black fin sharks

[dialphantom]

i just got a black fin shark or aka columbian shark hes about 4 inches very inergetic if any one has ever kept these cats can u tell me about em please

[piranha45]

They are not a freshwater fish. Unfortunately, LFSes love selling them as freshwater fish anyway. They require brackish water as they get around 6" or so. They can reach 12" no problem.

[dialphantom]

yeah they told me it was a brackish

[cenecker]

yeah I keep them...I have five and they are my fav. fish.

I have 3 4 inchers, 1 6 incher, and 1 12 incher.

I keep them in freshwater and have been told they live just fine in fresh, but don't reach their maximum size potential (about 2 ft, or so I've been told).

I've had the 6 in for like a year, but I was feeding him fish flakes for his first 6 months. I've only had to 3 small ones for a couple months, but they've doubled in size (feeding them a better diet seems to have helped). The 1 footer I got a few weeks ago, someone gave him to my LFS because he had gotten too big.

They are really active, and eat EVERYTHING. I mostly feed them shrimp pellets but they also eat shrimp, krill, pieces of cut fish, live feeders, ghost shrimp, blood worms, and even steak (just did that once out of curiosity)!

So basically give them plenty of open swimming space and feed them just about anything meaty.

[rayman45]

i seen a 10 incer in my store
very nice
it was in full salt

[cenecker]

yeah...I'm told they get 2 feet if you switch 'em over to full salt.
I've seen a a couple 1 footers (including mine) that have lived they're whole lives in fresh water.

[dialphantom]

how rapid they grow

[cenecker]

with good water quality and a good diet...like 1" a month IME

[dialphantom]

cool cause i want mine to get big fast

[cenecker]

Doesn't everyone? haha...yeah they grow like wildfire...however they seem to slow down a lot once they get to about 6" IME. Just feed them lots of high protein stuff...

[DeLgAdO]

watch out for their spine, they hurt like hell, i havent been stung by mine, but thats wut i heard.

[Richie]

I have caught them over 2ft in the sea which are the same species, the spine are pretty sharp and I have been caught out by the spine a few times but they aren't that bad.

[cenecker]

I have caught them over 2ft in the sea which are the same species, the spine are pretty sharp and I have been caught out by the spine a few times but they aren't that bad.
Really....cool I guess that backs up what I've been told. Are you sure they are Arius Jordani? I think theres a grip of similiar species.

[SKYLINE_WJ]

any pics to show?

[dialphantom]

yeah anyone got some pics of a big one

[rweedon]

are you guys talking about the bala catfish? the only places I have seen them as black fin sharks is at wal mart... in the wild they start in freshwater and move to salt water just like salmon freshwater puffers etc. and I have seen one in my LFS that was a foot and a half that had lived it's whole life in freshwater it isn't bad for them but if you have problems you can start moving them into brackish... just don't like saltwater the GF does though and it's a pain in the as*...

[dialphantom]

damn girlfreinds

[cenecker]

Heres some a pic of my big one...its kinda dark sorry. Photographing these guys is freakin impossible as they NEVER STOP MOVING.

http://www.thetegu.com/modules/Gallery/albums/album82/All_Cats.jpg

[cenecker]

whooooooppppss I got start resizeing this stuff...oh well at least you can see the detail