PlanetCatfish.com

I do NOT plan on getting one of these fish but i see them often in shops and in peoples tanks. What would the tank requirements br to house this species long term? Just curius...

If we use the "basic rule of 4L x 2L x 2L, where L = length of the fish", then it's 5.2 x 2.6 x 2.6m or roughly 17 x 9 x 9 ft. That's 35000 liter, or 9000 gallon. A pretty decent size.

However, they are active swimmers, so they probably could do with a bit more length at least, and preferrably a bit more width too...

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Mats

When I lived in SEA the locals would catch these fish and cook them
They would just throw some scraps in the water and wait a bit then lift up the nets and they would have 100,s any under a foot long were discarded and any that looked fat also.

They are available here as food fish - mostly farmed, frozen fillets.

And the fish in the aquatic trade are most likely originating from the same farms that breed them for food.

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Mats

I saw some at the Denver Aquarium quite a few years ago. They had them in a "river" display - they were huge! I wish more people could see what they grow into before they consider buying them. They were quite gracefull and seemed happy there but had plenty of swimming room because of the shape of the river design. They could swim around and around without four walls to crash into. I think that sort of shape would suit them best. Of course the average aquarist can not provide anything like that. Wish the stores would not sell them.

There are a number of fish I wish the shops could restrain themselves from carrying.

I agree with Jools that legislation will not benefit us fishkeepers
- it will make it hard for those who HAVE sufficient space
- all manner of illegal trading will not help anyone
- and where do you stop? Many people don't want a 4 x 2 x 2ft tank at home, so is a 12" fish too big?

So, shops showing restraint is a better option. For those that have the capability to take care of large fish, the option of special order wouldn't be a big problem. I mean even if you want a 200gal tank, it's darn hard to just find a shop and buy one then and there (here in the UK at least), so why should you be able to just walk into a shop and buy a fish that grows big enough to eventually need a 200g tank?

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Mats

The thing I found to be a problem when keeping Pangasiidae species is that even one around the 18 inch size got spooked out in a
7foot X 2foot x 2 & a half foot (L,H,W) tank when large people went past and they would dash to the other end of the tank which would result in a bashed up snout, this sometimes resulted in secondary infection. Often within half an hour of the damage being done the fishes eyes clouded over; sometimes the catfish never recovered. (This was before the days of Melafix)

Yep, sadly, I have seen a lot of those with such injuries all over the states I've been to. 7 of them have been and are swimming in my basement pond for a while now. They are sweetest, peaceful cats with no teeth. They almost never get spooked in my pond. Don't know if it is the size of the pond (40'x6'x3') or absence of transparent windows and ultimate stability (the basement floor never shakes ).

I saw Zeb Hogan's show... (don't know if I am spelling his name right - it is the guy that went around the globe recently raising awareness about large fish and large fish getting extinct; probably should check U-tube)
... where he talked about these when in Thailand or Cambodia - he handled and showed a 4'-5' specimen! He had it in a cradle-like thing and let it go in the river after having played with the fish right in the murky water.