate water changes as well. My question starts when looking at the required aquarium size for one of these fish - is the gallonage requirement simply so that the catfish is provided with larger overall tank dimensions, or is it the required number of gallons needed to provide the animal with the correct living conditions?
Which is more important for a catfish, overall water volume or tank dimensions?
- Thread starter rudukai13
- Start date
The other fish I'd consider doing this type of setup with is a gulper, as they are just as interesting to me and they seem to remain at a more manageable size. If I can find a tank with large enough physical dimensions, I can always have a secondary larger aquarium that feeds through the filter system that will increase the overall volume of water in the system. So basically the visible enclosure would only hold a certain amount of water, but there would be a secondary tank in the stand that would contain the necessary filters and heaters. This would also help to clean up the appearance of the tank, as I'm hoping to end up with a more naturalistic appearance when all is said and done.