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right now all it has in it is a TSN catfish and a TSN+RTC catfish. It looks really cool.

There are people who don't think your tank is big enough for an adult of even one of the catfishes you have now.

You might be able to "get away with" just keeping the two of them by themselves... I am not sure its wise to try to add more fish, but if you could, you'd probably only be able to add one, as it'd have to be large enough not to be able to be consumed by either of your catfishes. Your tank is on a scale that I can't even really picture it properly in my head, but it still seems like it'd be crowded with more than the two fish when they're adults if they decided to move around. If you had Lophiosilurus alexandri you could probably get more fish, as these fish are extremely inactive, being freshwater equivalents of stonefish. However, since TSN and RTCxTSN are fish that actually swim from time to time they need more space just to swim around and swim around each other.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

yea well when i was talking about it to people on a diff site that alot of the people have 90 gal+ tanks they said i could put some larger cichlids like flower horns and some green terrors. when i looked at the caculator my tank could hold 718 gallons of water. if that makes a differnce about stocking issues and so im thinking about 2 or 3 arowanas!

The fact that it is 718 gallons doesn't make it any bigger of a tank.

Arowana would be one of the few possible choices as they would mostly restrict their movement to the top, which would mean they would not be in a region the catfishes would really utilize as much. I would not get multiple arowanas, however, as they are supposedly aggressive towards each other, except in the case where you have a large enough number that aggression is spread out among the fish. In any case, one adult would be quite a large fish already.

Really, I'm erring on the side of caution. Overestimating a tank's capacity and underestimating the potential size of fish just to squeeze more fish in is never wise.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

yea i know what you mean.

Those fish have the potential of breaking that tank accidentally. 700 gallons is a big oops.

Sorry, but i still think something that reaches 6ft long should not be in an 8ft tank. Just dosnt work.

there max is only 3 feet long i have had plenty of these before i buy when young and sell when they get like 3 feet so i can make money.

Hi,
I can understand purchasing young, immature fish and
"growing them out" then selling them off. I just never
realized that there was that big a market for those fish,
and I wonder how one ships one of those big critters.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

The three feet max on red tail cats is rubbish, if like me mez has been to bristol zoo he'll be able to confirm that they have one well over four feet,its mouth alone is over a foot wide, and it probably weighs about as much as a ten year old human. Its in with quite possibly the biggest pacu ive ever seen too, in a tank that has more capacity than probably the entire lounge area of your house.

Not that I suppose with 700 gal recommendations many people see them that old or get them to that size. A lot of monsterfish culture is seriously misguided.RTC's shouldnt really be sold in the aquarium trade for this reason. People will assume a big tank is enough, but TBH, theres the question of humane habitable space. I dare say I could keep a large adult goldfish alive in 15 gallons but I wouldnt, and its longevity would be affected. It would go to a 100gal or a pond. Just like an RTC should go to something closer 3000 gal or larger so it can have a life, not just stay alive.

A big fish in a blank box is a pretty pitiful way to keep fish in my book, there should be enrichment, which in adult RTC terms is practically half a submerged tree, big caves etc. You give em the space they are a lot less sedentary than people might think. Big cats run on logic that dictates if theres nothing worth moving for cos you only have to keep turning around every 3 seconds, then itll stay still. See one in a big public aquarium it uses the length , the breadth , the depth, swims regularly. The one at the zoo does laps even in a tank that size, but it will chill, swim normally, and gets to drift in water 10 feet deep, sometimes enjoying lit areas, then scouting the bottom for food, sometimes perching high then low, and it seems happy enough.

By comparison an RTC sat in a 700 gallon would depress me. Id be depressed for it, because it would be depressed. Its like sturgeon , wels cats, arapaima, some rays, certainyl most marine sharks. All stupid fish for an aquarium, usually only owned by people with no empathic sense for an animal of size that needs enrichment. I think the trade in these biggest of big guys needs stopping really. Most people cant be trusted to make humane descisions concerning them or their quality of their lifestyles even if they do keep them alive for some time. In fact the longer you keep them the more important the enrichment issue becomes.

I dont really think buying a young specimen of a big species and then selling it off is good culture either. Lets face it, most are simply killed. Think of these cats longevity, and how many are sold in shops. The numbers dont tie up. Most are either killed or just die in the hands of private aquarists, There isnt enough zoos and privately held lakes to house them all. Selling on is primarily a denial culture, mostly about sweeping fishkeeping sins under the carpet, and making people feel better about the irrespnsible things they do that invariably lead to animal abuse.

No-one should really take on a fish they cant successfully house for the entirety of its life. Its one thing to find circumstances change on you, things like going broke or getting unemployed happen, but there isnt ever really an excuse for taking on a fish that almost no-one can handle as a fully adult fish.


When you get into big fish culture you have to be aware of its darker side.

Say it wasnt a fish, but a great dane. Is it ok to just have that great dane for 6 months, enjoy it as a puppy, then just chuck it out into the streets, or foist it off into the rescue system or the PDSA because you wont walk it, and only have a single room flat?

Of course not. But people do it with fish.

I ask you, how is that acceptable? Owners of massive aquarium systems are by populace a tiny percentage, and the naive newbie owners of monsterfish species outnumber thousands to one.

How is that acceptable culture? Monsterfishkeepers need a serious wake up call generally. Generally, despite the size of their fish, most of them are not regarded as the fishkeeping elite by the rest of the fishkeeping community as perhaps they would wish, just like greyhound racers arent regarded as the best dog owners by the kennel club.

At the back end of the hobby, what really happens to all these fully adult 6 , 7 ,8, 15 foot fish? One way or another, theyre not making it.

And we know it.

well right now i got plent of decors and it has a sand as a subtrate and it looks really cool its like a white and black sand mix. but it has 2 over flow filters in the middle of the tank. the tank has a 2 hand made caves that are like 2 feet long and they really like them but i sell for pick up only cuz one of my friends have like the huge room tank and he has like 4 TSN and they look really cool idk how many gallons it is but it the size of a normal liveing room in the us it looks really really cool ill try to have him get some picks for me.