tank mates for my new catfish?

H

H2OPawesome

Water Opossum
Apr 24, 2007
118
0
0
38
Louisiana
So I went to a local pet store the other day because I am tired of petsmart and petco. I was really there to pick up some pigs ears for my dogs, but I decided to stop by the fish area. They always have some of the most gorgeous fish, mostly because a lot of them are bred locally (Heck, I've sold them tons of guppies and other livebearers before). Anyway, I noticed a really cute little catfish, and I just had to ask about it. Of course, I came home with it. It's an albino channel cat, she said it should be fine in my 20 for now, and when it does get too big they'd be happy to buy it back and I could get something else.
Of course now my friends are making fun of me for having too many food items as pets, I have a crawfish in one tank (he didn't get eaten, and I felt kinda bad for him so i plopped him in my mostly empty 10g) and now a catfish in another.
Anyway, I really don't know what else to put in that tank. It's been set up for months and months with nothing but some snails and ghostshrimp and a beta... It's not well decorated yet, just some home made low plants, I want to buy some tall ones later when I get more moolah.

So it's a 20g tall, current tank members are:
a humongous beta that could go into a different tank easily if he doesn't get along with something or there isn't room
a 1.5 inch albino channel cat
3 ghost shrimp
some snails that I'm breeding to feed my puffer

I want something for the middle and top, ya know? I want outside of my norm, which is livebearers. I like color, but honestly it's not that big a deal on this one, I'm going to make this a fairly natural looking tank, so I really don't need tropicals.
 
A Channel Cat in a 20? How long do you expect that to last? He's peaceful enough but will swallow anything that fits in his mouth. And his mouth will be getting big in an awful hurry.
 
Yeah, reading more apparently they grow a lot faster than I thought they would. But she did say that they would buy him back, which is just fine with me. I can just keep growing baby ones up and selling them back lol!
I'll keep him until it gets obvious that he needs a new home, the lady at the store said that he should grow slower since he's only in a 20....
And if they don't take him back my friend's 200 is relatively empty, he might get a surprise delivery haha!
 
The size of the tank has as much to do with how fast your fish grow as the color of your eyes! And a 200 will hold a Channel for a while. You really should find someone with a good sized pond.
 
This is a good sized Channel, but not even close to record size.

White-Channel-Large-Catfish-Pics-01071520.jpg
 
Well, I do have a pond, a ditch, and a couple of slews on our property. The pond is covered completely in duckweed though, I don't think much lives in there. But the ditch has brim and alligator gar and I'm sure other fish we haven't caught. Should I toss him in there?
 
So it's pretty much decided that I am keeping the catfish until he gets big, then selling him back. I am really only going to have this exact set up for about three months anyway, before I move again, so it doesn't matter that much. I just didn't want it to sit empty, so I put a fish in it. I'll be moving the tank, water, and fish with me, but if he's big by then then he'll just go bye bye and I'll get some store credit to use on decorations or whatever.
I just want to know what I can put in with him, for now.
 
Did you really put a Channel Cat in a 20? Its going to outgrow that within a year, and will eat anything small enuff to fit in its mouth, except its own young. I used to have some and they ate my koi, so we let it go in the Schuylkill river. Its probably 3 feet long right now, eating everything in sight. You should return it. Or get a 300 gal tank with full grown koi/goldfish(common) or maybe some sunfish. Other then really big, or fast, fish, you can't put nothin with a channel cat.
 
H2OPawesome said:
Well, I do have a pond, a ditch, and a couple of slews on our property. The pond is covered completely in duckweed though, I don't think much lives in there. But the ditch has brim and alligator gar and I'm sure other fish we haven't caught. Should I toss him in there?
Click to expand...

He will eat all the other fish in it, as long as they fit in his mouth.
 
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