Columbian Shark Catfish

V

Vinjari

AC Members
Feb 6, 2007
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Hi,
My friend and I are kinda new to fish. We currently have on 14 gallon community tank and then we have a 25 gallon hexagon semi aggressive tank. We purchased a small comulmbian catfish at a local petstore, he is only about 2 inches long. I did some searching around online and am kinda shocked to find that he will eventually be 12" long or more and will require a 75 gallon or more brackish tank setup. A lot of the info I found states that juveniles can handle freshwater fine but as they mature they will need a brackish environment.
My main question is how quickly does this fish mature? How soon will it need to be in a large brackish tank?
 
always research the fish you're thinking of buying BEFORE you buy it. you've got 6 months at the outside afterwhich the fish will begin to become stunted. fish maintained in tanks which are too small or in conditions which are too crowded, develop severe stress syndrome. these fish do not exhibit proper color, do not develop proper fin form, do not exhibit proper metabolic development, do not exhibit normal behaviour, do not develop proper musculature, do not develop properly functioning organ systems and as a result, slowly lose their inherant resistance to disease. this results in a significantly shortened lifespan and along the way, lots of diseases for which the poorly conditioned fish is a good target.
 
live2padl got it right on the money ;)

when you get your 75 gallon for him and re-create the brackish environment, dont let the people at your LFS sell you aquarium salt. it will not recreate the conditions of brackish water. it only teates diseases. even then, you can use regular table salt or meds, so IMO the only use it has is to throw at a burglar after it gets hard and in the shape of a brick after a really humid day. you will need fully fledged MARINE salts, like Instant Ocean by Aquarium Systems or the MarineSalt by Seachem
 
Yeah, we should have done the research on this fish before we got him. These are the fish we currently have in the tank and yes we know some of them are going to need to be moved into a larger tank down the road. We have one columbian catfish shark, 1 albino shark, 2 red tail sharks, 1 peacock striped eel, 2 kissing gouramis and 2 tiger barbs. Of these fish which can be in a brackish environment with the columbian? Other websites have said eels can so I am assuming the eel can but what about the other sharks?? The tiger barbs and kissing gouramis will most likely remain in this tank. But can the other sharks handle a brackish environment?
 
kissing gouramis will most likely remain in this tank.
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not a chance if you want them to live. kissing gourami grow to a foot and do not like each others company. none of your other fish are brackish. moreover, you've got Epalzeorhynchus bicolor (albino shark) and a couple of red tail sharks in the same tank. as they mature they will become intollerant of each other. and finally, tiger barbs are VERY nippy fish unless maintained in groups of 6 or more. you're going to find the fins of any other fish in their tank nipped and torn as a result.

i strongly suggest you rethink your fish mix.
 
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They really don't like eachother's company? Why do other websites recommend buying 2 or more? And they list the minimum aquarium size being 30 gallons? So, the only fish we have that is brackish is the catfish?? How long can they survive in a freshwater environment? Eels were listed as being able to thrive in a brackish environment, is this not true?
 
So, really this isn't a fish we should have. It'd be nice if pet stores would list that this fish requires that large of a tank and a brakish environment. But we should have done more research before we went and got him.
 
Why do other websites recommend buying 2 or more? And they list the minimum aquarium size being 30 gallons?
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it's an unfortunate fact that the vast majority of fish shops out there just don't know anything about the fish they sell. as for the "information highway", there's a great deal of erroneous info on the net ... you really have to read a lot and come to your own conclusions about what's fact and what's fiction.

people who know nothing about "kissing gourami" recommend two because people want to see them "kiss" and the myth has gotten around the net that this "kissing" is because the fish 'love each other'. in fact, this behaviour is a sign of aggression ... two kissing gourami do this to establish which one is 'stronger' and once established, the dominant fish is going to constantly harrass the subdominant one. if you've got a very large tank, you can keep more than one, providing you have a LOT of cover to facilitate each of them keeping out of site of the other(s) ...
 
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