Sun catfish have been a staple of the catfish stock of almost every LFS for a long time, a decade for sure. Their reported wild max size is 18" SL or I guess ~21" TL. The biggest I've come across in captivity however is ~15" TL, which is still pretty remarkable. Of my octet, some are 8 years old, could be even a decade, but none broke even 1' yet TL. Rather, they have been the same size for the last 3-4 years. Most of them are FL rescues except a couple that survived their trip from NY to FL back in 2011.
I have kept them in a 1500 gal pond, 240 gal tank, and then they went into a 4500 gal about 1.5 years ago. They were rather miserable in the tank. Very skittish despite having plenty of calm tank mates. Fed poorly. Maybe they got spoiled having lived the prior 3 years in a 1500 gal pond. It had taken them a long time, perhaps 6 months in the 240 gal to lose most of their beer bellies they acquired in the pond. Then they became very relaxed and very fat again in the 4500 gal. I can't control their food uptake in the 4500 gal and they take full advantage of it.
Once in a while they may have a dispute or a few to establish or enforce their hierarchy. It can get vicious and fins would be missing chunks and the body slamming with pectoral fin stubbing and scraping may get intense but this is usually followed by relative calm for many months or even years.
They swim a lot in the large tank, actually like 75% of the time. Perhaps it helps that the 4500 gal is bare but they are very relaxed and often swim at varying depths in the 4.5' water column. In the morning, it is not usual to find them swimming not far from the top or mid water, usually it is a very laxed swim, with slight tail motion.
They take pellets and fish and anything in between, even when I think they can't possibly eat anything more. The interaction with the tankmates is rather peaceful. At least can't recall them being aggressive to any other fish except rarely between themselves. Fin-nipping tank mates, yet, have been tasting their fins, usually soon after introduction, which largely or almost completely subsided soon thereafter.
in 240 gal tank
I have kept them in a 1500 gal pond, 240 gal tank, and then they went into a 4500 gal about 1.5 years ago. They were rather miserable in the tank. Very skittish despite having plenty of calm tank mates. Fed poorly. Maybe they got spoiled having lived the prior 3 years in a 1500 gal pond. It had taken them a long time, perhaps 6 months in the 240 gal to lose most of their beer bellies they acquired in the pond. Then they became very relaxed and very fat again in the 4500 gal. I can't control their food uptake in the 4500 gal and they take full advantage of it.
Once in a while they may have a dispute or a few to establish or enforce their hierarchy. It can get vicious and fins would be missing chunks and the body slamming with pectoral fin stubbing and scraping may get intense but this is usually followed by relative calm for many months or even years.
They swim a lot in the large tank, actually like 75% of the time. Perhaps it helps that the 4500 gal is bare but they are very relaxed and often swim at varying depths in the 4.5' water column. In the morning, it is not usual to find them swimming not far from the top or mid water, usually it is a very laxed swim, with slight tail motion.
They take pellets and fish and anything in between, even when I think they can't possibly eat anything more. The interaction with the tankmates is rather peaceful. At least can't recall them being aggressive to any other fish except rarely between themselves. Fin-nipping tank mates, yet, have been tasting their fins, usually soon after introduction, which largely or almost completely subsided soon thereafter.
in 240 gal tank
