Red tail catfish info needed!!!!!!!!!

Question

I am going to buy a red tail catfish to go with my silver arowana. Can you tell me a bit more about them, giving general info. I would also want to know how much they would cost for a 10cm to 20cm fish.

Answer 1

You need a minimum 55 gallon tank because they grow to be fairly large and are highly territorial.  They're tropical fish and will need a heater to keep your water temp consistently at 78F.  Before adding the fish to your tank, you need to cycle the tank first.  You'll need to be cautious regarding tank mates.  Unless you are keeping your arrowona in a 150+ gallon tank, you shouldn't add the catfish.   Cost will range between $5 - $8 (US) depending upon where you live (may need to convert currency obviously)

Answer 2

You will need way more than a 55 gallon tank, just for your Arrowana let alone a red tail catfish, that will get bigger than you arrowana.

You will need at least a 150 gallon tank, even that might be pushing it.

If you have found a 10cm RTCatfish then it will be about 5 weeks old. They get huge!!!

Dont buy it.

Answer 3

Unless you have a 1000 US gallon tank, don't get the red tailed catfish. These fish get to around 40" long and 12" wide, and can grow 12" in the first year. If it were to outgrow the arowana, the big gob on an RTC could do some serious damage to an arowana.

Silver Arowanas alone need at least a 250-300 gallon tank.

Answer 4

Red tail catfish.  Hmm..can reach over 4 feet long, 300+ pounds, ravenous appetites, fast growing.

Best tank size for a full grown fish is mentioned in second site below...4000 gallons.

On the plus side, they eat anything, including rocks in the tank, as long as they can get their mouth around it.

Answer 5

Well it seems that cat likes to exaggerate a little bit which is ok in my book lol.  You have to consider several aspects of this and not pick just one particular point of view and run with it.  Let's start with that Red Tailed Cat.

First, while it might grow a foot in the first year, that doesn't mean you can't keep that fish say in a 180 or 210 for quite some time.  The only real disadvantage of things like this is that as you get higher sized tanks, I don't know about you, but trying to move a 2-2.5 foot fish is not really an easy thing, and they certainly wouldn't go peacefully.  That's really the only advantage to getting the final sized tank your fish needs now.  Outside of that, you get a large tank, have to spend a google of money to fill it up, and then wait numerous years for it to reach large sizes.  It's really a personal choice is what it is, but as long as you get a large size, I'd say at least a 180 or up to start with, you should be ok.

Now with that Arowana, keep in mind, you need whatever tank you have or will get to be fully hooded.  A South American typically reaches the 39 inch to 42 inch size ranges when kept in tanks, about 48 plus in the wild.  They WILL jump.  If you really want to keep the two togeather, and you have the proper sized tank, I seriously doubt, that in the PROPER sized tank, that Red Tail is going to bother an Arowana.  While it's true and I don't dispute they have a big mouth, an Arowana is primarily a surface dwelling type and a Red tailed would be more of a bottom dweller.  Not to say they won't interact, but odds are they won't if you have the proper sized tank.