Question about Silver tip Catfish

[ANIM4L]

I currently have a 60 gallon with this in it:

60g - Fully Planted with Real Mopani Driftwood
1 Blue Gourami F (Spot) -> Might be taking him out... all ready have 2 pretty blkue gouramis
1 Gold Gourami F (Bananas)
1 Pearl Gourami F (Loch)
1 Powder Blue Gourami M (Dori)
1 Red Fire Dwarf Gourami M (Nemo)
1 Dwarf Gourami M (Flow)
1 Opaline Gourami F (Surf)
1 Angel M (Spaz)
4 Baby Clown Loaches (Bobo, Gizmo, Bozo, and Gonzo)
1 Silver-Tip Catfish F (Bruce) -> May be moving out due to requirements when older (need marine tank !?!?!)
1 Clown Pleco (Stripes)
1 Rubbernose Pleco (Pucker)
1 Synodontis Eupterus (Spike)
*Will be adding a Black Ghost Knife Baby in a few days

but i have read and heard that a silver tip needs to be transfered to marine tank when he gets older, is this true??? I really dont want to get rid of him, he is my buddy AND i have seen many at stores around town that are huge and still in freshwater. Would he be ok or not? Please help me out! Also, i know thye are aextremely peaceful, but when he gets bigger, will he try to eat my fish? I have never been told he will eat my fish, but i just dont know, just wanted to make sure. Thanks a lot everyone!!!

 

[Teelie]

Silvertips are schooling fish generally and they can go full freshwater if you properly acclimiate them but it's difficult if you don't know what you're doing. I'll see if I can find a guide on how to do it.

 

[ANIM4L]

thank you, i meani really want him, and i heard that they will be ok as a single pet, cuz i know i will lose a lot of room in my tank if i get two more, but i was just curious, i want to keep him, but i was just wondering if i would have to move him to a amarine tank or not, and if he would eat my little fish

 

[Teelie]

They will eat smaller fish as they grow older, and I'm still trying to find where to acclimiate them to full freshwater though I think it involves going brackish then back to fresh again.

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile63.html
http/planetcatfish.com/catelog/ariidae/hexanema/700_f.php
http/www.fishinthe.net/html/fishguide/fi...?FC=84&nl=&nt=1

 

[ANIM4L]

CRAP!!!!!!!!!! Then i guess i cant keep him? I cant really add salt to my water because of my loaches, my BGK, and my plecos unless you guys think i can, but how much, and do i HAVE to add salt, or will they just get used to no salt in the tank?PLEASE HELP ME, I need to know if i can keep this fish or not

 

[Teelie]

I think the only way to keep the fish is to go at least brackish. I can't find the guide on going full freshwater either. You can't set up another tank? Someone else might have something so be patient.

 

[ANIM4L]

I will wait to see what others have to say, but thank you very much for your help, i cant set up another tank, too much ging on right now. It is my girlfriend who is attached to this fish, she loves how he swims all day all over the place, so i dont want to get rid of it if i dont have too, but i will see what everyone else says. If i do go brackish, what do i have to do? remeber with the salt tho that i have a BGK, loaches, and a clown and a rubber lipped pleco.

 

[CFC]

Hexanematichthys seemanni or the Columbian shark cat as it most commonly called is basicly a marine fish which only enters freshwater to spawn, much in the same way as salmon with the exception that the cats will return to the sea once they have spawned and will make the migration several times in their life time.
Shark cat fry are born in FW and then make their way down stream as they grow to find saltier water, spending sometime in the esturies and deltas before joining their parents in the sea. In captivity once they have reached around 6 inches you should already be adding a substancial ammount of salt to their water and this should be increased as they grow, by the time the fish is 12 inches the SG of the water should be reading at least 1.012. It is reported that adult shark cats do best when kept at or near to full marine conditions though they will survive in high end brackish water too but they certainly shouldn't be kept in freshwater or with freshwater fish.

 

[ANIM4L]

how come nto with fw fish? I talked to someone i knwo that owns a fish store, and he KNOWS his stuff, and he has a 150 witha bunch of FW fish in it, and 3 of the are 10 inch columbians, and he said that as long as the fish is swimming and is happy then why change his home. Is this ok then? or should iignore what he said?

 

[@ombomb]

Not the owner of the shop you bought him from by any chance?

Why not with FW fish...?

Because they require completely different conditions. Just because they're swimming doesn't mean they're healthy.

CFC has an amazing amount of knowledge about fish and fish keeping, I would trust his opinion if I were you.

 

[andywg]

Even if you don't trust CFC (which would make you a fool) then check out planet catfish.

Just because a fish store owner who "knows his stuff" has some larger ones in freshwater, doesn't mean they do. A lot of owners have been in fish keeping for years and as such trust their own knowledge and not newer reports that contradict them. Only yesterday I was in a shop that is generally good and they claim to "know what fish are like" yet have a sticker saying if you keep a puffer well fed then they should be fine with other fish.

The reason for your mate to change the habitat of his columbian shark cats is because they will not be able to osmo-regulate properly leading to illness, sickness and an early death from organ failure. That's why.

 

[ANIM4L]

im sorry everyone if it seemed like i was ignoring you all, i was really paying attention to everythig you said. I guess i will see if i can find a way to make him happy then, may be even giving him away to someone. Thanks for all your help!