# New boss of the tank



## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

in my girlfriends 55 gallon tank it is dominated by some nice oscars, my bluegill bryan and pee wee the mean green sunfish. The catfish keep to themselves eating the blood worms and brime shrimp. Well now theres a new boss of the fish tank, the other oscars maybe be triple the size of him or even bigger but he will big the biggest in the end and the oscars may someday become food for him. today i got a red tail catfish and he wasted no time taking his area of the tank if any bait fish comes near him he eats it. And only being in the tank for about 20 minutes now his stomach is swollen like he ate a golf ball. i can already tell this is my new favorite fish. Any ideas for a name??? Heres some pics, sorry for the poor quality he doesnt like staying still.


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## lacdown (Apr 25, 2007)

dude, those redtail cats are expensive and, like you said, will eat anything it can fit in it's mouth. I had one that I was feeding guppies/goldfish, but any time I put a few in the tank, he'd try to eat them all at once to the point he'd puke.


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

expensive yes but taking advantage of dumb people at jack's i got a huge discount. not to mention since he has been in the tank pee wee wont leave him alone. If that little green sunfish is smart he will make friends really quickly lol


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## lacdown (Apr 25, 2007)

I don't want to play spoiler, but what're you going to do once it eats everything in the tank and you have to start catchin bluegill for it to eat? I only had a 29 gallon, so the catfish I had (a hybrid redtail and a tiger shovelnose) quickly outgrew my tank and I had to sell them back to Jack's. They no longer will give me money or store credit for the fish I temporarily raised for them. If you had your own pond, that would be a nice trophy to put in there.


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

I used to raise Snakeheads, so I first hand what Nate will have to do:

#1.) Get a bigger tank (which he already knows because he told me this right after bringing the Redtail home.)

#2.) Instead of buying 10 feeder goldies, he'll have to buy 3 dozen feeders!




Some folks @ Jacks loved me becasue I spent so much $ on feeders, others hated me becasue I was killing the feeders.....    

Damn, I miss those fish.

*note to everyone: When having relatives house watch for you make sure they know feeder fish are goldfish and NOT generic minnows from Rainbow Lakes!  I got some freshwater disease in my tank after that stunt by by relatives.

Keep us updated on the Redtail's progress.


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## NorthSouthOhioFisherman (May 7, 2007)

For the name how bout-Reddy..........................................to eat


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

H2O Mellon said:


> I used to raise Snakeheads, so I first hand what Nate will have to do:
> 
> #1.) Get a bigger tank (which he already knows because he told me this right after bringing the Redtail home.)
> 
> ...




I would love to get some snakeheads. WE have a 55 gallon and a 75, this summer i will be getting a 180. its huge, when i hold my arms out i cant touch either end when standing infront of it. He did do some damage on the roses already along with the green sunfish ( who by the way since getting him in november has tripled in size) and i just dont feed my catfish feeder fish, i mix in frozen brime shrimp and blood worms i buy the one pound cubes they love them


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

and im thinking about naming him "Big Red"


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

How about "BOSS HAWG".


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

How about "Fingers".

When folks ask you why he's named that, tell them to stick their fingers in the water and find out!!!!


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## jason454ci (Dec 27, 2005)

Nice addition to the tank. I would love to have one of them red tails but the cheapest I seen one was $75. To much money to throw into my survival of the fittest tank. lol. I made a huge mistake awhile back by thinking I needed an african lungfish. Now at 2 feet long he believes that he needs to be the only resident in my 75 gallon tank. And so far he has won that battle.


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## lacdown (Apr 25, 2007)

Mellon, I used to go to rainbow lakes as a kid and I remember quite a few large goldfish (koi) swimmin around. Little did I know at the time that they were probably flathead food. I went back in college one time and it wasn't doin so hot. Anyone been there this past year?

As for nicknames, how bout Grim Reaper or Shredder? A bad ass little catfish that is gonna shred everything in your tank eventually needs a tough name.


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

lacdown said:


> Mellon, I used to go to rainbow lakes as a kid and I remember quite a few large goldfish (koi) swimmin around. Little did I know at the time that they were probably flathead food. I went back in college one time and it wasn't doin so hot. Anyone been there this past year?


I havent been there for a few eyars. I used to take my son there just to build a fire and let him have fun. I'm not really into that kind of fishing, but sometimes it's worth going to just let the kid(s) build a fire, roast marshmellows, etc... OGF mbr FLATHUNTER, on the other hand goes there to fish. I'm not sure how he did last year though.


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

maybe i should call him bottomless pit


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

lacdown said:


> I don't want to play spoiler, but what're you going to do once it eats everything in the tank and you have to start catchin bluegill for it to eat? I only had a 29 gallon, so the catfish I had (a hybrid redtail and a tiger shovelnose) quickly outgrew my tank and I had to sell them back to Jack's. They no longer will give me money or store credit for the fish I temporarily raised for them. If you had your own pond, that would be a nice trophy to put in there.



The average oscar and the one bluegill are about 5 to 6 inches long. Hopefully they continue to grow fast, so it will be awhile before the red tail is big enough to eat them. But i know eventually it will happen, unless the oscars and the green sunfish grow to freakish sizes


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## JOE W (Jun 4, 2004)

pendog66, how much does a red tail catfish cost ? i just killed mine about 2-3 months ago., some other fish had ick and I od the red tail . FIL gave us a 75 gallon tank, with him in it! he was @ 6 years old. were did yoiu get your fish at? thanks.


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## Chuck P. (Apr 8, 2004)

Name it "Mikey" <- He eats everything


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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

I caught a cat like that in Beavercreek a year ago. Looked like that but the end of the tail was red. It was about 25 lbs. When I caught it a guy from a nearby apartment saw me catch it, he came out and stated that he put it in the pond a few years back because it got to big for his tank. Crazy.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

> The average oscar and the one bluegill are about 5 to 6 inches long. Hopefully they continue to grow fast, so it will be awhile before the red tail is big enough to eat them.


Don't let the cat eat the oscar. When it reaches 12" you eat it. They have firm meaty fillets kind of like swordfish or shark. They are excellent deep fried. Serious.


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

i decided to name the Red tail "Bruiser" because when its feeding time he beats up the channel cats to get the food. Bruiser was a name i said i would call any flathead i got and kept but this guy is a monster. I expect him to grow really fast. Heres an example of growth rates

Catfish have a 1-1 growth rate meaning that a one pound catfish only needs to eat its own body weight to start gaining weight.

But a fish with high energy like a bluegill have a 5-1 growth rate they need to eat 5 times their body weight in a year to gain weight.

And the one that i thought was cool was a trout is a 11-1 growth rate


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

also just found out something interesting, if you break down the red tail's scientific name it means " Flathead red tail catfish"


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## awfootball (Aug 10, 2005)

I was watching some show awhile ago Called Hunt for big fish and they were catching some monster red tail catfish. I was wondering tho could you keep say a bass and some crappie in a tank or is it to hard to keep up with. How hard is it to take care of your fish?


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

i have kept both bass and crappie with my goldfish. i didnt think it was too hard. i once had a rockbass that i raised from about 3 inches to 11. i had to release him because he became too protective of his spot of the tank. i dont see a problem with a small crappie. With smallmouth i had a 2 incher that grew til about 12 inches, it was fun watching him feed. Everytime you put feeder fish in the tank he would turn dark green and then shake his butt before he attack


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

Byan ( the bluegill) died last night . he was a fun little guy he will be missed. im thinking his replacement will either be a small largemouth or baby crappie. Anyone got any ideas??? im trying to stay away from bullheads cuz they tend to carry disease.


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

the other video isnt ready yet bet heres peewee eating a red worm out of jen's hand.


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

heres the others


Peewee





Redtail catfish


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## fshnfreak (Feb 24, 2007)

lol u guys are killin me . but on a serious note all the research ive done says at bare minimum 500 gallons for one redtail. so i dunno i would never keep one im partial to cichlids and my new favorite bucktoothed tetras. good luck i have a feeling your gonna have an empty 55 gallon before to long well besides old red.


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## lacdown (Apr 25, 2007)

a little off topic, but have you guys seen this bad ass zebra shovelnose?

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...lnose&um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&sa=N


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