# hybrid catfish...



## serpentkid100 (Mar 7, 2006)

the fish keeping society is undergoing a ban on the importing of the hybrid, redtailed catfisk x tigershovel nose.

what is everyone opinion of this? mine is a yes however i do own 2 of these fishes, and are both in a suitable aquarium for there potential size, i dont agree they should be imported because they are being sold too persons who cant keep them at there potential size.


----------



## Kenorsanc (Dec 10, 2006)

What size tank have you got? What tank mates have they got? also how big do the hybrids get sorry about the lots of questions but I am very inquisitive.


----------



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

You must have several absolutely HUGE tanks then :shock:. Red tailed catfish can grow to around 6ft so you have a 30ft tank?

Did they say any reason for the ban? Since they haven't banned red tailed catfish why the hybrid? Are they a natural hybrid or man induced?


----------



## Kenorsanc (Dec 10, 2006)

Think they are man made with hormones not sure but think so.


----------



## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

i own three redtail catfish and two crosses one came to me as the person had put them in with guppies!!! i dont think there should be brough t into the country as not many people have adequate housing to hous a 3-4 foot catfish (normal size in captivty ) luckily for us we do 

so my answer is no there shouldnt be brought into the country


----------



## steveH (Nov 8, 2006)

boshogg said:


> i own three redtail catfish and two crosses one came to me as the person had put them in with guppies!!! i dont think there should be brough t into the country as not many people have adequate housing to hous a 3-4 foot catfish (normal size in captivty ) luckily for us we do
> 
> so my answer is no there shouldnt be brought into the country


i actully feel these should be a total ban on these fish

but bosshogg you got to get me a pic of this tank mate :grin1: how big is it?


----------



## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

8ft by 4ft fibreglass at the mo once were moved were planning an even bigger one


----------



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

As said earlier I don't think any fish should be kept in a tank that has a smaller length than 4 x the length of the fish and a width of 2 x as wide.

And seeing as one of these catfish can easily reach ft and they are territorial then that means one VERY huge tank.

I think there are very, very few people capable of housing them...just my opinion though.


----------



## serpentkid100 (Mar 7, 2006)

my 2 are bout 4 inches at mo, so in my 4 foot, till we move in bout 2 weeks, then i'm getting the disp tank from a shop in my town until they need a igger one, its bout 5 foot in length, by 3 foot
then i'm goin for the custom built style tank, but thats not till needed


----------



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

How big a tank are you going for when they need it (especially to the guy with three :shock?


----------



## sami (Oct 23, 2006)

intravenous said:


> How big a tank are you going for when they need it (especially to the guy with three :shock?


They will probably need three large tanks 

Red tails and red tail crosses can be very terratorial.


----------



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

quixotic_axolotl said:


> They will probably need three large tanks
> 
> Red tails and red tail crosses can be very terratorial.


Yeah, thats what I was getting at. I'd like to see a tank big enough to allow three of these:










to have their own territories!!


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

a colleague of mine has 2 heated ponds, one has a red tail around 40 inch, that pond is 18x12x7foot. Then his big pond is 36x14 foot and 8 foot at its deepest. He has 2 4ft plus redtails in it.

The little (and im using the word litle, very loosely) is hand tame. Its brilliant, you have to distract the peacock bass in the tank, and then the cat comes up and opens his mouth waiting for food. He lets you stroke his back when in a good mood.

this isnt meant to encourage any one to buy one though, just a little annecdote.

Im currently working on the little 16 inch red tail we got in at work. He will feed from your fingers but won't come up to the surface to do it.


----------



## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

thats what we are thinking of doing as we already heat our 5m x 4m x 4ft pond and we do have tropical fish in it !!!! 

Intranveous you might think no one can house these beautys but believe me people do!! just the same as there house giant retics and ancondas!!


----------



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

boshogg said:


> Intranveous you might think no one can house these beautys but believe me people do!! just the same as there house giant retics and ancondas!!


No, thats not what I was getting at at all. I think they are beautiful fish and they are at the top of the list if I ever win the lottery :razz:. I don't think there is anything wrong with people who have the space and money having them, and I know there are plenty of people out there with these resources.

I probably just came across as accusatory because its hard to see who's at the other end of a computer...without any background I don't know if you are one of the above people or if you're one of the ones who think its ok to keep one of these beautiful giants in an 8ft tank for the rest of its life because "it won't grow that big" and "it doesn't move around much".

Your plans sound ace though, good luck :smile:. Just hope no birds come and land on your pond!


----------



## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

the 8ft x 4ft is only to house it when its smaller 2-3ft once its over that size it will be moved into a biiger pond when that hopefully be moved and the pond will be inside dont worry we have it all planned. at the moment our biggest is only 1-2foot havnt measured it reecently and the pure red tails are only 2-6 inches 

Clare


----------



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

You'll have to get some pictures when they grow up :smile:.


----------



## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

i will do there stunning fish with personalties the cross tells me when he's hungry and hand feeds for people prepared to spend the time and money there great spiecmen fish :mf_dribble:


----------



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

Back on topic though...rather than a full out ban, liscencing could be put in place. If a liscence system was used then people could only legally get hold of the fish if they had appropriate housing for it which would stop these fish finding their way into unprepared homes without penalising those with the resources to keep them.


----------



## serpentkid100 (Mar 7, 2006)

i dis agree, the whole licencing ideas are rediculous, it would mean everything but rabbits, dogs and cats would need a licence...and how do you check if every house in the country has 1? the vets that check for the dwa in my area are usless accoring to people i have known...1 guy told the vet (before he owned the cobra) that it was in the tank...the vet didn know it was a corn snake...lol i think if it is enforced then the councils must sort themselfs out cos they suck ass:bash:...sorry if i offended any1 here


----------



## twodogs (Jan 2, 2007)

mike515 said:


> a colleague of mine has 2 heated ponds, one has a red tail around 40 inch, that pond is 18x12x7foot. Then his big pond is 36x14 foot and 8 foot at its deepest. He has 2 4ft plus redtails in it.
> 
> The little (and im using the word litle, very loosely) is hand tame. Its brilliant, you have to distract the peacock bass in the tank, and then the cat comes up and opens his mouth waiting for food. He lets you stroke his back when in a good mood.
> 
> ...


now that i would like to see :lol2: ive always been a fan of red tails ...was offered a baby a while back but declined because of the space they demand/desire and i dont think putting them in a 6x3x3 (biggest i could have) would do them justice so went down the road of discus:smile: i should imagine a red tail X tiger would be quite voraciuos..and very pretty too ...never seen one ...any pics????


----------



## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

the only pics i have at the mo is off him as a baby he's grown alot since then lol


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

the biggest problem with the big catfish is that it takes a hell of a lot more than a big tank to keep these fish.

Seriously, just because you have a tank big enough doesn;t mean you can look after one properly. You need a serious filtration system. enough money to feed the fish. a lot of spare time

a lot of research into caring for these water giants.

I can only compare it to people who keep retics and anacondas. they are trully dedicated. Unlike certain fish keepers who buy fish without learning how to care for them


----------



## twodogs (Jan 2, 2007)

boshogg said:


> the only pics i have at the mo is off him as a baby he's grown alot since then lol


just about get the gist of him lovely mate looks so much like a tiger but with a broad head and huge mouth:lol2: perhaps some more pics as he grows


----------



## twodogs (Jan 2, 2007)

mike515 said:


> the biggest problem with the big catfish is that it takes a hell of a lot more than a big tank to keep these fish.
> 
> Seriously, just because you have a tank big enough doesn;t mean you can look after one properly. You need a serious filtration system. enough money to feed the fish. a lot of spare time
> 
> ...


that was my thinking the filtration alone would be unbelievable,the tank was not a problem i was thiinking stand alone gravity fed huge homemade filter at least the size of the tank and realised it wasnt really "viable" maybe one day when i win the lottery :lol2: big conservatory with a massive indoor heated pool for one and a shoal of pacus:lol2:


----------



## serpentkid100 (Mar 7, 2006)

i can get you a couple of pics in a min, i've got em on my bebo page, i wil convert em to photo bucket in a min


----------



## serpentkid100 (Mar 7, 2006)

*pics of my redtails*

they are both hand fed and enjoy bein tgickled under thre tummy


























some pics of my old oscars as well


















hope u likes em, they have also grown since these pis were taken


----------



## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

for filteration you need a koi filter were going to use 5 bay kockney koi filter with vortec this should keep the water top notch well it keeps out 6m x 4 m pond crystal clear .

will search and see if i have any more photos ok i have a pic of my old asian red tail cat this is it in the temp tank while we got his big tank set up


----------



## serpentkid100 (Mar 7, 2006)

i'd quite like an asian red tail, where are they avaliable from? and how big do they get?


----------



## ianyork (Sep 11, 2006)

i know this is abit off the point of this post but this is the tank of one of the guys at work mates which he built in his basement and keeps stingrays!


----------



## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

wow ian York thats is COOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL 

and asians get to about 2ft ish some bigger some smaller!


----------



## ianyork (Sep 11, 2006)

exactly what i thought when i saw it! didnt even know you could get stingrays that size for personal collections.

apparently its the 3rd he has built in the houses he has lived in and they get bigger every time, would love to see it in the flesh!


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

proper red tails from the amazon can hit 5 foot plus and weigh over 100 pounds.

Im currently having discussions with my mum about me digging a massive hole in the greenhouse and having a heated pond at home.

I got a nice big 18x12 foot greenhouse which only has tomato plants and stuff in.


----------



## Kenorsanc (Dec 10, 2006)

Ian that guy was in a recent PFK wasnt he they interviewd him about his tank it looked seriously cool.


----------



## twodogs (Jan 2, 2007)

mike515 said:


> proper red tails from the amazon can hit 5 foot plus and weigh over 100 pounds.
> 
> Im currently having discussions with my mum about me digging a massive hole in the greenhouse and having a heated pond at home.
> 
> I got a nice big 18x12 foot greenhouse which only has tomato plants and stuff in.


that would do a red tail real justice :lol2: amazin creatures


----------



## serpentkid100 (Mar 7, 2006)

ianyork said:


> i know this is abit off the point of this post but this is the tank of one of the guys at work mates which he built in his basement and keeps stingrays!


this is the guy who was in practical fish keeping, he has the tank of my dreams lol, i think he has a hybrid catfish as well doesnt he?


----------

