Ok so the cat was let out of the bag in this thread.....
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?521539-Necrocanis-got-a-wels!-(1-Viewing)
Who thinks infractions are in order???
jk
So yeah the rumors are true. This week I purchased and recieved a Wels catfish (Silurus glanis) from Wes a well known vendor on this site. I won't go into price. I saw a few threads about wels catfish here on MFK and I was always under the impression that they were illegal to own in the USA. I have done extensive research and there is not a full ban in effect on the Wels Catfish......YET!!! I did find this bit of alarming link that I seem to have misplaced. TBTB if you still have it could you please post it up?
tnx. lol, Very difficult to type with a 2 year old attacking you. The Current ban is for fish that have SVC(SPRING VIREMIA OF CARP). Any fish that is a catfish or carp from the countries where it is known to occur must first be tested before importation. The fish that I have apparently comes from the border of China and a Breeder in Russia. They produce the regular variant along with the albino there.
For some information on this species. I found this rather interesting link on the growth rate of S. glanis.
http://invasiber.org/EGarcia/papers/Alp_RFBF_11.pdf
According to this study it takes approx 17 years for a female S. glanis to reach 6 feet in length. It shows that the growth is right at 2 feet in the first two years. so it averages about 1 foot a year the first two years and slows down after that. At age 7 it averages 4 feet in length. It takes til age 12 to reach an average of 5 feet, it takes another 5 years to reach the 6 foot mark. As you can see it grows throughout it's entire life and at this rate wild specimens that are over 8 feet must be 30 years or more in age. Although many factors may play into growth and this is for wild fish. In my estimate I have another year to 2 years to come up with a bigger pond for this fish. Assuming that pond will be 12' x 7' x 3' I will need something larger than the planned pond by the time it is 5-7 years old. Needless to say we cannot expect RTC like growth rates out of this fish. This fish does grow to over 300 lbs in the wild. Historical reports have stated this fish to be over 1000 lbs. I don't see this as likely since this fish would either have massive pituitary issues or have to live for more than 100 years to reach this size. IMO this fish would place 3rd or 4th in the weight category for largest catfish in the world. It is first or second when it comes to length mainly due to it's long eel like tail.
This is the only picture I have been able to take of the catfish thus far. My phone has a crap 2 mp cam, and my laptop is very useless for stills or high quality vids.
Not the best quality but the only one I got before the cam quit on me.
This link is funny because the wels catfish has the same name as me! lol.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-as-requested!!!/page4&highlight=wels+catfish
Other sources
Check out
scotcat
fishbase
planetcatfish
They all have some info on this fish.
Stay tuned.....
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?521539-Necrocanis-got-a-wels!-(1-Viewing)
Who thinks infractions are in order???
jkSo yeah the rumors are true. This week I purchased and recieved a Wels catfish (Silurus glanis) from Wes a well known vendor on this site. I won't go into price. I saw a few threads about wels catfish here on MFK and I was always under the impression that they were illegal to own in the USA. I have done extensive research and there is not a full ban in effect on the Wels Catfish......YET!!! I did find this bit of alarming link that I seem to have misplaced. TBTB if you still have it could you please post it up?
tnx. lol, Very difficult to type with a 2 year old attacking you. The Current ban is for fish that have SVC(SPRING VIREMIA OF CARP). Any fish that is a catfish or carp from the countries where it is known to occur must first be tested before importation. The fish that I have apparently comes from the border of China and a Breeder in Russia. They produce the regular variant along with the albino there. For some information on this species. I found this rather interesting link on the growth rate of S. glanis.
http://invasiber.org/EGarcia/papers/Alp_RFBF_11.pdf
According to this study it takes approx 17 years for a female S. glanis to reach 6 feet in length. It shows that the growth is right at 2 feet in the first two years. so it averages about 1 foot a year the first two years and slows down after that. At age 7 it averages 4 feet in length. It takes til age 12 to reach an average of 5 feet, it takes another 5 years to reach the 6 foot mark. As you can see it grows throughout it's entire life and at this rate wild specimens that are over 8 feet must be 30 years or more in age. Although many factors may play into growth and this is for wild fish. In my estimate I have another year to 2 years to come up with a bigger pond for this fish. Assuming that pond will be 12' x 7' x 3' I will need something larger than the planned pond by the time it is 5-7 years old. Needless to say we cannot expect RTC like growth rates out of this fish. This fish does grow to over 300 lbs in the wild. Historical reports have stated this fish to be over 1000 lbs. I don't see this as likely since this fish would either have massive pituitary issues or have to live for more than 100 years to reach this size. IMO this fish would place 3rd or 4th in the weight category for largest catfish in the world. It is first or second when it comes to length mainly due to it's long eel like tail.
This is the only picture I have been able to take of the catfish thus far. My phone has a crap 2 mp cam, and my laptop is very useless for stills or high quality vids.
Not the best quality but the only one I got before the cam quit on me.
This link is funny because the wels catfish has the same name as me! lol.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-as-requested!!!/page4&highlight=wels+catfish
Other sources
Check out
scotcat
fishbase
planetcatfish
They all have some info on this fish.
Stay tuned.....
