"Shark Cats", what's the common stigmas with them?

[Ceph.Lover]

I keep and am very fond of my Columbian/Silver-tip sharks. I've had great success in a BW tank using 1 cup Instant Ocean per 6-7 gallons of water.

I have had soem trouble in getting them and have usually had to request an order from my LFS. They are wonderful to keep, though. The largest I have seen in a tank [not mine] is 18", but I think 12-14 is a more common max. tank size. They grow at the rate of a few inches a year, I think.

 

[cenecker]

They got the common moniker of "columbian shark" or "cat shark" because "shark" sounds cooler and sells more fish. I've had a lot of them over the years and kept them in everything from freshwater to full salt. It's "ideal" to keep them in brackish or salt as they grow larger but all the large ones I've seen have been in fresh thier entire lives.

They do have a bit of a bad rep just because they are so commonly available and SOOOOoooo many people buy them not realizing thier eventual size and activity level and cram them in 30 or 55 gal tanks.

 

[Manny Stiles]

They seem to do better as a community than solitary. The guy who gave me my first tank had one in the tank and it seemed very depressed, but it was too big (8")for the tank (36gal) and I gave him up in a trade at LFS for filter supplies. Everyone was happy!

So what should I call them - Shark Cat does sound cool, but I don't want to sound like a nimrod if an educated person ever comes to visit... aw, screw it... that will never happen!

 

[fshfanatic]

I have three in my 180 Jar tank. Bought them as a trio over a yr ago at 3". Now all three of them are about 6-7"

 

[Chris006]

Hi guy,

I just got into the freshwater 55 gal. aquarium hobby. I need to know what to feed my fishes....

freshwater Barracuda, Niddle fish & Shark Cat

Thanks,

 

[Manny Stiles]

I feed mine a varied diet of flakes, shrimp and shrimp pellets they love bloodworms, worms and mealies, an occasional treat of crickets. Plus I usually put a couple of guppy feeders in my tank every so often and whatever my Texas doesn't eat, I'm pretty sure they are. And when they eat it is FUN to watch them go frenzied.

One of the things I enjoy the most - when my Texas eats shrimp, she makes a big cloud of shrimp "dust" and the shark cats go into a frenzy around the cloud and vaccuming my Texas' gills and she just sits there and ignores them as she gulps the shrimp down...

They would probably eat dogfood if they swam above it. They're catfish after all