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Red-tailed CatfishFlat-nosed Catfish - Antenna Catfish Family: Pimelodidae
The Red-tailed Catfish is quite an attraction. The beautiful red tail and the white belly are unmistakable characteristics of this fish!This fish gets really large, so plan on only keeping juveniles unless you have a large aquarium. They are not real active and would prefer a large cave or den to hang out in. Don't keep with smaller fish as they will become lunch sooner or later. This fish has a big mouth!Even though the Red-tailed catfish is one of the larger fish in the Amazon, this is not a food fish for the natives. This fish has a dark colored flesh and the natives will only eat white flesh! There is only one species in the genus Phractocephalus, the Red-tailed Catfish and a unique phenomena with this fish, as stated by author Hans A Baensch in Aquarium Atlas Volume 2, is that "...the red colored tail fin secrets a substance which colors the hands an intense red on contact"! For more Information on keeping this fish see:
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| Geographic Distribution Phractocephalus hemioliopterus |
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| Point data provided by FishBase.org |
Red-tailed Catfish are omnivorous but prefer meaty foods. As juveniles, they will generally eat all kinds of live, fresh, and flake foods. To keep a good balance give them a high quality flake food or pellet everyday. As they grow go you can go to higher percentages of either pellets or live foods.
Distribution:
The Red-tailed Catfish are found in South America in the
Amazon river, Rio Negro, Venezuela and Guyana. Prefers deep pools in rivers.
Size - Weight:
These fish can generally get up to 36 inches (90 cm) in an
aquarium, though there are reports of some being up to five feet (150
cm)!
Social Behaviors:
“ The Red-tailed Catfish are generally a good community fish with
tank-mates their own size. Not much is known about keeping more than one
in the same aquarium. Don't keep with fish that are much smaller since
they are predaceous.
Sexual Differences:
Not known.
Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
These fish will swim in the bottom of the aquarium. As they
get older, they may stay motionless for long periods of time.
Acceptable Water Conditions:
Hardness: to 10° dGH
Ph: 5.5 to 6.8
Temp: 26-28° C
Breeding/Reproduction:
The Red-tailed Catfish have not been successfully bred in
aquariums.
Availability:
The Red-tailed Catfish is available from time to time and
is usually expensive.
Comments from people who have kept this fish:
My Boyfriend & I have a 13" red-tailed Catfish called Reno. I still have the pictures of him when we brought him home in his little petshop fish bag at about 3" long, approxs 10 months ago. We have just gotten him an 8foot x 2 x 2foot tank to play in, but he's still wondering where his old 4foot home has gone! Bless him - I'm sure he'll do some exploring soon to see the rest of his buddies that he lives with. Reno is Amazing and we're happy that he's got more room to play in now. But now he looks teeny in the massive aquarium, but that won't last long I'm sure! He does take food from our hands but after reading other peoples experiences with their RTC's I'm a tad jealous as I'd love Reno to be as playful and have toys etc.... SO, I would like some advise pleeeeeeease!! We would like to know: - what sorts of Fruits and veggies people feed RTC's? - What sort of Toys do you put in the tank for the RTC's to play with? One person said his played with a ball - does the ball sink or float? How big is it/what type of ball is it? Hope someone can help me! Many Thanks.
I have a rtc, his name is Felix, he is approx 8 months old and is already over 2ft in length. He is in a 5ft 570 ltr tank. He lives with my Oscars and Silver Dollars very peacefully. As everyone else says; a fantastic pet, beautiful to look at, and will feed from my hand. Visitors to my house find this amazing. I feed him white fish steaks and whole mussels every couple of days or so. I can see me having to get a bigger tank just for him at the rate he is growing. Great fun!
Hi, I have two red tail catfish which are very unique. They are very good fish to kept even though they eat a lot. I just bought another one because the first one was feeling lonely. Overall, I love my RTC because they are the most beautiful catfish you'll ever see. Whoever owns one... will know. Good luck on raising you catfish, because I DID.
Our red tail cat fish was around 18 inches and we had him in a 125 gallon tank. We had him for around 4 years, got him as a baby. My son went to college and he refused to eat. He died of a broken heart.
I have had several of these great fish, my baby RTC right now may be the best. He is only 4 inches and is hand feeding already! While not an overly aggressive fish, they will not tolerate any aggression from tankmates. If you have the space this cat is a must!
My red tail cat fish is currently 7 inches long, feeding on prawns and pellets. He is sharing a tank with a 9" silver arowana, 3 large silver dollars, 12" sailfin plec, and a 7" giant gourami. He seems to be getting on well with all fish and even sleeps alongside my plec. I am looking forward to seeing my red tail grow.
Some of the coolest comments:
I have a RTC that is roughly 30 inches in length. He is great! He has eaten from my hand since he was only around a half an inch long. I started feeding him red worms and moved up to earthworms and then too catfish food and for the last couple of years he has been eating kibbles and chunks dog food. I feed him about six pieces twice a day and am careful not to over feed him. I would love to show you how he acts! He has toys in his tank that he loves to play with (nothing he can swallow) and loves to be played with. I take my hand and pet him and also wrestle with him by grabbing his tail and pushing him through the water. He will actually put his tail in my hand and want me to push him. He has a ball in his tank that he will balance on his head and push throught the water from one end of the tank to the next. He loves attention and if he wants it he gets it by splashing water or hitting the tank lid or his new thing is to spit water half way across the room. He is truly a great pet and i consider him part of the family.
Hi friends, Indeed these fish get quite huge! This presents monetary and logistical problems for would be keepers. One inexpensive way to keep these monster fish happy and long lived is to keep them in a 300 gallon stock tank available at your local farm supply store. The fish look just as great from the top, and you absolutely can't beat the price for one of these tanks! Make sure, of course that the tank is on a solid concrete base, as 300 gallons is very heavy. Also, I've had good success with using bulk catfish food (also at farm supply stores) as a base food. This food is designed for feeding channel catfish in the food industry, so the feed is very nutritionally balanced. Also, you really save the bucks, with a fifty pound bag costing just a few dollars. These are just a couple ideas for those of us that want to keep these beautiful fish but don't have unlimited means.
Author: David Brough. CFS.
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