Red tailed catfish okay for ponds?

[forddna]

I know they need a lot of room, but what about "tankmates?" Are they too active to live with koi and an oscar? The oscar is super lazy.

[Riley]

How big is the pond? That would be my first concern. I think the koi if they are smaller would eventually become food. Redtails are eaters. They will eat anything that they can fit in their mouths. I had some lake fish in with a redtail once, they were just as big as the redtail. I was in the room late at night, heard a bunch of splashing, I woke up the next morning to find no lake fish and a fat redtail. All and all I think a red tail would be fine for a pond given it has the space, and there is not anything smaller for it to eat.

[forddna]

I have no idea the exact size, but it's about 6' long and 4' wide. Appears 3 feet deep in the center??

[evercl92]

Short term - sure
Long term - no way

RTC get rather large, 3-4 feet isn't uncommon

[fishscale]

Be careful of what they eat. You might find your other fish disappearing. I think it is entirely possible that when full grown, it could eat your oscar.

http://www.aquamojo.com/Redtail.html

RTC eating an 18" clown knife

[fshfanatic]

full grown and healthy, 50" + but they are cool as hell

[jinx©]

I tend to agree that these cats will either end up eating anything it can get in its mouth, and even trying the ones that won't...lol

[fishscale]

There's a guy somewhere on monster fish keepers who has a red tail catfish the size of your pond...pretty literally. It's 6' x 2' x 2'!

[forddna]

Wow! Eating that ghost knife..I'd be mad! I love those fish!

Anyway, the pond is either 3000g or 3500g. She can't remember exactly but it's very big.

[studdlygoof]

I once made the mistake of buying one...cool fish, but it will soon be your only fish with time...there is a MONSTER RT up at the Baltimore Aquaruim...I would be scared letting small childern near a pond with that thing in it

[daFrimpster]

Originally Posted by forddna

I have no idea the exact size, but it's about 6' long and 4' wide. Appears 3 feet deep in the center??

That size would be about 550 gallons if it was 3 feet deep everywhere...

[forddna]

I'm not good at judging distances by memory. ;-)

She told me the pond is 3000 or 3500. She couldn't remember which, but was certain it was one of those.

I would say it's actually at least 10 feet long and 6 feet wide.

[NeverEndingNinja]

10x6x3 is only 1000g. 3500 is more like 17x12x3.

On the other hand, my pond, which is 12x8x2 - 1100g, is in no way a suitable home for a 6' fish. In short, I think these are better left in areas at least 20x20x6. They need room to swim, as do all other fish. I understand a lot of big cats work by ambush, but thats in the wild. Put any animal in captivity and its behaviors change. These big catfish need to, firstly, be left in the wild, and secondly, if you just can't resist having one, you need to give it a HUGE enclosure.

[scotie aquatic]

try a sturgeon? I know they like colder water like the koi, and they are a lil more intresting, to me atleast.

[Blacksunshine]

I think you should stick with the Koi. RTCs are not really fish that should be kept by most people. you will soon have no koi or anything else. Then eventually you will have a monster of a fish that is too big to keep with anything.

a sturgeon also would not be a great choice.
generally speaking fish that reach 6ft are not a great idea for most people to keep. what if you move. where you gonna put it? how are you going to transport it. what are you going to feed it? What if it dies how are you going to dispose of it? The idea of keeping a monster fish is great. But the reality of it is they take just as much dedication as do our planted tanks. If not A LOT more.