Tank sizes?

madf1man · Post by **madf1man** » 09 Aug 2005, 21:57

Ok I,m new to this site and have been reading thru a bit and understand the general fellings on keeping the big cats.Really glad I found this site. Now my question,or wanting opinions.I have 3 baby cats (red tail,tiger shovel,tigrinus) I am considering having a custom tank made to grow them in for the long term.I have decided to go with a 7ftX 30in X 30in totaling about 330 gals.Opinions wanted,whos done what before and so on.I have the option of putting them into an outdoor pond that is about 1500 gals but don,t want to. Thanks and try not to fuss at me!!

Fish Soup · Post by **Fish Soup** » 10 Aug 2005, 00:06

The Red Tailed will have to go in the pond at some point. Four footers are "common", five footers (+) not unheard of.

Don

djw66 · Post by **djw66** » 10 Aug 2005, 00:09

A Red Tail very shortly will not be able to turn around in a 30 -inch wide tank. I read recently about a fellow who had built a L-shaped tank that was 27 feet long and 18 feet wide and contained over 30,000 gallons for ONE four-foot redtail. The pond is your only possible way to keep these monsters, and its entirely possible that whichever one grows the largest the fastest will kill the others, as its nearly impossible to keep anything with a large redtail.

I'm not flaming you, just advising a serious rethought of your choices.

madf1man · Post by **madf1man** » 10 Aug 2005, 00:31

No flame takin and please continue with replys. As far as 4 foot redtails I have been around the fish buisness on/off for all my life,never have seen any S.A. cats over 2 foot or so in private or public scenario.Not meant to be argumentative but digging for knowledge and experiences of others as my care for these fish is more than superfical.

Fish Soup · Post by **Fish Soup** » 10 Aug 2005, 05:27

I know it's hard to beleive, but check out this link to the National Zoo's Amazon River Tank cam. Daylight hours.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Amazonia/

I found these pics with a quick google search. This is not a "house cat". But they sure are pretty.

http://www.acuteangling.com/Reference/ECatJen.jpg

http://www.carpecarpio.com/GordonDuncanBananafish04.jpg

http://www.acuteangling.com/Reference/SO2EJennyCat.jpg

Don

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 10 Aug 2005, 09:56

Whether you're able to grow a red-tail to more than 4 foot or not in captivity, I'm not sure. You probably will stunt it's growth somewhat at some point or another if you don't put it in a swimming-pool-sized pond.

However, a 7 x 2.5 x 2.5 foot tank is by far too small for a fish that EASILY grows to two foot [I have personally seen a 20"+ RTC]. A 2ft fish should have a tank that is 8 x 4 x 4, if you go by the "standard" rule of 4L x 2L x 2L (L = lenght of fish). At three foot, you get 12 x 6 x 6. That's around 3500 gallons of water. At a very minimum, you need to have a side that allows the fish to actually turn around without struggle in the tank, which would mean at least a 1.5x the length of the fish. At two foot, that's 3 foot side on the tank, and there's nothing saying that the fish will not grow longer than two foot, as they can (and will) reach 5 and even 6 foot in nature.

I don't think your pond is even nearly big enough to house anything much over two foot either...

It's VERY difficult to keep large fish, even with the best will (not to mention finances) in the world. Big tanks/ponds are necessary, and even that gets complicated when you start getting into more than a couple of feet long fish. Also consider that these fish _WILL_ live in excess of 40 years if maintained correctly...

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Mats