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Is this a sun catfish or another type?

Yes, a .

Thanks. Yes, that's the one I meant...should have put the Latin name.

I see max size on these is 18"...how long can they reasonably live in a 55? E.g. what is a typical growth rate, realizing it varies?

I picked up two with a batch of other Asian catfish for a few dollars.

Sun catfish grow pretty fast, it can be out of a 55 gallon pretty quick. Of course, it depends on the care how fast they will grow, but I don't think outgrowing it in a year or two is unreasonable.

The measurement in the Cat-elog is SL (Standard Length) which doesn't take the caudal fin into account, so you can expect the fish to max out at around 20 " TL (Total Length).


With regard to care, they are not fussy about food and eat just about anything dropped in although they do have a tendency to eat up smaller tankmates like loaches or barbs as well. I am not sure what the dimensions of a 55 G are unfortunately.



Picture of a large specimen : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajeevraq/380039037/

My 55g is 48x12 (footprint) x 21 high (all inches). Currently they are about 2" and in with various loaches (zebra, yoyo, skunk, kuhli), tiger barbs, zebra danios, and a few other catfish species (2 glass catfish, 2 mystus sp, probably tengara or carcio as both have the dark spot behind the gills but none at the base of the tail...maybe could be vittatus). I will post a separate thread on the other two mystus cats, but they should be fine in the 55 long term as max length on any of those three species seems to be under 8" SL.

The 2 horabagrus I will decide about moving as I observe their growth rate. If they start going after the loaches I can put them in another 55 by themselves until they outgrow it, then figure out rehoming since my largest tank currently is a 75 gallon (4'x1.5').

Thanks for the info.

Vast majority of keepers of this fish report that theirs do not exceed 10"-12" TL. IDK why that is, but just a fact. Same with mine. I have had about 6 for some years in a large pond. They would not grow beyond 12" TL.

Fast or slow are relative terms. I think starting from 2", they may reach 4"-5" in the first year, maybe 6"-7" in 2 years, ~8" in 3 years, give or take, and so on.

They are not all out predatory. If a tank mate fits in their mouth well, then I'd not risk it.

Thanks for the additional info. That sounds consistent with other things I've read, both in terms of growth rate and max size for the sun catfish. Very helpful.

Guess we'll just see how it goes. The other loaches should max out at a large enough size to avoid being eaten at least for a while...I don't really care about the zebra danios that much, and I'll keep an eye on the kuhlis, as they are thin and long but also quite fast when they want to be. Hopefully if I keep the catfish (and others) well fed it will be fine. I'll wait and see.

When we talk about fitting in the mouth, we most usually mean girth-wise, not length-wise. Long skinny fish can be killed and digested stepwise but sometimes just killed and then spit out. Again, sun cats can be risk if any fish fits quite well in its mouth girth-wise. If it does not happen right away, it does not mean at all that it will not happen in the future. Just general notes - I am not arguing for or against your plans. You, of course, decide.

Viktor Jarikov wrote:When we talk about fitting in the mouth, we most usually mean girth-wise, not length-wise. Long skinny fish can be killed and digested stepwise but sometimes just killed and then spit out. Again, sun cats can be risk if any fish fits quite well in its mouth girth-wise. If it does not happen right away, it does not mean at all that it will not happen in the future. Just general notes - I am not arguing for or against your plans. You, of course, decide.

Thanks for explaining. I was probably unclear. I was actually agreeing with that definition of fitting in the mouth, so my biggest concern about the tank's present inhabitants is that the kuhli loaches will easily fit in the mouth especially as the sun cats get bigger. So I will monitor and accept the current risk (fairly low) that the kuhlis get eaten, while looking into other tank arrangements for down the road when the sun cats get bigger.

I think we are on the same page. I was thinking of the kuhli's in the first place too. Good luck!