Whats so great about lima shovelnose catfish?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Getting 3 myself for when my pond is done .

The reason i have chose to get Lima's instead of say TSN or RTC , there is less change of them eatting anything which will fit in their mouths like smaller fish , also they dont get as big but still get to decent size and look great .
 
Limas are very interesting catfish. Why?
Their heads are flat
Their eyes are on the sides of their flat heads
Their whiskers point straight forward
They lay in extremely unusual positions
When they shed, they thrash around angrily to shake off the mucus
They don't get obnoxiously big like the TSN
They have cool looking racing stripes
They are peaceful and have smaller mouths

What else could you ever want?

I usually catch mine shedding every couple of days. I notice it because the only time he catches my eye during the day(hes normally invisible because the way he lays) is when I see him thrashing. I vote you get one!
 
Pretty active. During the day they usually chill on a piece of driftwood or against the walls but at night they hunt just like any of the larger species of shovelnose.

The coolest thing I've found about Lima's is they hunt in packs which I've not noticed other shovelnose species do. I've kept up to 5 Lima's at a time and they take turns darting into the ghost shrimp letting each other feed its AWESOME!

Max size for most people is about 16-18" but they can get as large as 30" I've read. Personally kept one at 22" it was one of the largest on the boards at that time. The only other ones that big were in the 50k tank another member has. Lima's are a little more vulnerable to bad water conditions than TSN's I'd say though so you need to keep your water quality good. Typically they shed more when the water is bad as an indicator. Great fish, smaller max size, not quite as aggressive as the larger sorubims are. Lima FTW! ~Trent

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best thing about them is that they are good for those who want shovelnose cats but don't have monstrously huge tanks
 
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