Got A Better Pic Of The Sharkcats Sabby

[Morquinn]

These guys wont stay still for a second to let me take a snapshot, but I finally got one. The other pics I had were just too dark lookin

 

[kanzaris]

These guys wont stay still for a second to let me take a snapshot, but I finally got one. The other pics I had were just too dark lookin

Hi Again

I bet it took you ages to get a good picture. They certainly look healthy. How big are these and any more progress in getting them into Brackish?

Sabby

 

[Morquinn]

Yeah actually we bought a different 55 gallon tank since we dont think we will be moving till mid-spring early summer of next year and we definatly dont have room right now to set up the large tank, so we will give them their own brackish tank in the next week here..
I am guestimating that they are around 6-7" long (Im not very good at guessing size of fish in water)
But now, if they will be the only inhabitants of the brackish tank, we thought we should add some more fish, but we just dont know what would go good with them.. they have no interest in smaller fish which is suprising.. we had a few baby silver dollars in there at one point and they would just swim right over them.. but im just thinking about putting some fish with them that wont hurt them (Im partial to these guys)

Can you see the difference in shades of black on the fins? The larger more plump one has a taller dorsal fin and darker black on the fins , its making me believe that I have a male/female pair, what do you think.

 

[nmonks]

Baensch (vol. 2) says that on mature animals over 30 cm, the female has a fuller abdomen and lighter fins. So looks like you might be onto something!

In 1972 the Shedd Aquarium bred Ariopsis felis -- the first time any ariid catfish was bred in captivity. I believe they have done so a few times since. It might be worth e-mailing them sometime and asking for any tips. If you get to bred them in a home aquarium, that would be something really special.

They are paternal mouthbrooders, by the way.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Morquinn]

Hmm that is interesting.. although the one will the fuller abdomen has darker fins.. but I do think I might have a pair.. I wonder if they would breed in captivity, I always wondered that. Guess I will have to check that out.

 

[kanzaris]

Hi

You were asking about other Tank Mates. Don’t make the same mistake I made. I started with a 75 gal tank and I trusted the LFS, and ended up with a mix of Brackish Fish who required different salinity’s. I now keep my Cat Sharks at about 1.010-1.012 salinity. The Fish I keep with my Cat Sharks are Monos one Archer a GSP and a Toadfish. All these Fish will grow big. I had all these Fish together in my 75 gal for about 9 month, but I only had one Archer and one Mono, the Mono was jumpy and always hiding. Now he is in the bigger tank with six other Monos he is happy. What I am trying to say is stick with your two Cat Sharks until you upgrade to a bigger tank then get the right fish to go with the Sharks. Unless you want to end up like me and have two Brackish Tanks. Maybe someone else on this forum knows fish you could add now and take to a higher salinity in your bigger tank.
Good Luck

Sabby