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Re: NFC: Re: Re: Stunted fish growth and breeding


Those must be some seriously slow growing cats then...that or maybe they 
never try to turn around?  A god-awful pet store in my town has an albino 
channel cat in a 55 gal and the thing's nose is constantly rubbed raw & 
being treated for infection b/c it rubs itself raw trying to turn around in 
the tank...and this is pretty small as channel cats go...only about 30" 
(most of the ones you pull out of lakes around here are 3-4').  Sure, this 
cat is still alive & the guy has had it for years, but it's constantly on 
medication to keep the infections from spreading, the water is terrible even 
using the filtration system on this one tank that is normally used for 10-15 
of the display tanks and biweekly water changes.  Frankly, I think it is 
deplorable.

I will agree with all those who posted about research or commercial 
facilities who have incredible systems & successfully raise extremely 
crowded tanks...but I have yet to see a home aquarist willing to make that 
type of investment.  Sorry if I had implied earlier that it was possible for 
anyone...I was just talking about at-home set-ups...my high school FFA group 
actually used to raise tilapia in our school shop & sometimes it didn't look 
like there was any water at all, just fish.  Never had much stunting or 
mortality either (unless you count the time someone left a door open for a 
weekend when it was 35 below & blew up the whole schools heating system.  
fishicle anyone?), but that was with a $10k filtration system and obsessive 
kids watching for ANYTHING going wrong.

-kris


>From: jake levi <jlevi_us at yahoo_com>
>Reply-To: nfc at actwin_com
>To: nfc at actwin_com
>Subject: Re: NFC: Re: Re: Stunted fish growth and breeding
>Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 16:18:10 -0700 (PDT)
>
>Chris
>with adequate water changes channel cats can live
>quite well in a 55, bullheads have an extreme
>'muddying' effect on their water, just lousy tank
>inhabitants,
>
>in case you hadnt heard, albino channel cats are sold
>by the hundreds of thousands for aquaria,
>
>once into the sexual maturity age/size another habitat
>may well be in order but for 3 up to 5 yrs of age they
>do very well in aquaria.
>
>I farmed channel cats for many years, and have
>maintained them in probably more environments then
>most would imagine. Water change is the key.
>regards,
>jake
>
>--- "Rev. Christian J Hedemark" <chris at yonderway_com>
>wrote:
> > Jake writes:
> > > Other species might be better suited. Channel
> > catfish
> > > get much larger but a pair can be maintained in a
> > 55
> > > much easier.
> >
> > I disagree.  I used to go fishing all the time in
> > the Delaware River
> > downstream of Philadelphia, frequently catching (but
> > not eating!) channel
> > cats.  One adult channel cat could not be kept in a
> > 55 gallon tank, or a 135
> > gallon tank for that matter.  These fish are what I
> > prefer to think of as
> > "tankbusters" and need something more along the
> > lines of an above-ground
> > pool to keep humanely.
> >
> > Like you said, catfishes are hard on their tank.
> > Though I do think a
> > bullhead cat would be much easier to keep at adult
> > size (at least the
> > average adult size I've seen in the wild) in
> > something like a 50 gallon
> > "breeder" tank.  55 gallon tank is too tall and does
> > not provide enough
> > front-to-back depth.  The "breeder" tanks provide
> > much greater surface area
> > compared to volume and make it easier for these big
> > fishes to turn around as
> > well.
> >
> >
>
>
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