south american redtail catfish

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 20 Oct 2003, 10:00

hi guys
couple of quick questions.
I have just aquired a 80cm redtail. just wanted to know what sort of things you guys feed yours on.

also the filteration is by a very crude attempt at a trickle filter powered by a lotus 9500 pond pump (2100gallons p/h) i have a spare 25 gallon tankand id like to set up some sort of sump filter. have you any suggestions or links

Post by **Silurus** » 20 Oct 2003, 11:25

They're not fussy eaters and will eat most meaty foods. Try sinking pellets (such as shrimp pellets or Hikari carnivore pellets), shrimp, or even live feeders (if you can be sure this will not introduce diseases).
You have to feed sporadically, though (seethis for more info).

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 20 Oct 2003, 11:36

ok thanx m8

also he is housed in a 84"x26"x34" (2130x660x860mm) can anybody please tell me how to calculate the water volume. i think its about 250 gallons but not sure

Post by **Silurus** » 20 Oct 2003, 11:40

Your tank is about 1210 liters, which is about 320 (US) gallons.

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 20 Oct 2003, 11:41

fletberbill wrote:hi guys
couple of quick questions.
I have just aquired a 80cm redtail. just wanted to know what sort of things you guys feed yours on.

What is the size of the aquarium/pond you have for this fish?
Phractocephalus are unfussy feeders, but avoid oily fish such as Herring, Sprats, Mackerel etc.
I'd also avoid farmed trout. If you live near somewhere with a decent fish market you should find enough quality frozen mollusc and crustacean foods to provide a good basis for a balanced diet, plus Smelt, white fish trimmings etc. etc., with the addtion of some fruit and vegetables (better to feed these after a couple of days fast to ensure they are accepted). One of the best foods I have found in the past were the heads of Langoustines.

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 20 Oct 2003, 11:48

tank size is as my previous post

is my tank size sufficient?

Post by **Silurus** » 20 Oct 2003, 12:07

That's somewhat smallish. At least 500 gallons would be better.

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 20 Oct 2003, 12:33

ok thanx guys

any suggestions on the filter?

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 20 Oct 2003, 13:11

fletberbill wrote:tank size is as my previous post

is my tank size sufficient?

Your post on dimensions arrived while I was still typing, making my question somewhat redundant.
With regard to whether it is sufficent for the fish (which should still have a considerable amount of growing to do), my answer would have to be no, I'm afraid.
A fish like this IMO should have an aquarium at least 5 times it's own body length to swim in one direction without having to turn, and the other dimensions should be at least 1.5 times the eventual possible length of the fish. I know this means we are talking about huge aquaria, but to put this into perspective it is like housing a 4 inch Goldfish in an aquarium 20" by 6" by 6", and I think most people would regard this as being cramped. Your current aquarium is like housing that same 4" Goldfish in an aquarium that is less than 11" long...
Pete

Pimbuddy · Post by **Pimbuddy** » 20 Oct 2003, 14:44

I'd avoid live feeder they tend to create problems of the toxic sort. In the wild crustaceans and fruits, as previously mentioned, are a large part of the natural diet. Since water quality is an issue for this fish the more water in the system the better which makes the sump a good idea. As mine was growing I took that option before he got too large and needed something much bigger. Not to mention they are fantastic to watch swim and a shame to cramp in a small tank.

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 21 Oct 2003, 12:47

i have a 36"x15"x12" spare tank that i would like to make a sump filter out of.
can it be done?
can anybody point me in the right direction of doing this.

any help or suggestions would be much appreciated

thanx

Dave Rinaldo · Post by **Dave Rinaldo** » 21 Oct 2003, 14:00

Hi!
Are you already aware of this group?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sa_redtail_catfish/

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 21 Oct 2003, 14:11

nice 1 thanx

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 22 Oct 2003, 00:46

ok i think i have got my head around the sump filter design.

1 thing i can't seem to work out is the safety feature in casr of power failure surely it will just empty my tank all over thr floor .

please enlighten me.

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 22 Oct 2003, 01:36

Afaik a sump filter requires a drilling (all ive seen have been in the bottom of the tank) and then you can regulate the water flow with the hight of the pipe...not possible to set up a sump filter if the tank is running i think.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 22 Oct 2003, 03:51

wouldn't an overflow box work?

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 22 Oct 2003, 08:45

how does an overflow box work?

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 22 Oct 2003, 09:16

S. Allen wrote:wouldn't an overflow box work?

I'm not sure these are reliable enough to deal with the flow rates and particulate load involved in adequate filtration for a RTC.
Pete

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 22 Oct 2003, 09:31

so what would u suggest for the filter set up.

as all the equipment is second hand the filter at the moment is a huge bucket on top of the tank with a series of holes in the bottom. filled with various media and has a lotus 9500 pond pump pushing the water into the top of the bucket. works well but very unsightly and the missus aint happy.

thanx in anticipation

p.s. it would be nice to use the old 3ft tank

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 22 Oct 2003, 15:04

Unless you want to get the tank drilled then your only option is to use an over flow box.
But I would also back the sump up with at least one large external filter. As pete said over flow boxes are not that good or secure.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 23 Oct 2003, 00:26

an overflow basically siphons out of the tank, over the back, and then it runs down a tube to the filter. It may not be as reliable as you'd want, I'm just stating it's one option. I believe you could probably have enough to care for the tank, that one takes as much as 1600 gph. There's a wetdry there that says it takes up to 1200gph and will filter as much as 240 gallons, so... that's 5 times an hour turnover to filter on a standard wet dry, I always consider the filtration under rated for my style of fishkeeping, and with a redtail I'm guessing you'd be no different. so we'll say 10 times an hour turnover rate to properly filter? that's a guess... but it's what I use with my standard filtration as a guideline, so it probably works ok. So, we're looking at 5000 gallons per hour, divided by 1600 comes to 3.125... if you're gonna throw on a large standard filter I'd say 3 overflows would be able to do the job(who knows how accurately though). I'd say that's probably over rated, but better to overfilter than underfilter

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 23 Oct 2003, 01:10

how much are overflows now? can we help out finding a cheep price last one i got cost me Â£70 from TMC.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 23 Oct 2003, 02:18

the one there is at about $110... smaller ones available for $90... can get marineland's version for $70

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 23 Oct 2003, 21:49

ok guys i've got the idea of an overflow now but surely when we are talkin about an 80cm redtail having the water removed from the top of the tank is no good surely it needs to taking it in from the bottom to remove waste.

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 24 Oct 2003, 00:19

No thats what your there for!

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 24 Oct 2003, 16:31

Hi!

The problem is see here is: First set up the tank and second get the fish. If you turn this around and buy a fish with special care needs it will likely result in inappropriate filtration.

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 25 Oct 2003, 10:52

Caol_ila wrote:The problem is see here is: First set up the tank and second get the fish. If you turn this around and buy a fish with special care needs it will likely result in inappropriate filtration.

I'm afraid so. Fish that place the sort of demands on life support that RTCs do really require purpose-built systems, and anything other than that will always be on a knife-edge. This isn't the sort of fish where a system can be put together after the event. To do it properly it will take easily a four-figure sum.
On the subject of overflows, it is possible to draw bottom water with a surface drain, it just involves the use of a baffle.
I actually have serious doubts that the spare aquarium you hope to use as a sump will be large enough. A sump must have adequate spare free-board to accomodate the 'head' of water in the main aquarium, as when the pump(s) are switched off the sump is where all that water will end up. Unless you hope to run the pump(s) with a low operational water level, you may not have enough required spare capacity.
Also evaporation draw-down can cause serious problems where a large aquarium is combined with a small sump.
I use a 20 gallon sump to run my 50 gallon aquarium, and I still need to keep an eye in things during dry weather.
Pete

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 27 Oct 2003, 21:17

ok good points much appreciated. so what filteration setup would you reccomend? as i said earlier the whole setup is second hand (including the redtail) at the moment there is an s.h.p pump sucking 2100 uk gallons per hour into a huge bucket on top of the tank with 2 layers of different grade foam (fine and course) and a very large quantity of different media. then series of holes on bottom of bucket for flow back into tank

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 28 Oct 2003, 11:57

fletberbill wrote:ok good points much appreciated. so what filteration setup would you reccomend?

It's difficult to be positive, as what this fish really needs is a larger aquarium, or indoor pond.
Where did the fish come from?
If you had an empty tank it is possible that you could get a tank builder to 'drill' it for you, then the drainage for a sump filter could be fitted, but as it is you are restricted to either several very large externals, DIY trickle filters, several overflows to a sump or a combination thereof. There are modular filters that can be purchased, but these rarely work as well as claimed and they are very expensive.
Whereabouts in the UK are you?

fletberbill · Post by **fletberbill** » 28 Oct 2003, 12:03

The problem i had was the guy i got them from had moved house and did not have room in his new house. so we had to move tank and setup asap with as much of original water as possible. I am currently living in north wales

south american redtail catfish

south american redtail catfish

Re: south american redtail catfish

redtail