Black Fin Shark

[Jesse]

Ok, I am not sure what to believe about the Black fin shark. One place here says they get to 6", another says 13", and so on. Anyway - I splurged and bought one, knowing someday I would get a bigger tank anyway. I was just wondering, will they eat algae discs and flake food? Or would I have to get bloodworms or shrimp or something? All the info on this fish you can give me is welcomed!

 

[Graeme]

Black Fin Shark?? Are you talking about the Balantiocheilos Melanopterus? Also know as the Bala,Tri-colour,Malaysian,Silver Shark. If so then in the wild they grow to about 14 inches and in a home aquarium 10 to 12 inches. Flake food is fine and Bloodworms plus other live or frozen foods.









Graeme.

 

[Jesse]

No, I am talking about the Hexanematichthys seemanni, or the shark catfish - whatever you want to call it. theres a pic of it here - Black Fin Shark

 

[Graeme]

Why Did'nt you say so!

Well now you know!.....









Graeme.

 

[pisces]

Hi Jesse

I use to own 3 black tips a number of years ago. I had put it in my 20 gallon tank where they grew from 3 inches to about 6 inches. Afterwards, I had purchased a 90 gallon tank and they continued to grow to 8-9 inches. Unfortunately they developed ich and died when our weather soared to 33 C and I had no way of keep the water temp down I was told that depending on the size of the tank, these "sharks" can grow to 12-13". My sharks loved to eat blood worms, although they will take anything and everything else if nothing else is given. However, if you habitually give them blood worms, it will take a while to ween them to another type of food. Black tips are generally very peaceful fish and love to swim against currents from filters, however, don't put any fishes that are smaller for they will eat any fish that will fit in their mouths. I made the mistake of putting my betta in with the sharks and when the sharks grew 7 inches, my betta disappeared and one of my sharks had a big tummy!! Hope this helps!

 

[Jesse]

Well then - what the heck do i feed it? MORE INFO! I NEED INFO! (ehem...sorry i kinda lost it...)

 

[Jesse]

Oops, heh! Didnt notice that post before i did the last one. Thanks for the info!

 

[CFC]

These fish not only grow huge but as thet grow need a increasing ammount of salt added to the aquarium until eventually going into a full marine set up (expensive for a fish that could get to 18" or more) They will eat any tankmates they can fit into their mouths which means anything up to about 4" when full grown and being a predatory catfish need foods such as cockles mussels and fish.Best tankmates are fish such as monos and scats which share the same need for increasing salt levels,really a fish best left to the specialist and unless you intend to keeep a brackish tank and eventually a marine tank i would return them to the store,there are many other pimeloid catfish that dont get as big and are less difficult to keep.

 

[Jesse]

Okay then, what are some of the smaller species of catfish, and where could i get some info on them?

 

[Tanked]

Jesse,

try corys. the are cute Little non aggressive algae eaters

 

[Jesse]

I have looked at corys, and they dont tickle my fancy. They are cute, but not COOL. The Black fin is really cool and beautiful. Anything that stays a REASONABLE size?

 

[CFC]

You could try pim pictus or some of the other medium sized pims or there are the mystus catfish from Asia,many of these stay to a reasonable size (under 12").The best thing to do is to find some cats that you like,either by getting a good catfish book or trawling the fish shops,and then ask if it is a suitable fish letting us know what size tank it is going into and what tankmates it will have.

 

[tdnp]

Try a Panther cat upto 5inch( pimalodus pictus((I think thats how you spell it)). They're black and white stripey with long tentecles quite peaceful nice fish

 

[fish503]

how about loaches try http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery.html

 

[Jesse]

I have another question about the Black fin. When it is about 2-2.5 inches, will it eat feeder guppies?