Oxydoras niger

JLW

JLW

CCA Members
So, about two years ago, I got a shipment of nice little mouse cats that included an Oxydoras niger, the Ripsaw Catfish. I gave him to a customer with a large tank, and told her, "He's gonna eventually outgrow this tank."

He's currently 24-30" or so. He hurt himself a little bit getting into a big log trying to avoid some jacka--incredibly handsome, intelligent guy who was trying to catch the Ripsaw out of the tank. He's currently sitting in a 40-breeder, which is obviously less than ideal.

He is free to a good home. In the two years they had them, the customer got very attached to "Tank." They grew him up from a (seriously) 2" fish to this behemoth. He needs to go to a big aquarium.

Oxydoras are really cool catfish. They're a little shy, but tend to figure out food pretty quickly. They need BIG hiding spots to feel secure. They're oddly peaceful, to the point where they generally won't bother smaller fish -- short of a neon swimming down his throat, he's unlikely to eat small fish. But, they do reach a maximum aquarium size of about 30-36".

Anyone want him? Let me know what you've got.
 
Freakgecko

Freakgecko

Members
Luckily with these guys, they’re not super active cats, but they are definitely monsters. Definitely wouldn’t keep one in a tank with less than a 3’ width, or 8’ length.
 
Becca

Becca

Members
JLW JLW - if you get super desperate, you could talk to the guy at Aquatic Creations. He has an indoor pond that is not tropical, but my recollection is that most of these cats are fairly temperature tolerant. It's very large and houses big Koi.
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
As a general rule, the minimum smallest dimension of a tank should be about 25% larger than the maximum size of a fish (with exceptions, perhaps, for things like eels, but that's arguable). That is, the fish should comfortably stretch out in the tank in any direction with enough of a margin to get moving and what not. So, the tank needs to be at least 48" ish wide (that's a minimum, bigger is better, and especially for active fish).

The minimum other dimensions (including height) will depend on the needs of the fish. Something like an iridescent shark needs a lot of swimming room, as they're fairly active, while something like a large pleco might not. And, of course, height will depend on the fish -- most catfish don't need much height, but active fish that move throughout the column do. As a rule, the minimum larger footprint dimension should be two to six times the maximum length of the fish, depending on how active he is, and the minimum height should be about the length of the fish (obviously, this doesn't work for all fish: something like an angelfish or an eel would make different dimensions).

So, for a fish that's going to get 36", is reasonably inactive but not a hang-around-one-spot lurker... I would say 48" wide, 30-36" tall, and 96-108" long, about 600-gallons.
 
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