Which cat for a 180 native tank?

[Blackwater]

Hoping and expert can reccomend a catfish for a 180 gallon native tank (kept at room temp) with sunfish, bluegills, etc I went to a lfs today and almost bought a "Blue Channel Catfish" which was tagged at reaching a max length of 27" I came home to research it before buying and am reading that it may get bigger?? What is the biggest catfish that could comfortably live in a 180 (72x24x24) for life???

[CEfire]

I have kept both channels and bullheads and I would advise you to get a bullhead (Yellow, brown, black or white), they would all be able to comfortably fit in your tank and BTW are very interesting fish (i.e. dont hide all the time like many other cats such as channels ). You can look up their info in the cat e-log.

[zenyfish]

I would think any of those catfish mentioned would snack on the small pan fish?

Bass with bullheads? Sunfish with madtoms?

Stonecats?
http://fish.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Icta ... necat.html

[DeepFriedIctalurus]

In MI that pretty much means you'll be keeping black bullhead, unless you have some good places to look for browns or madtoms. I've spent several days hand netting in the Au Sable during a few trips there & never found one catfish besides a baby blakc bullhead, but back then I probably didn't have a clue where the whiskered really were. Don't get me wrong, black bullheads are a pretty cool fish as I've kept them myself.. Only they do grow fairly large & VERY fast, but would still be comfortable in a 2' wide tank I'd say. Catching some juvies & raising them as a group would be interesting, they almost seem social compared to similar cats from other countries.

[MatsP]

Hoping and expert can reccomend a catfish for a 180 gallon native tank (kept at room temp) with sunfish, bluegills, etc I went to a lfs today and almost bought a "Blue Channel Catfish" which was tagged at reaching a max length of 27" I came home to research it before buying and am reading that it may get bigger?? What is the biggest catfish that could comfortably live in a 180 (72x24x24) for life???

If you go by the "rule of tank-size" 4L x 2L x 2L , where L is the length of the fish, you get something that doesn't exceed 12" (2 x 12 = 24). Put another way: You can keep a fish that is half the smallest side of the tank, or a quarter of the longest side, whichever is smaller. In this case, half the shorter side.

Not sure which North american catfish match that criteria, if any...

--
Mats

[DeepFriedIctalurus]

Not sure which North american catfish match that criteria, if any...

All the madtoms of course, and most of the bullheads come close anyway.

[jewel]

I thought that baby brown bullheads were black until they get bigger? I have a brown bullhead that is about 9" now in with my Oscars and he has to be one of the coolest fish I have. He comes to the top of the water and sticks his mouth out of the water wide open for me to put food right in it

[menschenjaeger]

Stonecats like cool water and a HIGH dissolved O2 level. I'd say go with some tadple madtoms or maybe...a snail bullhead*.

*don't, no matter how gorgeous they look.

[zenyfish]

*don't, no matter how gorgeous they look.

Because of high O2 requirements? Then the spotted bullhead might be the bullhead of choice?

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/ic ... 1089_f.php

Though hard to find ... in these parts.

[menschenjaeger]

No, I just don't want to suggest keeping a protected species. Actually, they might only be a "Species of Special Concern," but I think that still makes them illegal to collect. What I do know about them suggests that, like another SPC, the mangrove rivulus, they are more elusive than rare, but until they lose SPC status, stick to tadpole - or similar madtoms.