Does anybody have any in depth reading on channel catfish? They're abundant in my local Pittsburgh rivers. You can catch them with french fries while fishing (i.e. little effort required).
I think it would be cool to do a big species tank that emulates the local environment for a couple of these guys... Like lift some aged stones with moss growing on them & driftwood / roots from the same location that the fish would be acquired from.
Does anybody have any good web resources / reading on these fish? Or are they completely inappropriate for an aquarium? The ones I see are typically around 12" long by around 9" around.
2007-10-02 05:52:29 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Eh.. 125 or 180 gal is about the most I could spare.
2007-10-02 06:31:48 · update #1
The ones you're seeing are SMALL! I have kept one of these, but it started in a 300 gallon native tank, then was moved to a 125 stock tank (a floor tank measuring 3 feet by 5 feet and about 14" deep). This was at the university where I used to teach and when I left, it was over 20" long (and he wasn't full grown). By the time they're adults, they may do better in a decently sized pond.
Mine was purchased at 3" and raised on pelleted food, and he never bothered the other fish in the tank with it - even though some of these were darters and minnows. He's currently living with some bullheads.
You can contact me at copperhead_1959@yahoo.com if you want to ask anything about keeping these. You might want to contact this organization as well: http://www.nativefish.org/
2007-10-02 06:47:04 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Before wasting too much time on this, be honest. Can you provide a good home for this fish:
http://www.catfished.com/ed10-27.jpg
http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/channelcat.jpg
None of these giants belong in any typical home aquarium, but if you were thinking of something along the lines of 200 gallons or more, it certainly can be done - these catfish are huge, but not so immense that they need a public aquarium.
I won't cut and paste any of the typical profiles that come up in a google search andall say the same thing (and not much at that), for you - to find any true information about them you'll need to really use the internet properly to search deeper then all those lame sites, or perhaps try a library.
2007-10-02 13:02:37 · answer #2 · answered by Ghapy 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I have just found out that i have a juvenile channel catfish in one of my tanks, it is a great fish and gets along with the others very well. Here are a couple websites that i found helpful, good luck.
2007-10-02 13:03:59 · answer #3 · answered by Goober 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Monster is right, only to add that I had bought a couple of fingerling's channel cats one time for my 200 gal. tank from a local pet/tropical fish store. They are probably farmed raised fingerling's at the pet store, which means they have been treated for diseases. Wild fish might bring something to your tank you don't need.
2007-10-02 14:25:48 · answer #4 · answered by steve s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
wow that sounds cool... the people above me all beat me to the punch, but here are some sites that could also help you...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_catfish
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/channel_catfish.htm
Hope this helps!! :0)
2007-10-02 15:43:25 · answer #5 · answered by ♥Petlover♥ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋