Tank size/setup for Noturus flavus

[bigamefish]

Hey everybody! Every year when our fish ladder is drained there many of these particular catfish stuck wedged between rocks, burried and easy to get too! I have decied i would like to setup a small native tank with some of these catfish and some native minnows! So my question is what would be an ok tank size for this particular group of fish would be? I have a couple of other questions as well, how long do these catfish live on average? Will more than one get along ok? Will they breed with the right setup? If so how should i set up the tank? Will i need a cooler for the tank? Sorry for all the questions.

[Birger]

That is a great project...I wish I had access to these but we do not have any cats here.

I have not kept

Noturus flavus

but I do currently have

Noturus gyrinus

and

Noturus insignis

.
Both the species I have are very different in behaviour, I would think flavus would be more like the insignis. My insignis are very active, always on the move.

For the flavus I would set up a minimum 18 x 36 footprint, keep some current in the tank, keep the oxygen content up.

Use fine gravel with river rocks for cover.

Should not need a chiller but need to be kept cool as possible through the summer, I keep mine in tanks that are on the floor.

Both of my species eat everything now but would only eat frozen or live for the first bit.

Noturus seem to not have the long lifespan many other catfish have...but this could be only for gyrinus...not really sure for flavus.

My gyrinus all got along okay.

My insignis are rough with each other and I would suspect the flavus would be similar...I would start with 6 and watch their behaviour...

Birger

[Catfish?]

theese guys need a very fast moveing current a normall filter would not work id suggest a fan in it and it likes large stones to hide under. it can grow to 12 inches so i would suggest a tank 4 feet long and around 15-18 back. they live 5-6 years possibly longer if kept in a huge tank with good parameters. it eats crayfish lettuce and minnows and looves blood worms they prefer to have a few plastic plants as they will eat real ones but they mostly like large caves and smooth stones to rest under.

[Birger]

The large size is specific to a lake Erie population only...the Mississippi River Basin fish are more the size listed in the Cat-eLog. You should not find the larger size in Manotoba.

Birger

[bigamefish]

How many gph`s do you think would be good for a 40 gallon (36x18x16)? Being from a fish ladder they would be used to fast flowing water.

[Catfish?]

a good gph for that size would be about 240 gph to 400 as a healthy stream tank has 6-10 times the gallon turnover so baisicly its between 6x40 and 10x40. i would personnaly reccomend around 300-345 gph depending on what size you can find that wont look really out of place.i know this sounds really high but some flow will be taken away by water resistance and a filter path could interupt it or push it on so the placement matters.

[bigamefish]

I do think i will try to breed them! So what would be a good male to female ratio? Does it matter?

[bigamefish]

here is the place they come from.

[Birger]

Hello Birger! In my post you mentioned that your noturus will eat regular aquarium food, How did you go about getting them to eat the food?

I use NLS pellets as a staple and switch out with bloodworms and other frozen foods.

I started with mostly frozen bloodworms as they can not resist and once they were eating regular( I began to mix with other foods, was not that difficult to get mine to adjust, a variety of foods I think is important with these and if having them breed is a goal it is a must.

Those are good habitat shots...

Birger

[Jools]

Those are good habitat shots...

Hopefully they will be appearing at a well known catfish database soon. Once I know river name etc.

Cheers

Jools

[bigamefish]

I have sent jools the appropriate info. They should be up soon enough!

[bigamefish]

Hello again everybody! So today i thought that i had found the jackpot of stonecats when i saw a group of 100 or so small catfish running up the stream that i had shown pictures of! So i took a net full of the things and found it was a mix of black and brown bullhead juveniles! Do bullheads often run up river? So it looks like i have also solved my pond stocking problem, if you had seen that thread. So i was wondering if it would upset the balance of the tank if i added one or two bullheads to the tank to raise up and put in the pond? Would the bullheads harass the smaller stone cats?
Anyway im getting the tank soon in august so i will have pictures of that up then too.
Here are some pics of the little devils! They sure do have an attitude! I met the mean end of the pectoral fins! Enjoy

[bigamefish]

more

[Birger]

So i was wondering if it would upset the balance of the tank if i added one or two bullheads to the tank to raise up and put in the pond? Would the bullheads harass the smaller stone cats?

With the fast growth, attitude and appetite of the bullheads I do not think I would combine them in an aquarium.

They sure do have an attitude! I met the mean end of the pectoral fins!

Hehe...everyone should experience this at least once...be more careful with the Noturus, they will do the same and then some...you do not want to experience that first hand.

Birger

[bigamefish]

Yes i expected as much! But i had to ask! And yes when i was able to examine them last year i saw there little hypodermic needle pectoral bones!

[sequoiacat]

lucky

[bigamefish]

Lucky that I didn't get poked? If so I do agree!

[bigamefish]

Hello everybody! I just got my tank and whole setup for the noturus! 36"x18"x16" tank, fluval c3 power filter, undergravel filter (just to try out), 500 gpm circulation fan, river rock type gravel, some ph lowering liquid ( our tap water is ph is way to high to for noturus). Im going right to the river they are from to get rocks for hiding in the tank. So in about 3-4 months I will be able to aquire the N.flavus, then the real challenge begins!

[bigamefish]

Got the tank setup! it looks pretty good! Im happy with it!

[Birger]

Looks good!

I suggest a darker background, there is a lot of white around the tank.

What is the ph of your tap water?
What is the ph of the water the fish will come out of?

Birger