Large Catfish and Oscars in Small Tanks

roughbuckincwgrl · Post by **roughbuckincwgrl** » 21 Sep 2005, 19:29

Ok I know that it is not the best idea to keep large fish in a small tank but it can be done. When I was younger my dad had 2 oscars (11" each), a pacu (11"), and a shovel nose(about a foot and a half) and they all lived together in a 55 gallon tank. I am not saying that this is right but they all lived together, were healthy, and did not fight with each other. They ate feeder goldfish and dog food, and live peacful till my dad sold them back to the lfs.

DeepFriedIctalurus · Post by **DeepFriedIctalurus** » 21 Sep 2005, 19:42

I just have 2 things to add here..

There's a BIG difference between "can" and "should".

And goldfish & dogfood has to be about the worst diet these fish could ever eat.

Just because they were alive, grew larger & were "apparently healthy" doesn't actually mean they actually were happy & healthy under these conditions. Simply put, these are not recommendations anyone should be making unfortunately.

djw66 · Post by **djw66** » 21 Sep 2005, 22:38

DeepFriedIctalurus,

Here here! Makes me cringe to hear animals abused like that.

Dave

nick.c · Post by **nick.c** » 21 Sep 2005, 23:27

Unfortunatly this type of thing happens all the time.I myself am guilty of it,right now i house 2-3 inch channel cats,2-3 inch Oscars and a 6 inch Midas in a 55 gal tank.Needless to say within the next month will be doing some"house cleaning"Keeping only 1 Oscar and finding a nice "cat" to live with him.But i will do the responsible thing and bring the cats back to the LFS.

roughbuckincwgrl · Post by **roughbuckincwgrl** » 22 Sep 2005, 05:04

OK maybe I did not make myself clear, I am not suggesting that people do this I am just tired of listening to you bite peoples heads off for having these fish in small tanks.
And just FYI, my dads fish had all been raised togehter and were heathly and happy. You could put your fingers in the tank and they would let you pet them and play with them.
Oh and by the way what do you think the lfs feed the large Oscars and Jack Dempsys, feeder goldfish. And dog food has a lot of protien in it.

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 22 Sep 2005, 11:17

roughbuckincwgrl wrote:I am not suggesting that people do this I am just tired of listening to you bite peoples heads off for having these fish in small tanks. And just FYI, my dads fish had all been raised together and were heathly and happy. You could put your fingers in the tank and they would let you pet them and play with them.

I'm aware of the Five Freedoms as used by IFAW for defining the welfare standards for captive animals, but I don't think "playing with fish" is one of them, so I'm not sure how you are defining "healthy and happy". Bearing in mind the size that at at least one of the species you mention should get to quite quickly if their most basic needs are met, I'm really not sure what the point of your post is other than to suggest is that it is remarkable how much abuse some fish are able to tolerate in the short term.

roughbuckincwgrl wrote:And dog food has a lot of protien in it.

It also has a lot of fat, much of which is only partly digestible by fish, and is a wholly unsuitable food stuff for the long-term maintenance of fish.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 22 Sep 2005, 12:13

roughbuckincwgrl wrote:I am just tired of listening to you bite peoples heads off for having these fish in small tanks.
And just FYI, my dads fish had all been raised togehter and were heathly and happy. You could put your fingers in the tank and they would let you pet them and play with them.
Oh and by the way what do you think the lfs feed the large Oscars and Jack Dempsys, feeder goldfish. And dog food has a lot of protien in it.

Why so aggressive? Who are you trying to convince and what for??

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 22 Sep 2005, 13:03

Humans can also be kept alive and moderately healthy in a room 2 x 3 m for decades on moderately OK food.
give em a few barbells and weights and they even stay in shape better than the average "couch potato"!
it's called "prison" and "doing life sentence" or something.....

not to be recommended to house humans in general, is it?

it CAN be done, doesn't mean it SHOULD be done.

ditto to fish!

TalenT · Post by **TalenT** » 22 Sep 2005, 20:04

Not long ago I was reading in another fish forum. People were badmouthing Planet Catfish and they were planning to start topics like this one here, just to provoke/for the hell of it. Don't know, but in my eyes this might be such a topic.

It all comes down to that some people don't like hearing the truth, and then they try to shoot the messenger.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 22 Sep 2005, 21:21

when i was was 14 i had a giraffe cat in a 30 gallon tank. It got to about 11 inches, then it died.

Then i bought a Leiarius longibarbis, and surprise surprise that died too, at about the same size.

I wish Planet Catfish was around in those days to inform me of the long term requirements of these fish.

The advice given on this site is CORRECT, and only a selfish idiot would ignore it and condemn their fish to such a terrible life.

nick.c · Post by **nick.c** » 22 Sep 2005, 23:51

You guys are absolutley right,it just shouldnt be done.But sometimes as humans we let curiousity,even compassion stand in the way of common sense,like i said i have been guilty of this and probably will be in the future even though i know better.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 23 Sep 2005, 07:15

nick.c wrote:You guys are absolutley right,it just shouldnt be done.But sometimes as humans we let curiousity,even compassion stand in the way of common sense,like i said i have been guilty of this and probably will be in the future even though i know better.

I think every fishkeeper has been there once or twice. That's the whole thing about learning: making mistakes and trying to avoid them the next time.
And when passion comes in.... You're right Nick. Hell of a job resisting that.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 23 Sep 2005, 10:59

I think this article is a decent one for explaining the minimum size required for tanks.

If we take that, and insert 11" (which by the way is NOT the maximum size of neither Oscar's nor Pacu's), we get:
Length: 11 x 4 (peaceful fish): 44"
Width: 11 x 1.3: 14.3"
Height: 8 + 3.5 * 5.5 (fish height: Pacu is about half it's length): 27".
This gives a tank volume of 75 gal (73.2 gal to be precise). Add 10-20% for keeping two fish together, and we get about 85 gal.

And this is using the smallest numbers in the above article, which is being kind to the original poster.

Ah. I missed the shovel-nose: Calculate again:
Length: 18 x 4 (peaceful fish): 72"
Width: 18 x 1.3: 23.4"
Height: 8 + 3.5 * 5.5 (fish height: Pacu is about half it's length): 27".

This gives a minimum recommended tank volume of: 196 gal.

Yes, it's clearly possible to keep much bigger fish in smaller tank. But is that what I and others should recommend, suggest or otherwise give as advice? I don't think so...

--
Mats

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 23 Sep 2005, 13:50

I've locked this thread as it is clear to me that it is clearly an attempt at trolling.

A repeat offence is a great way to get banned!

Jools

PS As to other forums "bad mouthing" PC for our informed "stance", nice to know we're doing something right and glad to see those who would see sense are all hanging around somewhere else!