Bought A Catfish This Morning

[tropicalmumma]

My daughter and I went to the shop today to buy a sucker fish for the tank.  The one she wanted to buy was not the one the young lad caught.  The one we were looking at was $3.50 and when we got to the counter the lady said that we had a catfish and it was $9.25, but we brought him home, he hasn't been given a name yet but he will soon.  Now I'm needing to know a few things about them.  I was given (by the young fellow) some food suitable for the sucker fish we wanted first.  It's a vege flake type of food.  Is that ok for the catfish?  Also, how big can I expect it to grow? We don't have a massive tank, it has 2 guppies, a betta and now a catfish in it.  Will it grow big?  If so, what size tank will we need to upgrade to?

 

[DerpPH]

I just have to know what pleco it is. Some are sailfin or common which reach 2 feet. Some are bristle nose that reach about half a foot. Pix would really help.

 

[tropicalmumma]

Bristle nose, sorry.  I actually forgot what type they said until now.  So a 2ft tank would be ok?

 

[TallTree01]

I think you tank is a little on the small side for a brisltenose. He should be ok in there until he get to about 5-7cm long but after that you will need to look at getting a larger tank at about 20-30 gallons.

We love pics here! We love brisltenose here! Pics of bristlensoe=

 

[tropicalmumma]

Thought so.  How fast do they grow? We're moving town in 6 months and after having just moved, I know the size tank we have now fits perfectly on one of the seats with a child safety harness keeping it in place, a bigger tank won't so if we can hold off buying a bigger tank until we move that will be great.  Of course if it's unavoidable then that's what has to happen.  I'll take a photo soon, he's only really small at the moment but we were served by a kid who didn't know what he was doing so when I asked how old the fish was he didn't know but thinks it's been there for "ages" because he's sure that was the same one that was there when he started 2 weeks ago.  Hmm lol. 

 

[TallTree01]

They grow preTTY fast. I bought mine in about december last year. He was a tiny li'l wriggler about 1 and a 1/2 cm long . He is now about 8-9cm.
They say they can go from baby to adult in 1-2 years.

 

[tropicalmumma]

Oh wow, he's only little like yours started out, he's adorable!  Well, not sure if it's a he or not. 

 

[tropicalmumma]

<a href="http/s1201.photobucket.com/user/LMF8/media/Furbabies/Catfish.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http/i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb355/LMF8/Furbabies/Catfish.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Catfish.jpg"/></a>
 
I'm hoping this works.

 

[MartinS]

 

[This Old Spouse]

Goodness ... please don't buy any more fishing if you're moving in a few months.

 

[tropicalmumma]

No more fish until after we move, it's all good.  We moved previously with fish but not with a big tank.  I know this size tank will travel well though so it's ok

 

[Baccus]

Bristle noses do  grow pretty quick, and males get larger than females. Are you moving further south or staying in the far north? I have had bristle noses in a 1000L pond year round here in coastal central Queensland.

 

[TallTree01]

Bristle noses do  grow pretty quick, and males get larger than females. Are you moving further south or staying in the far north? I have had bristle noses in a 1000L pond year round here in coastal central Queensland.

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[tropicalmumma]

Moving further north right up the coast to live in paradise

 

[Baccus]

 

Bristle noses do  grow pretty quick, and males get larger than females. Are you moving further south or staying in the far north? I have had bristle noses in a 1000L pond year round here in coastal central Queensland.

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

 
I can supply pictures of the huge females that grew out in the pond, but no pictures of them in the pond, you would never see them in there and even when we emptied the pond it was only when there was only a few mm (yes mm) of water left in the bottom that we where able to catch them out. Fast and stubborn critters. My peppered corys also bred in the pond and I had 54 babies survive. Looked amazing when we caught out the sub adult bubs and had them cruising the length of the old bath tub as a tight knit school. Sadly no pics of that event as it was before I had a digital camera.