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If you can choose to keep either a red tail catfish or a tiger shovelnose, which would you choose and why?

I wouln´t choose neither. If i could keep big cats i`d keep Auchenoglanis occidentalis and Oxydoras niger.

if your going to keep 1 of these giant cats. then you will have room for another.. get both.

Oxydoras niger stay pretty small.. easily maintained in a large home aquaria, where as RTC and TSN grow giant and need something VERY large.

lets not even mention Piaraba.

Oxydoras niger stay pretty small

Can grow to a 120cm SL - small

Mika wrote:

Oxydoras niger stay pretty small

Can grow to a 120cm SL - small

i have never seen a pic of one Over 1 meter..

show me a pic please.

polkadot wrote:either a red tail catfish or a tiger shovelnose, which would you choose?

A TSN grows much more slowly than a RTC so you won't need an enormous new tank a year or so from now.
Sorubim lima and Pimelodus ornatus are more practical than either of them.

I preffer S. lima, but between RTC and TSN, in my opinion I pick the RTC for its behavior and the TSN for its striking pattern. Then again, I would love to see a 100g with 5-6 limas in a biotope setup.

Eduardo

I do not think red tailed catfish should be kept in cativity,unless maybe by a zoo. It is usually cruel and inhumane treatment eventually they just grow too large. Good luck .

If you are one of the types that needs the thrill of a large predatory catfish I'd look around and find a couple Ageneiosus spp..

They are much more interesting display animals. Super efficient predators and extremely cool to watch. The Fish Place in Buffalo has two 10" specimens in a 90 gallon that I was tempted by recently. This despite the $125 ea. price tag!

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Wood wrote: I do not think red tailed catfish should be kept in cativity,unless maybe by a zoo. It is usually cruel and inhumane treatment eventually they just grow too large. Good luck .

most Zoos have to small of taks.. My single indoor Pond has a larger foot print then most of my zoos freshwater tanks.

An LFS around here is getting in the hybrid between these two recently. Looks pretty cool, but it's a shame few people can keep all these Pimelodids that keep coming into the hobby...

Assuming I had the capability to house enormous predatory catfish, I'd have to go with Pylodictus olivaris, the yellow or flathead catfish. Second in size only to the blue catfish, it is the most predatory and piscavorous species in North America. Not what you might call attractive, but one heck of a predator.

jswledhed wrote:Assuming I had the capability to house enormous predatory catfish, I'd have to go with Pylodictus olivaris, the yellow or flathead catfish. Second in size only to the blue catfish, it is the most predatory and piscavorous species in North America. Not what you might call attractive, but one heck of a predator.

well sence we can pick any catifhs..

i would have to go with a Silurus Glanis in a Large outdoor pond.

Why not go for complete and utter weirdness?
Lophiosilurus alexandrii

now THAT's one heck of a weird cat!
80 cm of flattened roadkill looking vaguely fishlike and eyes on stalks; the rest is mouth.....

btw I didn't know Pseudodoras is now Oxydoras.
but

Oxydoras niger stay pretty small..

?????

i have never seen a pic of one Over 1 meter..

I do, but you forget about dimensions, mate....

A one meter long niger is heavier and fatter than a 4 1/2 foot Red Tail!
And definitely more potentially dangerous to the windows with a wider "wingspan" (pectoral spines), tailpower, spines, armour and all...

adult niger (this one's four feet and the size and weight of a German Shepherd dog!)

the wee fishy on the left is an adult TSN.....


say "HI" to the weirdest cat on earth the elusive L alexandrii

look, Ma; pancake-face!!

Wish I had a big tank and a few of those....

great Pic!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you get me a shot of it next to a ruler or something??

also, TSN's can grow to 4-5 feet.. 3 feet is not adult.

PeacockBass wrote:

jswledhed wrote:Assuming I had the capability to house enormous predatory catfish, I'd have to go with Pylodictus olivaris, the yellow or flathead catfish. Second in size only to the blue catfish, it is the most predatory and piscavorous species in North America. Not what you might call attractive, but one heck of a predator.

well sence we can pick any catifhs..

i would have to go with a Silurus Glanis in a Large outdoor pond.

Yeah, the wels is another brute. It fills the same ecological niche in Europe as the Flathead does in N. America. The IGFA lists the all tackle record for S. Glanis at 202 lbs. Ther Flathead maxes out at 123 lbs. in the record book.

BTW, the record redtail pulled the scales to the tune of 97 lbs.

Thanks for the suggestions! Unable to resist myself, I got both of them over the weekends! The adult niger is cool, but i always see small niger and not big ones here!