What Is A Aliminum Catfish?

[Ransom]

well bought one of these from the lfs and well i carnt find any reference to the little guy at all

the sticker on the side of his tank said aliminium catfish (i may be spelling the ali bit wrong)

does anyone know of this catfish and point me in the right direction to read about this species
thanks

 

[§tudz]

well bought one of these from the lfs and well i carnt find any reference to the little guy at all

the sticker on the side of his tank said aliminium catfish (i may be spelling the ali bit wrong)

does anyone know of this catfish and point me in the right direction to read about this species
thanks

Hi,

its spelt aluminium

I did a google image search and the cat I found was a pictus, is this the little fishy, he wont be little much longer if it is Pictus

 

[Ransom]

Thanks for the reply the head looks like my fish altho the body is just one dark silvery colour an he is always hiding so i never really see him.

thanks for your time searching by the way.

ransom

well bought one of these from the lfs and well i carnt find any reference to the little guy at all

the sticker on the side of his tank said aliminium catfish (i may be spelling the ali bit wrong)

does anyone know of this catfish and point me in the right direction to read about this species
thanks

Hi,

its spelt aluminium

I did a google image search and the cat I found was a pictus, is this the little fishy, he wont be little much longer if it is Pictus

Found the little guy

http/filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/Speci...ary.php?id=9311

 

[§tudz]

oh dear in that case he could be what is commonly known as a sharkcatfish

how big is your tank these grow BIG

 

[CFC]

Studz he has already provided a link to the fish he has

As you can see from the fishbase profile aluminum cats can grow to as large as 30 inches in length and will eat smaller fish in the tank, they also preffer to be in groups which makes keeping them difficult as housing a group of 2 foot plus catfish requires an enormous tank.

 

[§tudz]

oops...

Yeah I did a quick search earlier and it only returned the page he has displayed, and I couldnt find a reference to the fish on PC.com either.

did another search and it came up fishy[url]

but, yeah it will become a large fish

its so disappointing when these tank busters are sold to unkowning customers

but unlike some I dont want to see them tank off the market as some day I'd love to have a tropical pond with some RTCs
lol maybe I should just go get a job in a zoo

 

[Ransom]

thanks guys i currently have a 3foot tank and have been keeping fish for about 1 month now

any idea how fast these fish grow ?
hes about 2.5 or 3 inch now

The Fish i have are

I have had the tank about 4 or 5 weeks now and only had 2 black mollys die and 1red neon and 1 cobra neon (died within 24h) die in the tank so far.

i have in my tank
1 Marble Angel (doubled in size over the past month)
7 Red Wag Platys
2 Male Guppies
1 Female Guppie (very very small)
2 Common Plecs (1 dark colour 1 light colour)
2 Apple Snales
2 Lepoad Danios
8 Blue Neon Tetras
2 Red Neon Tetras
1 Red claw crab (about 1inch he's cool)

1 Aliminium Catfish or what ever this guy is.
So this catfish might be
A).A frican Big Eye Catfish - Chrysichthys longipinnis
B). Shark Catfish, White Tip Shark Catfish, Colombian Shark Catfish - Hexanematichthys seemanni




Tank is 3foot x 1.5foot high x 1foot front to back (width)
These guys get fed a lot by me at night and by my g/f in the day on flake and frozen bloodworm and this current weeks favorite is black moskito frozen.

Yes i know i need a backing for my tank but ive not got around to it yet. anyone got any spare?

 

[§tudz]

nice setup.

erm how long you had the crab? as they WILL eventually eat your fish like lollypops one in eat claw.

I haven't a back image on my polyterus tank, but right up against the wall and looks fine. but then my wires are neater than yours lol.

I have no idea on the growth rate though sorry.

 

[catxx]

its a nice tank, but there are a lot of buts.

1. if those are real seashells, get them out, seashells shouldn't be kept in freshwater tanks, unless it's an african cichlid tank (mbuna i think)
2. angels consider neons dinner
3. you need more female guppys, your guppy ratio is the wrong way round!
4. common plecs can get to near 2ft in length also
5. if you want to keep all these fish you're gonna need a big BIG BIG tank (like 200 gallons+ tank)
6. thats a big bioload for a 5 week old tank, how are your stats holding up? especially with plecs in there.
7. studz is right about the crab, they're fish eaters! and i believe they need land out of water to thrive also, if that isn't available, they'll make an escape from the tank, legs can run!
8. these fish that will grow big, unless you can keep them and get a suitable enormous tank, take them back to the shop, keeping them in an undersized busy tank just because you think they look cute until they get too big isn't fair on them. it's like getting a kitten and throwing it out when it's grown up.

 

[Ransom]

nice setup.

erm how long you had the crab? as they WILL eventually eat your fish like lollypops one in eat claw.

I haven't a back image on my polyterus tank, but right up against the wall and looks fine. but then my wires are neater than yours lol.

I have no idea on the growth rate though sorry.

I bought the crab this past sunday (todays weds) he is only small and pretty slow most of the other fish keep out of his way.

im not sure if its right but he only has 1 claw on his right (hand?) but nothing on the left an its only a titch claw poor guy

my wires are all over the place just because im lazy i look at the fish not the backing

 

[catxx]

is the crab like this:

or like this

?
he's either a fiddler, or a red claw thats been in a fight (if he's in a tank with another red claw, they'll rip each others claws off)
he'll attack any bottom-dwelling fish, anything else that gets within his grasp.

 

[Ransom]

Personaly i origionally wanted another tank and we have room for one also just moved into a new house.

so seems i will have to get another tank to house the plecs an catfish in time.

the shells were from a big wood basket that i soaked in water an cleaned before putting in the tank an they have been in there since the start, i think there proper shells

i didnt know the angel fish would attack the neons he seems very very placid he comes to the front of the tank when i put my face there

ill get some more guppies in there females if you think thats right

 

[§tudz]

angels are quite nice until they come into breeding condition when they will attack anything that moves.

I'd get rid of the crab and the shark catfish as they need brackish water when older and grow HUGE you would need an unbelivably big tank for it

 

[catxx]

seashells will raise the PH in the water
only good if you're keeping fish that like that higher PH (like mbuna cichlids)
none of your fish will appreciate this!

as for the guppies, before you add ANYmore fish i'd get rid of ones you can't feasibly keep.
unless you're planning on building a mini aquarium in your house around 400 gallons say?

 

[nmonks]

The aluminium catfish name has been applied to any one of a number of species within the family Clarotidae, a family of African bagrid-like catfish. Sometimes known as "alley cats" or "ali cats" among catfish-lovers, I haven't seen them on sale much in the last few years, but in the 1980s they were fairly common. Besides the clarotid Chrysichthys longipinnis, I've also seen the name used for at least two other clarotids, Clarotes laticeps and Chrysichthys furcatus. The latter is quite a dark fish, so might be your boy.

It is also possible for species such as channel catfish to be "accidentally" sold as aluminium cats.

Reagrdless, this catfish will get quite big, fairly quickly. Selling on large but unusual catfish isn't all that hard because there's quite a market for them, but you should still plan around being stuck with a fish anything up to 60 cm or so in length.

Cheers,

Neale