New shovel nose question??

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C

canadian.fish

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 16, 2012
270
1
0
ontario
hey first post, ive been lurking the site for a while now since i have some monsters of my own i joined.

so about a week ago I brought home a 2-3 inch shovel nose catfish. it is in my 150 gal tank with a 4 inch florida gar and a two inch peacock bass and a few small cichlids. well since i bought him all he really does is behind my heater on the wall and rarly moves around. None of the other fish are bugging him or even going near him at that. my water peramiters are good. will he get more active with age?
 
Yes, he'll likely get more active when bigger. At this size their instinct tells them to hide somewhere safe, especially in a new setting. Assuming he's eating, I wouldn't be too concerned.
 
I have a tsn and he did the same thing. I bought hime at 7'' and for the first week he did nothing. Now hes rly active and comes out alot at night. Try getting him on pellets at that size. Mine only eats feeders and raw shrimp.
 
im new to this what a Lima? i think its just a normal one. and yeah i all my cichlids are on pellets so i always have pellets going in the tank, in hopes to get any of my preditors on pellets.
 
Tiger shovelnose:
http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/86841/350wm/C0022564-Tiger_Shovelnose_Catfish-SPL.jpg
http://www.spitfirechallenge.ca/MFK ne14.jpg

Lima shovelnose:
http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfis292.jpg
http://www.aquariumdomain.com/images/fish_freshwater/catfish_limaShovelnose1.jpg

Tiger shovelnoses get to 3-4 feet long on average and need either fairly large pond, or a huge aquarium (around 10x the size of yours, if not larger), whereas it is rare to get a Lima shovelnose to more than 20 inches (the largest I've heard of is 26 inches), and they can generally be kept in tanks around 125-180 gallons for most or all of their lives.


The behavior of yours sounds more consistent with that of a Lima, especially if it is hanging out in a vertical position.
 
hey by the looks of the pictures its a regular tiger shovelnose and the guy at the pet store says he will get over 3 ft long. i do have a place for him to go after he grows out. i read that by the end of a year he will be about a ft long is that accurate or am i in for a bigger suprise
 
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