My catfish doesn't seem to want to grow?

[DugOut]

I had this catfish for 5 months and he only went from 1 inch all the way up to 1 inch. Some reason he just won't grow. Could it be the tank size that is holding it back. I have it in a 2gal. tank?

 

[Zagz]

Do you have other inhabitants in the tank? He might feel crowded in a 2 gal for sure. What kind of catfish is he? IMO a 2 gal is definately too small for most catfish.

 

[DugOut]

He has the whole tank to himself. I'm not sure, we caught him at the river and brought him home and that pretty much raps it up. Is there certain catfish that only grow to a minnow size?

 

[Zagz]

You can check out this website for info on all catfish. I don't know of any catfish that can live in a 2 gal. Next question, how often do you do water changes and do you test your water parameters? If you don't have a test kit, I'd recommend getting a liquid test kit for at least ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Water conditions can affect the feeding habits of fish. Ammonia and nitrite should be 0 ppm, and nitrates at least 10 ppm. HTH.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

He probably won't grow at all in a 2 Gallon tank.

 

[DugOut]

I had a water sample taken at the local Petsmart and they said that everything was balanced and offered some type of solution to help maintain it at that level. I will get a 10gal. for the fish if this is what it needs. A 2 gallon tank may sound very small but, it doesn't appear very small for a fish that is only 1 inch long. What size tank would you suggest? He eats bloodworms on the most part. I'll look it up to see exactly what type of catfish it is. I may be worring over nothing!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Depends on the type of catfish. If they grow to 6 or 8 inches, then you'd be best with a minimum of 20G for room. 20G's are still pretty cheap. So I'd atleast get a 20G. Or if you want a nicer looking tank, you can go with a 26G bow front. Still fairly cheap.

 

[Zagz]

Good for you getting a bigger tank for him! I'd also go with a 20 gal at least. He will definately thank you for it!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

hi...

Here's my bowfront....

 

[DugOut]

Lonewolfblue, You decorate so nice! What type of lighting do you use to get such nice colors to blast out like that? 8O A 20gal. tank would be better than a 10gal. atleast this way, I wouldn't have to upgrade as soon. The price of a 20gal isn't gonna hurt the wallet, I just tend to penny pinch alittle more around this time of year due to Christmas being right around the corner.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

It's just the standard florescent that comes with the tank. I got the kit at Petco. And the driftwood is Malaysian driftwood I got at Petco as well. I added some java moss also, which I got at the LFS here. In the middle is a hollow log on the bottom, which is the den for the rainbow shark. The rock cave on the left is where my 2 fire eels live. As soon as I get my filters from mail order, will fill up my 55G tank, put my pool filter sand in, all the ornaments, and the eels and sharks. I still need to see if my LFS carries Bio-Spira. I'm also putting the filter cartrige from my old tank in the new one to help the cycle go faster, as both filters use the same cartrige.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

My background isn't the same anymore, I replaced it with a bright blue, everything stands out even more now.

 

[DugOut]

Pool filter sand in a tank? I never knew you could! I've seen some pretty nifty backgrounds, actually a dark blue that gave the tank the appearance of so much depth. Other than my catfish, I also have a bass in a 55gal. but it always freaks when I turn the aquarium light on for more than 30 seconds. I even tinted the glass light cover inorder to dim it out alittle. Well, not really dim it out, I reversed the tint so from inside the tank looking up at the light wouldn't be so brite. (Great idea the works) I am gonna split light my tank so I can run 2 smaller watt bulbs. I have alot of plants in the tank that my bass lurks in but nothing really stands out unless I turn on the aquarium light. I have it unpluged all together so no one else turns it on and forgets to turn it off. I heard people say that you have to slowly get them use to the light by brighting it up little by little. Thats hard to do with a florescent. Well needless to say, I don't even have a background to show off my tank either because I need all the natural light I can get. What a bummer!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yes, pool filter sand. It's light tan and going to look awsome. I bought a 50lb bag. Going to use some slate too, if I can find some the size I want. It's going to look awsome. Just need to figure what I want to use for plants. Looking at artificial plants, but most look too fake. Would like to get something that looks somewhat real. But pool filter sand, lots of people use it.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

My 2 eels will love the pool filter sand. My current tank, the eels have a tough time burrowing because the gravel is a little too big.

 

[DugOut]

Thats all I have is artificial plants. When my bass gets involved in a chase with the feeder fish, the plants end up all over the tank. It (The Bass) would distroy a live plant in no time at all. Very violent sometimes! I went plastic due to they are easy to clean and are more rugged. The silk plants in my book look the realest of all artificial but tend to collect algie more quickly, that is also hard to remove due to collecting in between the cross threads. Second Nature and FancyPlants in my opinion look decent. I tried to get a overall view of each manufactors, while seeing them under water. This is the closest I could get. There may be better, This was all further I could get with my own opinion. Sounds like you've got a nice looking tank in the making!

 

[Zagz]

I agree that pool filter sand is great stuff. I use it in my 125 gal and my cichlids love it. I am considering changing substrate on some of my other tanks to pool filter sand in the near future. You can get it at pool supply store or at some hardware stores. Lonewolf, check with your local custom counter manufacturers they often will have slate that can be cut to the size that you want, or the will have remnants that they have cut off when making counters etc, that may be the size you want.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Will be checking a couple places here. But I also dug some up from the yard, the people who lived here before had a pond and before they left, decided to bury everything. So I'm going to see what I have, and if there;s some small enough pieces, clean them up good and soak them for a couple weeks, til I get my main system going. I think I'll be ordering the filters today for it, should have them by the end of the week.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I'm looking at thin pieces of slate that looks like natural rock, and not cut. Will look cool.....

 

[Lonewolfblue]

How do you think this will sound for a cave. Cut the end off a coke or sprite bottle. Wash it real well. cut it in half so it looks like a half of a bottle. Use Aquarium epoxy to attach the cut off end to a rock cave. Then from the rock cave, use the aquarium epoxy on the bottle and attach aquarium gravel, and then sprinkle pool filter sand in the cracks between the gravel, making a large cave for my eels. Thinking of making 2 of them, one for each eel, on each side of the tank.