Shovelnose growing like a weed!

[Experiment397]

Purchased this little guy a little over a month and a half ago. Already grown from a shy little 4" to a 7.5" vacuum cleaner. Love watching him dig through the leaf litter with his nose to find treats. Super cool little monster! Just thought I'd share as his growth rate and appetite has definitely been monsterous lately!

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

That could be a growth spurt or it had been neglected / what not before it has gotten to you.

Or maybe you lucked out and got a true lima versus the ubiquitous elongatus. Hopefully you will keep coming back to this thread with updates.

If it is an elongatus, it will not sustain such growth for much longer at all. IME, such rate is exceedingly rare but can happen short term.

 

[Experiment397]

thebiggerthebetter The shop I got him from said they had only had him in for a couple of days prior to me purchasing him so who knows what care was like at the supplier's facility. Elongatus or Lima im stoked either way. ive wanted a shovelnose type catfish for years and finally got one. ill be happy no matter how he turns out

 

[Experiment397]

thebiggerthebetter any idea what could be causing him to develop a dark grey tone to all of his white areas? under the belly and up the flanks is almost black in some places while the other white areas seem to be slightly grey. No changes in behavior or water chemistry that ive noticed either

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

[1] It can be mood.

[2] Diet.

[3] Or the leaves are changing your water chemistry, usually acidifying the water but can affect the hardness too, making it softer.

[4] The leaves too leach out tannin making your water more brown, this would be most obvious against white background on certain fish parts.

 

[Experiment397]

Im thinking it has to be his mood or diet. the water hasn't changed chemistry too much with the leaves, went from 7.9 pH to 7.7 and the hardness only dropped 18 ppm. The leaves were heavily boiled prior to being put in the tank along with multiple wc since then so the water is basically tannin free as well. Maybe he's just being a grumpy little turd

 

[DeathStalker]

Would love to have a Shovelnose, but they just get TOO big, lol Maybe if I had a 250gal tank

 

[Experiment397]

Would love to have a Shovelnose, but they just get TOO big, lol Maybe if I had a 250gal tank

Just find a lima. usually dont get over 2' and most of them sold anymore are elongatus not lima and will only ever get to maybe 10-12"