PlanetCatfish.com

Hello,

I've been lurking around this forum for about two years now and I figured it was time to join. I've gotten tons of good info on this forum, and I feel now that I'm about ready to get some "real" catfish. Namely a Bagarius for myself; and an RTC for the wife, who thinks they're cute ("they look like swimming oreos!") and likes how they can be tamed. I'm not too concerned about the mix because I've read of these fish being kept together sucessfully if they're placed together as fry (less than 6"). Would you guys have any inhibitions about that mix? And yes, I realize that those fish will need an absolutely enormous setup someday.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi.

Rob

ps- is the catelog down? It's not working for me...

Welcome

The Cat-eLog is working for me.

Welcome to Planet Catfish.

--
Mats

Welcome to Planet Catfish

RTC's have been kept successfully with many different tankmates but there is always a risk of them one day, fancying a snack...& bagarius could easily be considered "snack-shaped"!

quadcam wrote:And yes, I realize that those fish will need an absolutely enormous setup someday.

So, within 5 years or so, you need a pretty decent size tank or pond. Have you got some idea of how you are going to solve that now, or is that "let's solve it when we get there"? I mean a 20ft x 10ft x 8ft (about 12000 gallon or 45000 liter) pond would probably be the minimum to keep a fully grown red-tail catfish - bigger would be better.

There are lots of stuff to solve with this:
1. Heating.
It needs to be kept at at least 25'C throughout the year. If we simply scale the 0.5-1W per liter heating criteria to a larger scale in a 45000 liter, we get 22-45kW. We can probably get away with a bit less, as a big tank has a smaller surface area than a small tank. Say we get away with 15kW heating. In the UK, we pay about 9p per unit (kWh) of electricity. Say we get a average heating duty cycle of 20% - so for each 24h period, the heating is on for 4.8 hours. 4.8 * 15 * 365 gives 26280 units of electricity a year - that makes 2365 pounds (about 4000 dollars) per year to keep it heated. And I think that's a bit low, actually, and certainly doesn't take into account rising electricity prices.

2. Filtration.
Filters for large tanks/ponds is actually fairly easy. Just a large tub of some sort with a lid, a big order of bioballs/ceramic media and some sponge filter media, a large pump, and some pipework. But you are still probably looking to spend about $2-3000 just buying the filter components and media. Yearly run would be a couple of hundred dollars for media that needs replacing, and some electricity: 100w, running 24/7 is probably feasible. 880 units of electricity - some 80 pounds, 150 dollars per year.

3. Housing.
You obviously need an extension to the house, or some such. 20ft x 10ft + space for filter and such. Probably between $10000 and $20000 to build that. Can perhaps be done cheaper if it's not part of the residence (and thus not as strict building regs). But no real running costs once it's been built.

4. Lighting.
You may want some lights above the tank/pond. Again, running costs will be electrics and replacement bulbs/tubes. Rough guess $300 per year.

5. Tank/pond itself.
You obviously need to build the tank/pond in your choosen location. One time cost, probably about $10000.

What I'm trying to say is that you are committing to a big investment in the future, and fairly large running costs of around $5000 per year.

--
Mats

MatsP wrote:

quadcam wrote:And yes, I realize that those fish will need an absolutely enormous setup someday.

So, within 5 years or so, you need a pretty decent size tank or pond. Have you got some idea of how you are going to solve that now, or is that "let's solve it when we get there"? I mean a 20ft x 10ft x 8ft (about 12000 gallon or 45000 liter) pond would probably be the minimum to keep a fully grown red-tail catfish - bigger would be better.

There are lots of stuff to solve with this:
1. Heating.
It needs to be kept at at least 25'C throughout the year. If we simply scale the 0.5-1W per liter heating criteria to a larger scale in a 45000 liter, we get 22-45kW. We can probably get away with a bit less, as a big tank has a smaller surface area than a small tank. Say we get away with 15kW heating. In the UK, we pay about 9p per unit (kWh) of electricity. Say we get a average heating duty cycle of 20% - so for each 24h period, the heating is on for 4.8 hours. 4.8 * 15 * 365 gives 26280 units of electricity a year - that makes 2365 pounds (about 4000 dollars) per year to keep it heated. And I think that's a bit low, actually, and certainly doesn't take into account rising electricity prices.

2. Filtration.
Filters for large tanks/ponds is actually fairly easy. Just a large tub of some sort with a lid, a big order of bioballs/ceramic media and some sponge filter media, a large pump, and some pipework. But you are still probably looking to spend about $2-3000 just buying the filter components and media. Yearly run would be a couple of hundred dollars for media that needs replacing, and some electricity: 100w, running 24/7 is probably feasible. 880 units of electricity - some 80 pounds, 150 dollars per year.

3. Housing.
You obviously need an extension to the house, or some such. 20ft x 10ft + space for filter and such. Probably between $10000 and $20000 to build that. Can perhaps be done cheaper if it's not part of the residence (and thus not as strict building regs). But no real running costs once it's been built.

4. Lighting.
You may want some lights above the tank/pond. Again, running costs will be electrics and replacement bulbs/tubes. Rough guess $300 per year.

5. Tank/pond itself.
You obviously need to build the tank/pond in your choosen location. One time cost, probably about $10000.

What I'm trying to say is that you are committing to a big investment in the future, and fairly large running costs of around $5000 per year.

--
Mats

The time frame to when my fish need a pond will correspond well to when I get out of the military. When I get out, I'm going to get myself a rancher on about ten acres of land back home in Florida. My intent for the fish is to dig an artificial pond (lined and whatnot, not just thrown into a natural pond). My goal is to have it by the house so you walk by it when coming up to the front door. I'm also planning on having a sunken den adjacent to the pond with windows to view into the pond. It'll be cool

It's worth noting that I'm going to be building a home of my own, so this will be truly part of the house literally from the ground up.



Thanks for the feedback everyone!