Info on iridescent sharks

[MrsE88]

I was at Walmart today and I have a habit of checking out their fish tanks. I saw they had a whole tank full of iridescent sharks. They are so adorable! I've never seen them in person before.
But from being on here I know they get big. I couldn't remember how big, so I looked at the tag on the tank. It said they reach 12"
After coming home I looked them up and it says they get between 3'-4'! That is a lot bigger then 12".

Using the search feature on here doesn't work for me, so I'm hoping for some people with personal experience to tell me how big they really get.

 

[Drstrangelove]

This is a "how big do they get picture", if you mean Pangasianodon hypophthalmus.


Of course, they can't get that big in a 55 gallon or even a 240 gallon, because they would die long before then due to water quality, etc. However, people with large ponds in the right climate who raise them for many years might get one that comes close to this.

 

[duanes]

You can also probably go see them in the flesh on sale at your local Asian fish/seafood market where they are sold as Swai, usually 2 -3 ft long.

 

[itrebebag99]

Yeah, they probably don't get that big in an aquarium, although they might still get pretty big. I've heard of someone who had two oscars get over 8 inches in a 10 gallon. However, since these sharks are constantly swimming around, their eyes tend to get pretty banged up in an aquarium.

 

[MrsE88]

Drstrangelove that is huge.

They look so innocently small as babies. Haha If I didn't know better I'm sure I would have brought a couple home. They looked like little hammer heads. Being sold at Walmart I'm sure most will die before ever leaving the store The rest will likely end up in 30-55gl tanks. Pretty sad.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Despite their huge size they live in shoals in flowing highly oxygenated water.
They are probably the most unsuitable fish for aquariums in the hobby.
Pangasius sanitwongsei and Pangasius sutchi are also giants and sold for the hobby.
I would stay well away if I were you. Unless you own a large river.

 

[duanes]

I took the photo above of a 500 gal tank at a LFS in Milwaukee used for large fish that aquarists bring in, because they don't have room for them.
The idea that fish don't grow to potential in aquariums is extremely under estimated.
The Tilapia in the tank is about 20".

 

[MrsE88]

duanes Nice picture! That id is already way bigger then anything I could house in a tank. A beautiful fish, but I agree with Stanzzzz7 , not one suited to being kept by at least 90% of home aquarist.

 

[krichardson]

The albino iridescent sharks for some reason are one of the few "white fish"that I wouldn't mind keeping.

 

[celebrist]

There are several threads about this fish you should search them out for more information I got fortunate and ended up with a runt but even the runt is pushing 12 inches in my 450 he stayed four inches for something like 5 years and then I moved him from the 1:50 to the 450 and he blew up in the span of a year to 10 inches and now he has slowed way down and as growing a couple inches in the span of another 3 years or so