Columbian Sharks in freshwater?

[Cyclop3000]

I once bought two columbians from a store which had them in brackish water. I was told, and read about, the possibility that the fish would live well in freshwater. Two weeks after putting them in a well established 130g freshwater, they both died.

Will columbian sharks live in freshwater or not? Will they enjoy a life in freshwater, or is it better for the fish to use brackish? I talked to someone via p-messaging and he told me he kept a couple in freshwater without any problem.

Could it be because they were once in brackish and then moved back to freshwater that they died? If they spend all their lives in freshwater, would it help? I know they spawn in freshwater then move to brackish later...

Any help?

[TaratronVaeVictus]

I believe that the fish you are talking about is H. seemani?

These cats, I believe, live in freshwater as young, and slowly migrate out to sea and full marine waters.

We have 6 two inch long seemanis in a 125 marine tank at work. They were acclimated very carefully over half an hour, and are growing pretty quickly.

[Cyclop3000]

I believe that the fish you are talking about is H. seemani?

These cats, I believe, live in freshwater as young, and slowly migrate out to sea and full marine waters.

We have 6 two inch long seemanis in a 125 marine tank at work. They were acclimated very carefully over half an hour, and are growing pretty quickly.


Thanks for the feedback!

Yes, that is the cat I am talking about. I know they migrate, and know they live well in salt water, I once saw one full grown in a saltwater tank...but I was wondering about their comfort in freshwater, compared to saltwater.

[benzjamin13]

I did a research paper on them once. They're mostly comfortable in brackish waters. And as they grow, they remain in saltwater and only go back to brackish waters to spawn. I actually saw a large Columbian Shark Cat and some Pacus in a freshwater tank at a pet store. The shark just laid in the corner. If you acclimate them properly, they should be okay for a little while. But they're better off in brackish waters when small and as they grow larger, they'll turn salt.

[mothernature]

I bought three columbian/silver tip sharks at petco three months ago, they were in a freshwater tank at petco.I put them into a 55 gallon freshwater tank and one died in a week. I plan on getting a tank for them so i can slowly raise the salinty to brackish. i just wish i knew how slowly my sharks would swim to the ocean if they were wild, would they still be in the river/lake right now or would they have reached the ocean yet? Im sure its different for each fish and thats why they are still alive. Just because they get stuck in freshwater doesnt mean they should only live two weeks.About how big were they when you got them? Mine were three inches in november and three months later there 4 and 4.5 inches.Maybee they really liked brackish and were not happy with freshwater ;]

[DeLgAdO]

i keep my 2 cats in pure freshwater

one is 10in the other is 11in

ive had them since they where tiny babys

[eurekas]

maybe the fish not used to the freshwater so sudden.
maybe the fish got a shock when u suddenly change to freshwater.

[BostonPatriot]

I have 2 White tips(columbian) in my tank and I bought them in freshwater. My tank is only at 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons. They are very active all the time. If you look at the dorsal fin and it is straight up it means that they are healthy. Something to remember when buying. good luck.

[mothernature]

Does anyone have there sharks in saltwater if so for how long? I was hoping they could grow with my green skats , moray eels and needle nose gar? does any one know if these fish are similar in water parameter requirements? Or are they safer in a freshwater oscar tank( nice oscars :) ). My morays might bite them on accident , considering they swim so low to the ground.

My columbian sharks are about 3 to 4 inches? I think, so can I try them in 0.018 salinity now, if I do it slowly. I do not want to do this unless someone else did and they lived.

[mothernature]

I believe that the fish you are talking about is H. seemani?

These cats, I believe, live in freshwater as young, and slowly migrate out to sea and full marine waters.

We have 6 two inch long seemanis in a 125 marine tank at work. They were acclimated very carefully over half an hour, and are growing pretty quickly.


how long have you had them?,

I swear the smaller one I have is not growing . The bigger one is chubby and healthy looking the other is skinny looking . :)there from 3 - 5 inches somewhere,


I just cant measure them they wont hold still :screwy: :swear: :headbang2

[b-good]

From what I understand they can be kept in pue freshwater when young, but as they grow they will do much better in higher salinity. I have acclimated them to pure saltwater and they did very well. The ones I used were small (2" to 3") I slowly added marine salt over the course of a month until the salinity matched my marine tanks.

I have heard people say that if aquarium salt (the type for freshwater aquariums not the type used to mix saltwater) is added to the aquarium the sharks will swallow the chunks, enough to make their bellies protrude. I don't know if they like the taste or they are trying to take in more minerals/salts.

As people in this thread have stated they can be kept in freshwater, but as they grow I would try to bring up the salinity to at least brackish conditions.

[joeytoe]

I have one in freshwater, when they grow to adulthood they require saltwater.

[mothernature]

what about needle nose gars, can they adjust to full seawater? im not able to find out for sure if they are brackish or what, all the websites say at least 1 tsp aquarium salt per 5 gallons of water? but how much salt is too much? Also is this there real name Xenentodon cancila ?Not trying to sway the direction of this post but I really want to have my 4 gymnothorax tile (freshwater moray eels), my two green skats, my two columbian sharks and my needle nose gar, in a tank and turn it to marine? will this hurt the needle nose?
because im pretty sure the eels, columbian sharks, and skats will be allright.

[Princley]

Sharks of many different types have been found in fresh water as far up the mississippi as MN.. , for a time a shark can in fact live in fresh water But not on a perminate basis.. Many Marine fish their body's take in Salt and need the salt
where as Sharks bodies block out the salt ..i am putting this as simple as i can so seeing sharks bodies block out salt they can go in to fresh water for a time
Always going back home to the Oceans..Slamon r a bit simlar by be able to keep out salts..they breed in fresh go ocean bound for years and return to fresh to lay eggs and die...most sharks breed in the ocean tho :)

[beer_baron1]

I started switching my Columbians to full saltwater within a week of purchasing them (about 2"). I simply started replacing tank water with saltwater during my regular cleaning. It took about a month or so to get the levels up there. Three months later they are about 4.5" and live happily with a kole tang. other tankmates soon to come.

[water_baby83]

Sharks of many different types have been found in fresh water as far up the mississippi as MN.. , for a time a shark can in fact live in fresh water But not on a perminate basis.. Many Marine fish their body's take in Salt and need the salt
where as Sharks bodies block out the salt ..i am putting this as simple as i can so seeing sharks bodies block out salt they can go in to fresh water for a time
Always going back home to the Oceans..Slamon r a bit simlar by be able to keep out salts..they breed in fresh go ocean bound for years and return to fresh to lay eggs and die...most sharks breed in the ocean tho :)

Sort of... but they don't necessarily "block" out the salt, it's a little more complex

In order to carry out the complex chemical reactions that sustain life, all living things -- including sharks and people -- have a supply of water and salts in their bodies. Although skin and other living tissue looks solid, it actually has tiny pores in it. Small molecules such as water and salts can pass readily back and forth through the skin. But if there is more of one kind of molecule on one side of the skin than on the other, some of the molecules will move from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration, through a natural process called 'diffusion'. Diffusion will occur until the concentration of that molecule is equal on either side of the skin. Diffusion is the same process that allows a sugar cube to completely dissolve in a cup of tea or coffee: the sugar molecules spread out from an area of high concentration (the cube) to an area of low concentration (the tea or coffee); eventually, all parts of the tea or coffee are equally sugary.

The sea is composed mostly water, but dissolved in the water are also various salts. The concentration of salts in seawater is usually about 3 to 4%. The living tissue of human beings and most fishes are considerably less salty than this. As a result, there is more fresh water inside the human or fish than outside in the sea. In response, water naturally diffuses from the body across the skin, as though attempting to dilute the outside sea. (The diffusion of water across a semi-permeable membrane is a special case of diffusion, usually termed 'osmosis'; in the interests of simplicity, I'll continue to use diffusion here.) Human skin is relatively water-tight, but fish skin in rather leaky. As a result, the bodies of most marine fishes are constantly losing fresh water to the surrounding sea. But all living things need a supply of water inside their bodies in order to function properly. What most fishes must do to restore the water their bodies need is drink lots and lots of seawater You've heard the expression, "Drinks like a fish"? Well, it's true: marine fishes drink seawater almost constantly. In order to get rid of the excess salt contained in the seawater, many fishes have specialized salt-secreting structures in their gills called "chloride cells".

But sharks have hit upon a different strategy. Instead of being less salty than the sea, sharks store certain metabolic wastes (namely, urea and trimethylamine oxide, or TMAO for short) so that their overall 'saltiness' is actually slightly greater than that of the sea. As a result, sharks do not continually lose their bodily supply of freshwater to the sea. Instead, any fresh water they need diffuses gently into their bodies through the mouth, gills, and other exposed membranes. Any excess water in a shark's body is filtered by the kidneys and excreted out an opening called the 'cloaca', located between the pelvic fins (the rearmost paired fins, behind the shark's belly). It's a very elegant solution to a significant environmental challenge. But it has its limitations.

If a typical sharks were to swim its very 'salty' body into fresh water, so much fresh water would diffuse into its tissues that the kidneys would have to work overtime in order to get rid of it all. This is a very energy-demanding process, and explains why most sharks do not enter fresh water: it's simply too much effort to keep excreting all that freshwater. But some sharks, such as the Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas), are able to enter fresh water for prolonged periods. They achieve this neat trick by greatly reducing their bodily concentrations of urea and TMAO. Even so, a Bull Shark in fresh water is slightly saltier than its surrounding environment, so that it must continually excrete excess water in the form of dilute urine. In total, some 43 species of sharks and rays spend at least part of their lives in fresh water. But one family of South American stingrays -- the so-called River Stingrays (Potamotrygonidae) -- evolved from a marine ancestor to become thoroughly adapted to living in fresh water. So much so, in fact, that their bodies have lost the ability to manufacture urea and -- if placed in full-strength seawater, they quickly die. Though CS may start life in fresher waters, once they are older, they no longer to adapt as well to variations, and will need a more brackish setting. You need to acclimate them SLOWLY, raising the salinity very slightly over a period of several weeks for the best results. It's not too complicated, but you do need to be patient, as in the wild, they do not just up and leave the freshwater and jump into salt. They hang around inlets, and such, gaining a tolerance, and acclimating themselves. Just take your time, and do it slowly, and make sure you watch for any signs of stress. Good luck.

[water_baby83]

But yeah I know, you were going for the simple version, LOL, I just made it a mess, LOL.

--EMI

[Richie]

I have caught 8inch Colombian sharks regularly off the beach, so they turn marine quite early.

[04mach1]

i have had 3 for about 3 weeks in freshwater and they seem to be alright other then now they arnt eating much... :(
hopefully they will get better and we can move to brackish!

[Tanyoberu]

Does anyone have there sharks in saltwater if so for how long? I was hoping they could grow with my green skats , moray eels and needle nose gar? does any one know if these fish are similar in water parameter requirements? Or are they safer in a freshwater oscar tank( nice oscars :) ). My morays might bite them on accident , considering they swim so low to the ground.

My columbian sharks are about 3 to 4 inches? I think, so can I try them in 0.018 salinity now, if I do it slowly. I do not want to do this unless someone else did and they lived.

I keep my brackish tank at 1.020 steady now and I keep them with scats, eels and silver datnoids. My sharks are doing great and truth be told, these are some HARDY bastages. They will do well with fish you named, even the eels as long as the eels cannot swallow them. When I initially put the two together, I lost one of them to the eel, but it was much much smaller then and they are not bothered by the eels at all. The eels will learn it's tank mates and will not bite them once they know they are not consumable. (That does not mean they won't taste test!)

My sharks are now all close to 12". And even when I do water changes and drop the salinity because of the fresh water I add, they do well. The method of water exchange I use comprises of a siphon to a bucket, a pump to remove the old water and a python to return water to the tank. (You can argue with me later) But in this way, I'm mixing fresh with their salt while I'm cleaning the gravel. I'll leave that water in the tank and will remove 5 gallons at a time to mix the salt to bring the levels back up to 1.020. After a day or two the salinity is back up to the norm.

ALL of my fish are doing great.

[jrwagner]

DOES ANYONE HAVE A PICTURES OF THIS FISH? I DONT THINK THAT I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE BUT THEY SOUND INTERESTING

[DeLgAdO]

I have heard people say that if aquarium salt (the type for freshwater aquariums not the type used to mix saltwater) is added to the aquarium the sharks will swallow the chunks, enough to make their bellies protrude. I don't know if they like the taste or they are trying to take in more minerals/salts.

.

this is not true

[DeLgAdO]

DOES ANYONE HAVE A PICTURES OF THIS FISH? I DONT THINK THAT I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE BUT THEY SOUND INTERESTING

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=2/medium/Picture_319.jpg (http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=2/medium/Picture_319.jpg)

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=2/medium/Picture_361.jpg (http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=2/medium/Picture_361.jpg)

[jrwagner]

THANK YOU ... I WANT ONE NOW!