I am feeling a little worried about my redtail. its is sightly larger den 4". The problem is that it does not swim around much and just loafs at the bottom of the powerhead pump. The ammonia lvls are at 0. all the other tank mates are doing pretty fine and swimming around except him. Could someone help mi pls.
What are the other tank-mates? What sort of cover do you have in the tank?
I would say that for most predatory pimelodid (or maybe even, most catfish) that is fairly normal behaviour. It is when they are NOT doing that I start to worry about water quality and/or illness.
His tank mates are 1 albino bichir, 2 pungus cats, 1 spotted gar. here is an attachment photo
The tank dimensions are 121cm (L) x 47 cm (W) x 46cm (H)
Its running on a overhead filtration and a external canister filtration system (eheim 2213) Sumbmersible powerhead at 2200 Ltrs per hours.
So giving the fish somewhere to hide would help. Contrary to what it may seem, the more hiding spaces you give the fish, the more you will see of the fish.
Filtration seems a bit weak to me - the powerhead gives you lots of movement, but it's not going to clean up the big mess that big fishes produce regularly. I have three similar size tanks (slightly less high), and I run Eheim 2215, 2217 and TetraTec EX1200 filtration - and for the two latter I also use a sump-filter.
I personally do not like bare-bottom tanks, I prefer a tank with some sort of gravel/sand on the bottom.
Thanks for the great tip. so i guess a few pieces of drift wood would help..?? and for gravel wise. small pebbles will be fine..?? but this would be his temp tank anyways. he has a custom made pond waiting for him at the backyard.. but the only worry for mi is that singapore weather might kill it. i know the fish loves warm waters. but it reaches a scroching 38 degrees here almost every mid-day. should i include a water temp regulator..?? the dimension would be 10' x 6' x 4'. Will that pond be enough..?? i am kinda worried too actually.
Yes, some wood, or large rocks made into a cave [make sure it's stable and won't topple!], would be great.
Fine gravel would be great.
10' x 6' x 4' will be enough until the fish is around 2.5-3' long, which is a few years.
Presumably, the air-temperature is 38'C, not the water temperature in a large pond (which will stay more stable than the air) If the pond is in the ground (rather than raised), then it will be perfectly fine. If it's a raised pond, I'd recommend some way of keeping the pond from getting too hot (an insulating layer of some sort around the pond - or just mound up a decent wall of earth all around the pond, perhaps?)
Haha. Thanks for the tips. i jus got a few pieces of drift wood. probably gonna add a fine layer of sand of so for the base. still working on it. i will upload a pic whe it all done. cheers
