these are channel cats are they not? I have also seem info on columbian shark catfish. They all look alike, but some are named blackfin sharks, or white-tipped sharks. And i have found varying info on the adult size in a tank. I have read ranges from 10" to 24". I currently have 3 small ones, maybe 3" at best in my 55 gal and am wondering if i should trade em in while they are still small and cute. If i do, any suggestions on some neat ones to replace with. I am leaning toward 4-5 clown loaches.

they will be with all juvi fish - GT, JD, blue gourami, jurapari, and a Deppii(still researching this guy)

I would trade them in while you can. those fish are very high maintenence. as they get bigger they require more salt in the water, going from fresh to brackish and eventually a full marine setup is required to keep them and yes they can get 24" long.


hth

richard

edit: clown loaches would make great replacements. they are very fun fish to watch.

This post has been edited by Tanked: Jun 11 2003, 07:41 PM

in my years and years of fish keeping the only time Ive ever had an ick outbreak EVER....it originated from a silver tipped shark i had bought 1 month prior. I believe they are supposed to be brackish and then eventually marine, although most pet stores sell them as freshwater and never say they are really brackish. I think the stress of the freshwater is what lead to his ick outbreak, and death a day later.
Its a shame...they really are pretty fish. Maybe get a pictus catfish, they have a similar look to them except they are silver with black spots. They usually stay about 5" in captivity.

Silver Tipped Shark, Columbian Shark Catfish, Black Tipped Shark, Jordans Shark catfish....all the same fish "Arius seemani". I've seen max length between 14 and 24 inches reported, they need to move to BW as they mature, and later to full Marine at full maturity...will eat anything that fits into their mouth.
Pictus cats can grow between 6 and 10 inches at full size (2 different species, one from Peru and the other from Columbia I think) ...verry aggressive to other fish (the one I had ate 4 guppies the first night, after being fed twice that day, he also chewed the tail off the Arius seemani that was 1 inch bigger than itself) and will also eat anything that fits into their mouth, and they have a big mouth...not recomended for a community tank

With a green terror and jack dempsy in the tank i wouldnt suggest putting any of the south american cats in the same tank,they just are not suited to the levels of aggression that large central american cichlids have,your blue gourami is probably going to suffer too and personally i wouldnt keep the s.jurapari with them either as they are generally peaceful non aggressive fish.For a catfish tank mate i would suggest either a channel cat but size may be a issue since they grow to 4 foot but are suited to life with big CA cichlids or one of the African synodontis catfishes which are used to dealing with aggressive rift valley cichlids.

Suprisingly the blue gourami is king of the tank. He doesn't take crap from the larger GT which really suprised me. If things get bad i can always move him but so far he seems to be thriving. He has beautiful markings and is the only fish in the tank without the slightest nip out of his fins. BTW i took the cats back and contimplated the Synodontis nigriventris. Although the ones they had at my LFS looked much better than any pictures i have seen, muchmore defined colors and patterns. At $7 each i held off for a little while.

The S.nigriventris is a little small for a tank with CA cichlids as they only get to about 3".I was suggesting one of the bigger species like the decorus or eupterus.

kk tnx for the suggestions

WHAT A BLUE GOURAMI!!!!!! I should get me some of them. I just like the thught of a little blue gorami bossing humongeous cichilds.

Yeah its quite amusing. They really don't like the gourami using his "feelers" on them.