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i recently caught 2 channel cats out of a stream and i have them in a 10 gal. tank what should i do???

If you want to keep them for long, you'd best think about digging a pond.
MOre info can otherwise be found here.

The best thing you could do is put them back!!!

Wood wrote: The best thing you could do is put them back!!!

Where they came from, not your neighbors pond or somwhere else!

If you are stream collecting you might see if you have some madtom cat or something else local that stays smaller and more aquaria friendly.

Put them back if and ONLY IF you havent had ANY other fish in your tank, you could spread an exotic disease that will hurt the native fish population. Otherwise, raise them and eat them.

If they are channel catfish i would encourage you to put them back where you got them from as long as they have not come into contact with any other exotic species..

channl catfish are not easy to manage in captivity as they grow huge and eat absolutley everything.

In a ten gallon i dout it will last long.This fish gets big

The COTM article says they can't overwinter in a scottish pond -- just how warm do they really need to be in winter? Would they winter over okay at 40F or even a bit lower, but above freezing?

My pond and stock tank de-icers kick in at about 40F and try to keep the water at 41F. Wondering if this would make water gardening with catfish doable.

I think they should do fine above freezing. Bullheads are hardier and are another alternative.

As long as the water doesnt freeze all the way to the bottom and there is sufficent oxygen, channels will be JUST FINE as Silurus says.

I have a blue channel cat in a 55gal i got him at LFS.

i dont think i would keep any wild. they WILL get HUGE! so if you want to keep yours you need quite a few more gallons. They do better in groups rather than just one.

and if you want to keep them for ever dont plan on keeping many tropical fish in the tank because he/she will eat them and just about everything else they can find.

Mine like an assortment of tropical flakes, sunk, bloodwoorms, and an algae waifer every other day.

FantailFan wrote:I have a blue channel cat in a 55gal i got him at LFS.

i dont think i would keep any wild. they WILL get HUGE! so if you want to keep yours you need quite a few more gallons. They do better in groups rather than just one.

and if you want to keep them for ever dont plan on keeping many tropical fish in the tank because he/she will eat them and just about everything else they can find.

Mine like an assortment of tropical flakes, sunk, bloodwoorms, and an algae waifer every other day.

How do you mean that yours that you got is different from a "Wild" one? They are the same species, right? So they are genetically programmed to grow to X inches (HUGE, whatever you want to call it). There is no (notable) genetic difference between one that is bought at a LFS and one that you caught in a river. The fact that one happened to be born at a fish-farm and then be sold to a LFS doesn't change it's genetics...

If I've missed some critical point about something here, please let me know...

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Mats

mine (species) is no different that one in the wild except he isnt carrying any diseases/paracites that are in the wild. I didnt quite word that right by they will get HUGE im meaning either will get huge store bought or wild cought. whats the dif in having a 3ft channel cat aposed to a 3ft common pleco? Most people buy a cute 2in pleco not realizing how big they get. The lfs i got my cat from has 3-4 2 1/2 ft plecos and 1 near 3ft pleco. next time i go in im going to see if she will let me get a photo of them.

FantailFan wrote:mine (species) is no different that one in the wild except he isnt carrying any diseases/paracites that are in the wild. I didnt quite word that right by they will get HUGE im meaning either will get huge store bought or wild cought.

Yeah, I know what you mean now, and I make the same mistake. It's clear in my head what I mean, so I think everyone else will understand the way I meant it too. Sorry if I was a bit "rough" on you, as you're pretty new here...

whats the dif in having a 3ft channel cat aposed to a 3ft common pl*co? Most people buy a cute 2in pl*co not realizing how big they get. The lfs i got my cat from has 3-4 2 1/2 ft pl*cos and 1 near 3ft pl*co. next time i go in im going to see if she will let me get a photo of them.

Fish that grows huge is a problem, no matter what species they are...

Common plecos don't usually grow to more than about 18 inches, which in itself is a problem for MOST people (as MOST people don't have tanks that are more than 18 inches wide, never mind 36 inches wide to comfortably accomodate an 18 inch fish). Some other forms of plecos, like , Polka Dot Lyre Tail Pleco, do grow very large, up to about 3 foot, not counting the filaments on the "lyre".

To keep a fish that grows to about 3 feet, you need a HUGE tank, something like 12 x 6 x 6 feet, which would make it about well into the 5 figures in gallons. That requires both a huge amount of planning. Where you you keep something that weighs more than 10 mid-size american cars? Not in your average house, that's for sure. Reinforcement of the foundations will be just the starting point...

No, small pretty fish that grow into huge fish is definitely a problem. It's slightly better if you live in an area where the climate is appropriate for outdoor tropical ponds. With the channel catfish, I think you can keep it in an outdoor pond as long as it's not soo cold that it freezes to the bottom. That's a bit easier than the pleco's in that sense.

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Mats

we plan on moving next year and building a pond for the cats and i would like some koi. Thats another great thing about getting mine from LFS if they do suddenly get too big for me to handle before i can get a pond built i can sell them back to LFS. I dont want anyone to get the wrong impression on channel cats but do know the facts. This thread just bothered me because there was really only 1 reply w/ some info the rest wasnt very helpfull. Obviously the thread started doesnt want to throw them back they want to keep them and the best thing to do in that instance is give the best info possable.