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Red-tail catfish

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Femalefishkeeper

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Hi :)

I have a red-tail catfish that I’ve had for nearly 2 months. We feed it king prawns cut up into little pieces, and it won’t eat anything else.

About 3 hours after feeding, it’s spitting some of the food back out, as if it’s being sick, but the food looks like it hasn’t been touched afterwards. It will not eat anything else.

Any suggestions on what else I can do? We have tried with pellets but it just won’t touch them. It’s healthy, happy and growing it just seems to be a fussy eater!

I will attach videos. P.S. I know my glass needed cleaning, I did it right after taking this video don’t worry!

Thank you in advance


7663167E-FEFD-43D5-AFC3-656F2ED9B584.jpeg
 

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How often are you feeding it? They don't need to eat twice a day. One feeding at dusk every few days is plenty. Try worms, meal worms, fresh meat (no fat) in addition to shrimp. Do you have a cave or some place for it to hide? Also, I can't tell from your picture, but you do have a one to two thousand-gallon tank for it to grow up in, right? They can grow to four feet.
 
That's a very cool-looking fish! I wouldn't worry as long as it's eating most of the time and otherwise acting normal. Sometimes fish will taste something, carry it around for a while, and spit it out. He might just be full, or he might be bored with shrimp and ready for some variety.

Archer is right--these things get HUGE, as you probably know. Before long you'll be throwing in whole lobsters...
 
Another thought: If the catfish doesn't eat the prawn chunks right away, or if it spits them out and doesn't show anymore interest, I'd remove them after a few minutes. Decomposing inverts can cause surprisingly big ammonia spikes.
 
Archerfish said:
How often are you feeding it? They don't need to eat twice a day. One feeding at dusk every few days is plenty. Try worms, meal worms, fresh meat (no fat) in addition to shrimp. Do you have a cave or some place for it to hide? Also, I can't tell from your picture, but you do have a one to two thousand-gallon tank for it to grow up in, right? They can grow to four feet.
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Ive been feeding it twice a day so it is possible that I have been giving it too much. Yeah it does have a cave to hide also. At the moment it’s not in a tank that big, I’m my partner is building a new task as well speak today stretches across my living room so there will be more than enough room for it. Thank you very much for your help, i really appreciate it
 
WhistlingBadger said:
That's a very cool-looking fish! I wouldn't worry as long as it's eating most of the time and otherwise acting normal. Sometimes fish will taste something, carry it around for a while, and spit it out. He might just be full, or he might be bored with shrimp and ready for some variety.

Archer is right--these things get HUGE, as you probably know. Before long you'll be throwing in whole lobsters...
Click to expand...
Thank you! Yes I think I have been over feeding it possible. I’ll try feeding it once today and see how it gets on, and I do get any of the food out straight away so it doesn’t mess up my water levels. I really appreciate your help though thank you so much
 
So are we Jekyll or Hyde today? It doesn’t matter. Either way, you’ve “done your research” so you’ll know why you shouldn’t feed King Prawns to fish.
 
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Ichthys said:
So are we Jekyll or Hyde today? It doesn’t matter. Either way, you’ve “done your research” so you’ll know why you shouldn’t feed King Prawns to
Ichthys said:
So are we Jekyll or Hyde today? It doesn’t matter. Either way, you’ve “done your research” so you’ll know why you shouldn’t feed King Prawns to fi
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Ichthys said:
So are we Jekyll or Hyde today? It doesn’t matter. Either way, you’ve “done your research” so you’ll know why you shouldn’t feed King Prawns to fish.
Click to expand...
Enlighten me then please, and then I’ll explain what research I have done
 
Femalefishkeeper said:
Enlighten me then please, and then I’ll explain what research I have done
Click to expand...
Theyre de-shelled, gutted, cleaned and isolated from any other food products. They’re defrosted and are cut up into small pieces before they are put into the tank. Please don’t take that tone with me, there is just no need. I even asked if we could be friends yesterday.
 
Ichthys said:
You took it with me for giving you the advice you asked for. It works both ways.
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You said that I’m keeping an illegal fish? Which I’m clearly not. My father works for trading standards and I have notified him of all of this.

It wasn’t from pier aquatics either, you seem like a very angry man who’s clearly very passionate about fish. I would suggest that you turned that passion into something positive rather than putting other people down who you see as less knowledgeable or lack experience.
 
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