Red tail cat cold water?

Tdoube · Post by **Tdoube** » 30 Jun 2006, 01:40

I was wondering if a red tailed catfish can survive in colder water, like Oregon tempuraters. the water here gets down to 55 degrees or so.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 30 Jun 2006, 03:51

What is your point? It's illegal and unethical to release it into the wild.
It is a tropical catfish that has not evolved for coldwater anyway;you want to put it in your outdoor pond?
The 55 degF is optimistic for Oregon.
The fish will not feed nor be able to digest at those temps.
You should'nt own one if you have to ask a question like that.

Tdoube · Post by **Tdoube** » 30 Jun 2006, 05:12

All i knew was they get big and needed a big tank dont mock me for trying to find out about them... if anything encourage more knowledge.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 30 Jun 2006, 10:38

RTC is a tropical fish, they do not survive low water temperatures, and by low, I would mean anything below 70'F/19'C or so. They may survive a short spell of low temps, but not longer spells of several weeks or months, like I expect would be the case in Oregon.

My personal opinion is that these cats should not be imported, as there are only very few people who can adequately care for a five-foot fish - even a outdoor pond needs to be very big before it can be used to house one of these, assuming the outdoor temps are OK. Something along the lines of 20 x 10 x 8 (L x W x H) foot at the very least, and you need a decent filtration system too...

--
Mats

taksan · Post by **taksan** » 05 Jul 2006, 10:41

Tdoube wrote:I was wondering if a red tailed catfish can survive in colder water, like Oregon tempuraters. the water here gets down to 55 degrees or so.

Nope .... they will die if exposed for any length of time to temps below about 20c

The Stig · Post by **The Stig** » 05 Jul 2006, 16:03

I quote from apistomaster. ''What is your point? It's illegal and unethical to release it into the wild.
It is a tropical catfish that has not evolved for coldwater anyway;you want to put it in your outdoor pond?
The 55 degF is optimistic for Oregon.
The fish will not feed nor be able to digest at those temps.
You should'nt own one if you have to ask a question like that.''

He is perfectly entitled to ask any question he wants! He may not own one and is contemplating buying a red tail. In which case as others have done and say it can't survive in cold temperatures and they grow to be massive creatures and need a huge aquarium coupled with huge filtration.

Carl.

pictus_man_77 · Post by **pictus_man_77** » 05 Jul 2006, 16:26

If you havent actually bought one...... don't.

Go for something smaller, like Pimelodus Pictus, or even Pimelodus Ornatus

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 06 Jul 2006, 06:58

I concede that I should have been mere tactful in my response. Researching any unfamiliar fish should be your first step before buying. I apologize if I was too harsh. The pitfalls of keeping any giant catfish or for that matter any fish that grows to 5 feet and 100# have been so extensively written about and questions about it's survivability at out door temperatures were alarming to me. We aquarists are already paying for the careless release of exotic species by having to deal with increasingly Draconian legislation caused by sensational stories of "killer", giant "dog-eating" fish found in local temperate ponds, lakes, and streams. The vast numbers of these fish are purchased on impulse and too often end up miscared for or release out of misplaced sense of mercy or worse diregard for the ecological consequences.
Larry Waybright

Shaun · Post by **Shaun** » 07 Jul 2006, 11:03

Some of these big cat questions...

Red tail cat cold water?

Red tail cat cold water?

Red tail cats in coldwater

Re: Red tail cat cold water?

Re: Red tail cats in coldwater

redtail catfish in coldwater

Redtail