Hey everyone, I have a 400 gallon boswell pond with 1 azul peacock bass, 1 chinese highfin shark, 1 clown knife fish, 1 kelberi peacock bass, 1 common pleco and 2 giant danios, all very small. I wanted to get some big exotic catfish that wasnt going to get absolutley huge like a RTC or TSN and I saw a Asian red tail catfish come up for sale, I would get one but I cant really get a straight answer on their temperament, some people say that they can go with anything and other people say that they will kill and eat everything in the tank. I would just like some clarification on how aggressive they really are. And if they are super aggressive what other big catfish would work?
Are asian red tail catfish compatible with other fish?
- Thread starter GouramiGuy123
- Start date
My advice is don’t get one.
Yes you will get them to live with other fish quite happily. Yes some can be aggressive and some can be absolute terrors, however you just said you don’t want a giant catfish on the size scale of tsn or rtc. Well an Asian red tail has the potential to grow as big or bigger than both those.
Check out my previous posts on them.
Maybe chose a different hemibagrus, giraffe cats, jelly cat, bolt cat, marmoratus, tigrinus or jurense depending on availability.
If availability is an issue then yes it’s tempting to get one and if worst comes to worst you could move him on once he gets to 3ft.
If so then expect a relative angel 1” to 8”, a pain in the ass, 8” to 18” if the tank is not big enough, and in a good size tank or pond (>1000g) a fairly placid friendly catfish willing to interact with you but quite happy to take your fingers with his food.
No matter what you go for the danios will disappear in time even with your existing stock.
Note that the 400 won’t be big enough for your current stock and an ART long term.
Just out of interest, you do know how big your Chinese high fin shark is gonna get?!
Yes you will get them to live with other fish quite happily. Yes some can be aggressive and some can be absolute terrors, however you just said you don’t want a giant catfish on the size scale of tsn or rtc. Well an Asian red tail has the potential to grow as big or bigger than both those.
Check out my previous posts on them.
Maybe chose a different hemibagrus, giraffe cats, jelly cat, bolt cat, marmoratus, tigrinus or jurense depending on availability.
If availability is an issue then yes it’s tempting to get one and if worst comes to worst you could move him on once he gets to 3ft.
If so then expect a relative angel 1” to 8”, a pain in the ass, 8” to 18” if the tank is not big enough, and in a good size tank or pond (>1000g) a fairly placid friendly catfish willing to interact with you but quite happy to take your fingers with his food.
No matter what you go for the danios will disappear in time even with your existing stock.
Note that the 400 won’t be big enough for your current stock and an ART long term.
Just out of interest, you do know how big your Chinese high fin shark is gonna get?!
Last edited:
Per our thread https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/posts/7626006 the temperament of ARTC (past 1-1.5 ft) depends on the tank size. The smaller the tank, the more aggressive the fish is to the tank mates. It most usually cannot tolerate any tank mates in smaller tanks, for instance 500 gal. Ours was the same until we moved it into a 4500 gal where it mellowed up completely and didn't bother any of its 50-100 tank mates at all. Something similar occurred with its cousin, the wyckii.
It's hard to propose other big-growing catfish for you for two reasons - obviously your stock is not "for life", as even the already present pbass will eat the danios sooner than later and the high fin chinese shark is a very timid, slow-growing fish that does poorly in tropical water as it is a temperate water fish and is also sensitive to any bullying.
If we are talking temporary, then much more information is needed to propose anything sensibly.
Dave above is speaking of his thread: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...boys-living-with-wyckioides-and-wykii.701091/
It's hard to propose other big-growing catfish for you for two reasons - obviously your stock is not "for life", as even the already present pbass will eat the danios sooner than later and the high fin chinese shark is a very timid, slow-growing fish that does poorly in tropical water as it is a temperate water fish and is also sensitive to any bullying.
If we are talking temporary, then much more information is needed to propose anything sensibly.
Dave above is speaking of his thread: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...boys-living-with-wyckioides-and-wykii.701091/
the danios were put in to cycle the tank, its fine if they get eaten