Redtail Catfish

superduper · Post by **superduper** » 28 Dec 2005, 21:08

Hi,
I have a Redtail Catfish he is currently about 15" long and seems to be going off his food. I was told that he may need worming? and that I should contact the vets. Does anyone know anything about this? I am unsure of whether the information that I was given is accurate. If anyone knows anything could you let me know please?
Thankyou.

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 28 Dec 2005, 23:03

To give any sort of answer, more details of the aquarium your fish is housed in would be a great help, water parameters, maintenance regime, previous feeding etc. etc.

superduper · Post by **superduper** » 29 Dec 2005, 17:02

It is housed in a tank that is 350L, the pH was 6 the last time I checked, the water hardness is roughly 10 dH and the water temp is 25 c. He was previously feeding on prawns, white bait and other small live fish. Hope this helps.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 29 Dec 2005, 17:10

What about ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

How often and how big are water changes?

Have you also read the big cats sticky?

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=10494

superduper · Post by **superduper** » 29 Dec 2005, 21:48

The Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia levels are ok according to the test kits that I have. The Nitrite level can sometimes be a little higher than I'd like but it is generally safe. I perform a 30% water change once a week, is this enough?
I will read the catfish Sticky and see if that helps.
Thanks.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 30 Dec 2005, 12:28

The Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia levels are ok according to the test kits that I have

What is OK? do you specific values? Some people's idea of OK is very different to others!

The Nitrite level can sometimes be a little higher than I'd like but it is generally safe

I don't think that any level of nitrite is safe. This could easily be putting the catfish off food. In an established aquarium with adequate filtration there shouldn't be any nitrite. The filtration system should allow for the spikes in ammonia that come with the irregular feeding of a large predator.

i would stop feeding, and keep changing the water until the nitrite is 0.

The ARTC could also be getting a bit cramped in a that tank. This could be causing stress that may put it off it's food.

Hope this helps......

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 30 Dec 2005, 13:38

How long has it not eaten for and what dimensions are the 350l?

Jools

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 30 Dec 2005, 14:05

What type of filtration are you using?
As Barbie has said, your filtration should be sufficient to ensure that in an established aquarium the Nitrite level is always be below that which can be measured by the test kits available through the aquarium trade.
It may be that your system is at the limits of the bioload it is able to support, but given the adult size of the Asian Redtail you will be needing a much larger aquarium soon. Although not as major a problem as the South American Redtail they still require huge aquaria for long-term housing. The latest Practical Fishkeeping has an article on large Asian Catfish and the problems associated with them, might be worth a read.
Pete

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 30 Dec 2005, 17:28

As Barbie has said

Is your fish definately an Asian Redtail Catfish?, as they are much less common in shops than the South American Redtail Catfish.

superduper · Post by **superduper** » 30 Dec 2005, 18:44

The filtration that I have is Aquapro 4, that cycles 1200L an hour. Is this enough? Should I put on a second or bigger filter?

The tank that I have is a Juwel Trigon 350.
The Nitrite level is currently at 0.6 as I am doing more regular water changes. But this has been known to rise to 2.4 which is very dangerous. But I don't know why???
The Ammonia level is at 0.
The Nitrate level is at 0.

I know that I need a bigger tank to house him sufficiently soon and I have been looking into buying a 8 x 2 x 2 tank or a custom build.

Also should I consider moving the Tiger Shovlenose x Redtail catfish, that he is in with, to another tank?

So from what I can tell so far the person that told me my redtail needs worming should not have told me that at all without having seen the fish, a water sample or being told anything else other than the fish being off his food?

Also I put up this post in the wrong section I have a South American Redtail... I am sorry if this confuses anyone.

One more thing, does anyone know of any good, informative books about redtails or catfish in general? The books that I have are too vague and basic and in the internet is so unreliable, I find, as each siter seems to state someting different.

Thanks for all the help it is much appreciated.

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 30 Dec 2005, 19:37

superduper wrote:The filtration that I have is Aquapro 4, that cycles 1200L an hour. Is this enough? Should I put on a second or bigger filter?

These larger predatory Catfish really require custom-built filtration. The off-the-shelf stuff available on the UK market is simply inadequate, unless you are willing to have several filters on a single aquarium, and then it gets untidy and time consuming to maintain.

superduper wrote:The tank that I have is a Juwel Trigon 350.

Although Trigon are attractive units for the home and make great display aquaria for smaller "community" fish, they are not suitable housing for large fish.

superduper wrote:But I don't know why???

Simply because the filtration is inadequate to deal with the nitrogenous wastes excreted by the fish you have. Large predatory catfish release large amounts of ammonia in their urine as they digest their food, and the bacterial colonies in your filter simply cannot reproduce fast enough to cope with the increased amounts of waste they are expected to process.

superduper wrote:The Ammonia level is at 0.
The Nitrate level is at 0.

I would suggest that the test kits you are using may be faulty. To have the levels of Nitrite you report, you must have had high levels of Ammonia shortly before. Unless you are totally missing the next stage in biological filtration (by which Nitrite is converted to Nitrate) you would also have testable levels of Nitrate.

superduper wrote:I know that I need a bigger tank to house him sufficiently soon and I have been looking into buying a 8 x 2 x 2 tank or a custom build.

Assuming you've read the Big Cats "Sticky", you'll now be aware that aquaria for these fish have to be custom-built as the huge systems they require are not available in any other way. An 8x2x2 would be potentially useful as a sump to house the filtration though...

superduper wrote:Also should I consider moving the Tiger Shovlenose x Redtail catfish, that he is in with, to another tank?

If you have another fish in there (and it must be of significant size if it hasn't been killed by the RTC) then your aquarium is absolutely overloaded, and this is the cause of the poor water quality and loss of appetite.

superduper wrote:So from what I can tell so far the person that told me my redtail needs worming should not have told me that at all without having seen the fish, a water sample or being told anything else other than the fish being off his food?

No. Where did you obtain these fish? Did they tell you the potential adult size at the time?

superduper wrote:One more thing, does anyone know of any good, informative books about redtails or catfish in general? The books that I have are too vague and basic and in the internet is so unreliable, I find, as each siter seems to state someting different.

There is no decent book available on how to care for really large fish in the home, because it is so difficult. Unless you are dedicated, have disposable time and income to devote to the maintenance of them, and a tolerant partner/family it is not really a feasible option.
Sorry that it isn't more positive, just being as honest as possible having had considerable experience in caring for large fish and knowing just what it entails.
Pete