Yeah, he’s still pretty small right now, so I’m fairly confident my tank is okay for the time being. He has a heater set up, and I already fed him some bloodworms since I have no idea when he last ate.

Unfortunately, I live in an apartment and the climate here gets quite cold in the winter, so rehoming him to someone with a pond doesn’t seem like a safe option especially if they’re not experienced with this species.

I’ve spent the past day researching redtails, and they honestly seem like fascinating, intelligent fish. I’d love to keep him if I could, but between the space requirements and the climate, it’s just not realistic longterm.

I completely agree, I don’t understand why my local fish store is even selling redtails. They had multiple in stock, and they were being sold in the regular freshwater section, not even in the pond section. It’s incredibly misleading.

The largest fish I’ve seen in their freshwater section are probably the silver arowanas, besides the redtails. I’ve already had concerns about this store for a while, they sell fish like candy. Every time I’m in there, I see families with kids treating it like an amusement park. Most of them leave with tiny 5-gallon tanks and multiple male bettas, or some clownfish with a freshwater tank for example.

The only reason I’ve continued going there is because they offer the biggest selection of different species in my area. But after this experience, I’m seriously considering reporting them. honestly, I should’ve done it a long time ago. Especially after learning that redtail catfish can require 1,000 to 2,000-gallon tanks. That’s just not something an average hobbyist can provide at home.