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That the size you got for a Siluris glanis C_o_L???
I'd have thought one of those would have tipped the scales at over 1,000 lbs (pardon the pun ) ...

After all, they're reputed to exceed 4 metres when fully grown ... although I've yet to see one over 3 metres ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Dont forget that you have to actually get the fish. They are crictically endangered so your probably going to be looking on the black market and then its not cheap.

Would of taken a good fair few years to reach that size

Anyone who wants to keep one of those in an aquarium had better have a very large house for one, unless they don't mind just flooding the house and living in a caravan outside

A minimum spec for an aquarium for this beast would be, let's see ... 30 feet by 10 feet by 5 feet ... around 9,400 gallons UK. Call it 10,000 gallons as a nice round figure. And that's a minimum aquarium size for this juggernaut. Ideally, you're looking at something bigger, say 20,000 gallons. Just for one fish.

Then, you're looking at some seriously expensive filtration equipment. If you want to turn over the entire contents of the aquarium 10 times per hour, then you're looking at industrial scale filtration - a flow rate of (wait for it) 200,000 gallons per hour. A pump that powerful is going to ramp up your electricity bills by an enormous amount (at this point, you're no longer on a domestic consumer tariff, and you're on a commercial one), because the motor to drive it will be a three-phase AC job drawing around 500 amps of current, and the motor alone will be the size of a truck engine. Oh yes, we're well and truly into a civil engineering project here! Plus, can you imagine how much filter medium this beast will require? You'll be buying activated charcoal in 50 kilo drums!

Let's then consider what happens when the fish needs to be temporarily rehoused for aquarium maintenance. A 'gravel vac' in this system will involve borrowing a fire engine from the local fire station, not least because when this fish starts passing things out of its back end, the resulting lumps will be the size of house bricks. Just getting the fish out of the aquarium into a temporary home will require a fork life truck.

Feeding this critter is going to be fun too. Feeder goldfish? Oh, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. This thing will be munching on raw liver and whole legs of lamb from the butchers. Well, not quite, because of the animal fat content, but you get the picture. Let's face it, we have here a fish that in the wild can swallow ducks whole. Okay, you'd probably only have to feed it once a week, but mealtime for this fish would probably feed a family of eight.

Decor next ... oh lovely. Want bogwood? Time to go fell a couple of small trees. And you'll have a LOT of fun curing hunks of wood that size for an aquarium. If I'm starting to sound like that guy from the show Home Improvement (you know, the one who says "No power - so I rewired it", then the epic scale of the quarters this fish needs makes this a supreme example of "I rewired it ..."

Then we have the fun and games involved in keeping 20,000 gallons at 75°F or thereabouts. Forget normal aquarium heating. This will be a job for a purpose built central heating system in the fish room. Preferably with a backup boiler to cut in if the main one goes 'poof' sometime. How much loot have we now blown on this system? Call it around £10,000 just to build the aquarium, another £5,000 for the central heating system, around £25,000 for the filtration equipment (plus another £5,000 getting a high-output three-phase AC system installed in the fish house for the pump) ... at this rate you're kissing goodbye to £50,000 just to set the thing up. Then you've got running costs on top of that - your electricity bill will probably be around £2,000 per month. Hee hee hee. Anyone here even conteplating this fish as a long-term aquarium inmate should abandon the idea unless they're earning around £300,000 per year. Now if you're the CEO of a supermarket chain, or a top-flight barrister specialising in libel cases (these are people who get to write their own pay cheques), then fine, go ahead. Otherwise, forget it.

Not that I want to spoil people's enjoyment of fishkeeping, but there comes a time when the sheer scale of some acquisitions makes for some less than delightful logistics (and expense). Stick to Panda corys, they're a LOT easier on the wallet!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

now i like my pet fishes. but catfish that big? i couldnt keep as a pet, i'd do like they did, fish fry lol.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

bzash, I would let you house it in the 2.5 gallon, but he's already in mine with a dozen betta boys, and a couple of betta girls, along with my Mbuna Cichlids, and ClownLoaches...they are a little cramped but they are loving it

heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

i wonder if they will house one like that in marineland park...hmmm?!?

Can i house it with my 2.5 US galloon tank? ...kidding! ...really big one!

all i can say is that!...that's crazy lol

Indeed, it is.

Usually, assorted web links go in Recovery Room, but this one I'm putting here because [1] it's apposite, and [2] informative to anyone wanting to know how big some of the Mekong River catfishes grow to be. This page shows a truly monstrous specimen of Pangasianodon gigas that was caught by Thai fishermen, and which tipped the scales at a whopping 646 lbs ... that's 293 Kgs for all you metric people.

Now, next time someone asks how big one of these babies grows to be, and asks if it will live in a 55G, just point them here and disabuse them of the notion of even trying to keep one in a home aquarium ...

... Unless of course their 'home' is a disused B-52 bomber hangar sitting on a 5ft thick reinforced concrete floor, in which case it'll take the aquarium this beast needs


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I dont think you have to worry about people asking about keeping them since there super endangered and they are only catching 4-5 a year.

730 pounds large enough for you?

Sorry to tell you cali, but someone beat you to the glip about itbut this at least has a story with it...

Do you think it would be best in my 10 gallon or the 125?

He's just a little guy

hyeidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

When someone hauls a record breaker out of the Danube, I will.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

You think that's big, try calculating those numbers for a wels.

a fish that size could probably eat people if it caught them

Just to put this beast in perspective ...

It weighs nearly four times as much as I do, or ...

... weighs as much as six Rottweiler dogs ...

... or weighs as much as 30,000 Panda Corys.

Or, for other comparisons, it weighs more than many UK truck engines (although I suspect one of those big Mack or Peterbilt rigs in the States has an engine of comparable weight). It also tips the scales at about the same weight as an adult male silverback Gorilla, is close to the maximum recorded weight of a Siberian Tiger, and around three-quarters of the weight of a thoroughbred racehorse.

Oh yes. BIIIGG Catfish.




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

No, unfortunately they didnt release it. the article said that it died and they ATE it!

Wow!

Would not like swimming in that river


Imagine tring to reel that in on a two pound line


I wonder if they put it back and how many more fish that size lie undiscovered????


Regards

Dave the rave