The Red-tailed Catfish is unmistakable with its red tail, long whiskers, and monster fish size!
A fascinating fish that’s enormous in size, the Red-tailed Catfish will surely catch your eye… and its awesome good looks will keep you coming back!
In perfect harmony, its bright white sides topped with a dark spotted gray back contrast nicely with its bright red tail. Adding to its charm is a huge mouth with long trailing whiskers. This is probably one of the most outstanding catfish ever seen.
The Redtail Catfish is a predator that silently dwells at the bottom of deep river pools. It is slow moving, but it uses this as a stealth tactic along with a well-developed chemosensory ability, to capture unsuspecting prey. Yet despite its size and huge shovel-like mouth, it is a very peaceful fish in the aquarium. Peaceful that is, if you don’t fit in its mouth! It gets along quite fine with tank-mates that are similar in size and demeanor, just the little guys are at risk.
Despite its good looks it is a huge fish. It will normally reach up to about 4 1/2 feet, but in the wild it is documented at almost 6 feet in length. Its size makes its a favorite game fish, and angler’s love it. But for the aquarist, well it is simply too big for the home aquarium. This monster fish is best enjoyed at a public aquarium unless you can provide a tank of 1000 gallons or more and lots of food for the next 20 years!
Learn more about this outstanding catfish on Animal-World.com. Pictures and information for the Red-tailed Catfish Phractocephalus hemioliopterus, along with it habitat, behaviors, and aquarium care!
Clarice Brough is a team member at Animal-World and has contributed many articles and write-ups.
Featured Image Credit: abentson, Shutterstock