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Trying to figure out what type of fish this is, I'd like to buy him a friend but can't find one at a pet store. Searched online and can't find a similar looking fish...help! Thanks in advance

It's a freshwater tank and it's the black fish I'm interested in, has a silver belly and kinda looks like a black hammerhead shark.

http://desertnerd.com/fish/feesh1.jpg
http://desertnerd.com/fish/feesh2.jpg
http://desertnerd.com/fish/feesh3.jpg

Eeeeek, that looks like a Pangasius hypophthalmus, also known as an iridescent shark, or siamese shark ,although obviously its a catfish, and that one looks like a baby.

See here

http://www.scotcat.com/factsheets/pangasius_hypophthalmus.htm

and meet the rest of the family here.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/family.php?family_id=21

Obviously not one for your average home aquarium... potentially over a metre long and 44KG ! They are also a schooling fish, can you imagine a school of those..

Wonder if you could keep it in a pond.... A shoal of those in a large pond would look awesome.... Makes me want to just flood the basement instead of stacking tanks in it.

The best you can probably do is to just keep him in the biggest tank possible and do tons of water changes(even when nitrates aren't that high) to put off stunting. Getting another one would be a bad idea and I doubt there's anyone that actually has a big enough tank to keep this one at it's full size. Of course if you can find someone with a giant tank that wants him it would probably be best to give him up. Eventually he's gonna fill your tank, eat anything else in it, and then suffer from the effects of stunting and die an early death. So sad they sell fish like this in stores. Most of them don't see even a small portion of their full lifespan or a tenth of their true adult size. Perhaps if you manage to keep him healthy up to a good size a public aquarium would want him but they are often full with fish people realized too late would not fit in even a very large tank.

hmmm, flood the basement... hmmmm (scratching chin, calls to wife) hooonnneeeyyyyyy!!

Wow, thanks for the info! Not sure where he originally came from as I acquired the tank with several fish already in it, and I'm just learning about everything. Amazing he can grow that large. I will probably give him to my friend who has a 100 gallon (mine is only 40). I already gave away two Bala Sharks that had grown to about 10 inches and were cramped in my tank.

People have done it but I'm missing the links. They are around here somewhere.

Here's one: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=586 Actually has some large sharks in it.

I'm looking at the pictures you've got there and I see several fish that really shouldn't be in that tank. Mind a couple questions about the other fish?

Like, how many tiger barbs are in there, and how often do the barbs fight with that shark-catfish?

And if that's a clown loach I see in the corner of one of those shots, be warned that he's gonna get HUGE in the long run too, and also, he should be with a group of his own kind, and they likewise should be in a 200+ gallon setup. (see the entry at loaches.com)

If I'm seeing all the fish in that tank correctly, I see the shark, one tiger barb, one clown loach, one odd fish I don't know, and one other type of catfish.

The four fish that I recognize are all schooling fish, all should be kept in schools of at least 6-8 fish (except maybe the silver cat, which I'm not entirely sure what it is). And the clown and tiger will REALLY be lonely by themselves.



Listen! Do you smell that?

And I see at least one Redbelly Pacu]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/37/C_macropomum_ostergaard.jpg/270px-C_macropomum_ostergaard.jpg[/link], a [link=Columbian Shark]http://badmanstropicalfish.com/aqualand/catfish/Colombian_shark2.jpg[/link] (this is also a marine fish), and a [link=Clown Loach in there as well.

If I was IllusoryPerception, I would return all of the fish visible in the photos to the store and give the employees a good "talking" to... They simply have no excuse for this - even the large chain stores have ID tags on their tanks stating the adult size of the fish (it might be significantly undershot, but at least it's enough to inform them that these species don't belong in 40 gallon tanks).

Hell, I would even print out these pictures I linked to when going to the store, because pet store employees can be extremely stubborn when confronted by information contrary to what they believe.

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

IllusoryPerception,

That is definately a ID Shark (catfish)and they do grow very large. Don't believe the Old Wives Tale about fish only getting as big as the tank they are in. He will keep growing. I rescued one with a couple of other fish that I knew were going to be "flushed" not knowing how big he was going to get. 2 years ago he was about 4 inches long. I just moved him to a 75g tank. He is about 7 inches long now. I don't know what I am going to do if/when he outgrows this tank.

Here is a link for a good website for information on catfish and for info on the ID Shark you have:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/

Good luck with the big guy!

I saw this one in a store yesterday it was labeled a Pangasius Catfish aka an Iridescent shark. Here is a link for you Pangasius

Hope this helps.

mts.gif" border="0"> I vote do you?
My Tanks at Photobucket

OK to try and answer some questions, here's what is currently in this tank (to the best of my knowledge). It appears it is a bit overcrowded!

1 - 4" clown loach
2 - 3" clown loach
8 - tiger barb/green barb/albino barb (2 - 2", 1 - 1.5", 5 - 1"
4 - White Tip Shark Catfish
1 - iridescent shark (Pangasius hypophthalmus)
4 - rainbow shark(?) (2 albino)
1 - algae eater
2 - red belly pacu
2 - silver minnow things (can't remem name, said they were beginner fish)
4 - semi aggressive schooling goldfish looking guys (bright pink with yellow across top of body)
1 - long finned black skirt tetra
1 - big white fish with 2 black spots and many white spots

Everyone seems to get along, no fights, but there's a lot of action in the tank and not much room for the fish to relax.

Ouch, yeah thats a tank thats in trouble, just about everything will need to go back apart from the tetras the barbs, and the algae eater.

The minnows are probably white clouds, and they might not appreciate the high end tropical temps long term.
The sharks will probably eat small fish, the pacu the loaches , and the shark catfish will all get far too big.Your biggest problems will be predation and bioload overload.

If you post pics of the other two species we can id them too,and let you know if they are suitable for a 75g.I have a feeling the other catfish are pimelodid but I cant tell exactly the species from the pics, but chances are, they will be a liability with small fish.

Get rid of the larger species and you could have a great tank there, a 75 gives you a lot of scope for interesting communities.

Here are a couple pics of the unidentified fish:

http://desertnerd.com/fish/fish6.jpg
http://desertnerd.com/fish/fish7.jpg

There's a Three Spot Gourami, Trichogaster trichopterus, in there, and a long finned Rosy barb. Barbus conchonius. Those two are 5 to 6 inch fishes when fully grown.

The BIG fish with your long finned Rosy Barb worries me a lot. It's a big Cyprinid of some sort, but at the moment I'm somewhat at a loss to what it is. It looks superficially like a Giant Danio, Devario malabaricus, but I've never seen one that size, and and I'm tempted to ask if it isn't a Luciosoma species. If it is, you're in trouble also, because most of the Luciosoma species are large AND aggressive. Unfortunately the Fishbase server is crawling like a legless Dachshund on Mogadon at the moment, so I can't answer directly, but if it IS a Luciosoma species, it should be in a shoal of 6, and most of those fishes need a HUGE aquarium to be kept properly - you're looking at a 250 gallon setup to do those things justice as a baseline setup.

[Edited for typos]

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

The big one with the Barb is a Giant Danio. Even with his size they are peacefull. Although They prefer shoals of 6 or more.

mts.gif" border="0"> I vote do you?
My Tanks at Photobucket

Ah, the Barb is a tiddler then.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002