Feeding A Peruvian Blue Shark

[3matthew3]

I recently purchased a Peruvian Blue Shark (Cetopsis Coecutiens)... about a week ago.

I am having a lot of problems getting him to eat... I've tried about every frozen type of food available.
There are two small Tetras and 2 small Platys in the tank with him... I kinda figured he may pick one of them off if he was starving.

From what I have heard is that this fish in the wild is a Parasitic predator (entering a wound of a larger fish/animal and will eat into the body).

The fish store I purched it from said they were eating frozen foods/sinking pellets/ and the occasional casuality from other tanks.

So far, I have NOT seen him eat anything, although he is still VERY ACTIVE.

If anybody has kept one of these in an aquarium, any insight would be appreciated, being there is not a wealth of info on the 'net about them... I guess they must not be imported that often, being I had never seen one in a LFS before, and the price was a little steep ($40USD).

Thanks,
3Matthew3

 

[CFC]

Have you tried feeding at night with the lights off? Like most catfish these are nocturnal and are reluctant to feed during the day until they are well settled.

 

[3matthew3]

Have you tried feeding at night with the lights off? Like most catfish these are nocturnal and are reluctant to feed during the day until they are well settled.

Yes... I have been keeping the lights off the majority of the time... gonna order an Odyessa Blue Moon LED tube
for this tank as it's regular lighting.

 

[andywg]

That looks like the Blue Whale Catfish to me, considered one of the nastiest fish in the Amazon. They grow to about 10" and fish that are too large to eat just have lumps removed.

They are a species that likes to swim a lot and prefers highly oxygenated fast flowing water.

See here for more info: http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...?species_id=339

 

[3matthew3]

That looks like the Blue Whale Catfish to me, considered one of the nastiest fish in the Amazon. They grow to about 10" and fish that are too large to eat just have lumps removed.

They are a species that likes to swim a lot and prefers highly oxygenated fast flowing water.

See here for more info: http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...?species_id=339

That's what it is... but it WILL NOT eat anything... it's about 4" right now. Supposedly, pretty hard to acclimate to aquarium life... any ideas of what to use to get him eating...?

 

[jayjay]

It will eat other fish. From that info. -

'Not a fish to be trusted with others. Its natural adult behaviour is to bite lumps out of larger deep river channel fish such as the scaleless Pimelodids. Younger fish in the aquarium do not seem so dangerous, perhaps becuase they are young or well fed. It will however always eat smaller fish and is an accomplished hunter.'

If you haven't got it feeding it's likely to attack fish.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

From planetcatfish;

"Will accept frozen foods and readily adapts to all good sized live foods. Chopped mussels and live earthworms are favourites. Should not be weaned onto feeder fish but attempts to wean onto tablet food (especially shrimp based tablets) should be made from a young age. Be careful not to overfeed as this fish is an opportunistic feeder and will gorge itself given the chance."


I would try feeding him some foods with a bit more substance to them than dried ones or small frozens morsels, why don't you try giving him some earthworms or prawns? With such a fish in the tank though, its likely that its aonly a matter of time before he eats the other fish or kills them.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

he may just need some time to settle in sometimes fish will not feed for 3-6 days before they are settled in too there new tank , especally if he had been in the pet stores tank for a long period of time...

 

[3matthew3]

I tried some earthworms last night... I think he finally ate one... I do not really care if he eats the other 4 fish in the tank... they are just fry from my wife's platys. Hopefully it will get alittle more accustomed to eating regularly... I plan on keeping him in his own tank.

I paid $40 for it, any ideas, if I got ripped off? I had never seen one of these in a LFS before.

Thanks,
Matt