# can a lake catfish go in a comunity tank?



## thornton_851 (Jan 2, 2005)

hey all, 
today i cought a catfish that is about 2" and i have it in a seprate tank and was wondering if i could put it in my community tank. i have heard it can be done all i need to do is separate it for like 2 weeks and make sure it doesnt have a desise that might kill my fish. i could be veary wrong but i would like to get this lil sucker in my tank. if anyone can give me information on how to do so that would be awsome!


----------



## RAYMAN45 (Oct 2, 2004)

channel cats will eat your fish when the cat gets big enuf


----------



## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

depends on what kind of catfish

i assum it wouldnt be a channel as they are typically found in the more southern us

if you have a bullhead then you could possibly keep it in with em, i own a baby bull head and he seems to leave all the other fish alone


----------



## piranhaqueen (Nov 18, 2004)

I have a baby bullhead, it is about an inch now. I quaranteed it for about a month, then added it to my community molly tank. it ate my 2 baby mollys. but it is a really cool fish, and now it is his tank.


----------



## thornton_851 (Jan 2, 2005)

thanks alot for the information! i think it is a channel cat.. whats the minimum time that i can quaranteen it for? is thier a certin amount if time it needs alone? this cat looks healthy


----------



## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

thornton_851 said:


> thanks alot for the information! i think it is a channel cat.. whats the minimum time that i can quaranteen it for? is thier a certin amount if time it needs alone? this cat looks healthy
> [snapback]1164975[/snapback]​


if its a channel cat it may not go into a community tank

and you better start saving your pennies for a pond because channel cats get upwards of five feet


----------



## King Oscar (Apr 5, 2005)

ya id say no cause it would outgrow its tank mates and eat them


----------



## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

what do the bullheads look like?


----------



## piranhaqueen (Nov 18, 2004)

not the same species as mine though


----------



## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

alrite, bullheads where im at are fish we find in tide pools at the beach,lol


----------



## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

i would never risk adding wild fish into a domestic fish tank, even a juvenille. depends first off what you have already in your tank. catfish are insane eaters, and often will eat anything dead or alive that will fit in their mouth. cat fish are notorious for growing large, and depending what species you have of catfish, you can be certain that unless your tank is well suited enough nature will take its course. 
most catfish are oportunistic eaters and wont persue other fish in the tank, this is assuming its fed often, but like i said, sometimes a wild caught fish can exhibit some wild traits for sometime. ive seen my buddies sunfish and bass tank personally, all wild caught. he had them at 3-4 inches in a large tank with a full grown oscar who was mean by my standards as far as oscars go. the little sun fish bullied this big oscar to submission in a days time before i had to convince my buddy to release the fish back in the wild or get rid of the oscar. 
point is, its a risk...i would say dont mix and match fish that dont naturally occur together, its more rewarding.


----------



## 6Fish_Pimp6 (Jan 3, 2005)

Channel cats in the Southern usa? We've got tonnes here in Mn....I geuss this lake has been stocked though since it articficial but I think the other lake that is natural has them too...
There are soooo many bullheads in our sh*t hole of a lake....So everyone come down with some nets and catch some bullheads for us! you can take the carp too!


----------



## Guest (Aug 27, 2005)

Here are some pics to help you ID your catfish:
Yellow Bullhead (Notice the unforked, square tail)








Brown Bullhead








Channel Catfish (Notice the forked tail)









Bullheads only grow to about a foot in legnth. The bullhead I used to keep was very very nocturnal. To see it, I had to shine a flashlight into the tank after the lights went out.
Channel catfish grow huge.









I don't think adding wild fish to an aquarium is a problem. What's the difference if it was caught in the Amazon River or your local river?


----------



## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

I would not add a native wild catfish to any of my tanks as it will carry some diseases that your fish will never have come across before - likewise your fish will have bacterias the catfish has never seen before.

its likely you could lose the lot unless you properly quarentine the cat.

also you need to know what the species is to be abble to know what water conditions it requires - it may not be a suitible tankmate for your fishes.


----------



## 6Fish_Pimp6 (Jan 3, 2005)

If you don't know ALOT about the fish you are introducing to your fish tank I wouldn't do it. You can buy bullheads and channel cats over the internet form people that know what they're doing or have farm bred them....BTW I have albino tank raised channel cats for sale....anyways it's just not worth the time of quaruntining them then you add them to the tank and they get a new disease that they haven't been introduced to and they could die..


----------



## Michaeljames (Jan 14, 2005)

I've tried to mix wild caught natives with domestic fish and it never worked. to a wild fish a good meal is very hard to come by, all of a sudden theyre staring at a refridgerator. meanwhile the domestics are sitting in front of a killer and dont even know it. I've seen a lil bullhead clean out my peacock bass, a rockbass ate all my juvi p's in 1 night! and a pumpkin seed owned all the cichlids in my tank one time so bad I had to break it up. etc etc its a cool fish no doubt but bein from the wild that mofo needs his own space


----------



## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

Michaeljames said:


> I've tried to mix wild caught natives with domestic fish and it never worked. to a wild fish a good meal is very hard to come by, all of a sudden theyre staring at a refridgerator. meanwhile the domestics are sitting in front of a killer and dont even know it. I've seen a lil bullhead clean out my peacock bass, a rockbass ate all my juvi p's in 1 night! and a pumpkin seed owned all the cichlids in my tank one time so bad I had to break it up. etc etc its a cool fish no doubt but bein from the wild that mofo needs his own space
> [snapback]1170286[/snapback]​


in all fairness your choice of fish was likely your biggest downfall, not the fact they were wild, many hobby fish are wild caught.


----------

