catfish

[SnakeCollector]

will a catfish outgrow a 55 gallon tank and if so how long would it take for it to outgrow it

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[Freakkboy]

Depends on what type of catfish.... Corys will stay about 2.5 inches no matter what, and some red-tails get about 3 feet long in about 4-5 years, depending on food.

[Adrya]

Depends on the catfish species. Flatheads (which I have in the river behind my house) can sometimes get up to 6ft. The largest I would go for a catfish is a bullhead... they can get up to 15"... one per 55 gallons.

Are you talkin' about buying catfish from a petstore or catching one from the wild?

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[SnakeCollector]

the ones that i seen were anywhere from 1-4 feet long and they were fat,what im asking is will it stay small enough if it is kept in a 55 gallon

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[SnakeCollector]

wild ones my friends grandma has a big pond with normals and albinos

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[Adrya]

fish tend to only grow to a certain size in their environment... i don't know if this applies to all fish, but i know goldfish do.

still, it depends on the species... i would do a little research on what you're looking at and find out what species they are.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[SnakeCollector]

all i know is that they are catfish what kind would they most likely be

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[Freakkboy]

I think you can use the formula of 1" of fish for every square foot of surface area in your tank. At least I think thats the right formula? Might want to check with someone else who keeps a lot of freshwater fish.
Hope it helps.

[Adrya]

I have no clue what kind they would be, they could be any kind of catfish that live in a pond or lake... you need to catch one and get a book or somethin' to figure out what it is... it's not real easy to identify catfish sometimes because there are so many species, but it needs to be done.

I wouldn't want to make the mistake of putting a catfish that gets up to 4ft in a 55 gallon tank... because it may or may not outgrow it.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[SnakeCollector]

Originally Posted by Adrya_Webb

fish tend to only grow to a certain size in their environment... i don't know if this applies to all fish, but i know goldfish do.

that is what i need to know,does anyone else know the answer to this

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[SnakeCollector]

ill probaly just get one of the smaller fish from there but those catfish were awesome the smallest i seen was an albino 1 footer

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[amercnwmn]

Oh for crying out loud!!
You have GOT to find out what KIND of catfish you have before ANYONE can answer that question accurately.
Unless you can ID the catfish, there is NO way to tell you wether it will outgrow the tank or not!
Its like asking if a snake will outgrow a 55gal tank...It will if it's a BURM! It won't if it's a Ringneck!

Theres a BIG difference in sizes in the species.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[SnakeCollector]

i just wanted to know because i know goldfish can stay small or get big

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[Adrya]

Originally Posted by VoodooChile

Oh for crying out loud!!
You have GOT to find out what KIND of catfish you have before ANYONE can answer that question accurately.
Unless you can ID the catfish, there is NO way to tell you wether it will outgrow the tank or not!
Its like asking if a snake will outgrow a 55gal tank...It will if it's a BURM! It won't if it's a Ringneck!

Theres a BIG difference in sizes in the species.

Exactly my point! FRIGGIN DITTO!

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[SnakeCollector]

sorry for asking

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[amercnwmn]

Dont be sorry for asking, but it gets frustrating when you ask the SAME question over and over, and people have told you OVER and OVER that you really need to find out WHAT kind of catfish you have so we can tell you what size tank will be appropriate. Its impossible to advise you without knowing the species.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[JuliusSqueezer]

IF it's stocked fish from a fishery it's likely channel cat or flatheads. Why though would you want to take a fish that's doing it's thing in a nice big pond and stuff it into a fish tank when you can go to a pet store and buy fish that are appropriate for life in a tank for a few pennies?

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[Adrya]

Originally Posted by JuliusSqueezer

IF it's stocked fish from a fishery it's likely channel cat or flatheads. Why though would you want to take a fish that's doing it's thing in a nice big pond and stuff it into a fish tank when you can go to a pet store and buy fish that are appropriate for life in a tank for a few pennies?

I was just thinkin' the same thing.

If you want catfish, go with corycats, they come in a wide variety of colors and patterns, are cheap, and cute little catfish that are suited for aquarium life.

I have two bullhead catfish that I caught as 1" babies 5 years ago, they got too big for a fishtank so I put them outside where they could clean up after my turtles and goldfish. They are now both about 15", one stays in my fish pond, the other in my turtle pond and they are super happy to be in there with all the room to swim. They stay in the ponds year round, through winter and everything.

[Ratsicles]

While keeping something in an enclosure that is too small *may* inhibit its growth it will eventually catch up. The only thing that will really inhibit growth in an animal is lack of food.

A 55 gallon tank is 48"Lx13"Dx21"T. If the fish at adult size is bigger than the smallest measurement of the tank you need a bigger tank or a smaller fish.

Catfish are known as tank busters ... be it your irridescent catfish, flat heads, channels, blues, mudcats, or bull heads. Catfish have an extremely bony head and are quite flighty, they can and do ram the glass when startled and will end up cracking the tank, especially when larger.

Growth rate is going to depend on species and feed. Almost all of the catfish will exceed 1' in 1.5 years ... most of them in 9-12 months.

Bryan

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[SnakeCollector]

thanks for the info everyone

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters