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...