Irridescent Sharks

[slj3]

This may be irrelevant because I'm brand new to the site and haven't had the chance to look around as much as I'd like to yet but does anyone have any experience with irridescent sharks? We have one that we have had roughly 27-28 years and is about 14-16 inches long. We had another one that we had gotten at the same time but he died at about 24 yrs. Worked out okay because I think the one is happier in the tank without the other one because they both wanted to stay on the same side of our 75 gallon aquarium.

I know a lot of people say that can get up to 4 feet long and weigh around 100lbs but ours seems like he's stayed within reason for the tank. Of course he'd probably like a bigger tank but he doesn't seem to have any problems with what we have, except anytime we've tried to use the undergravel filter. I like him with the cory cats because they all swim around his nose and sometimes will seem to be cleaning him like you see with sharks in the ocean. They are fun to watch.

We've never had any luck getting any others to live past maybe 2-3 years so I'm not sure what the magic formula has been for him and his deceased friend!

 

[fort384]

Most folks are going to tell you that the tank is too small for a fish of that size. Clearly you are providing a decent environment in terms of water quality to keep it alive for that long, but also it is important to realize that the lifespan of sharks is generally much longer than ~25 years (Though not in captivity).

I would love to see some pics if you can post some. It is impressive to keep any aquarium inhabitants alive for that length of time in a home aquarium.

 

[vanimal]

Yeah wow that's longer than all dogs! +1 for some photos!! What did you feed it?

 

[slj3]

Majority of his life he's just gotten regular ole tropical fish flakes. I think about 5-10 years ago we decided to start getting some shrimp pellets for some other catfish we had and realized he loved them so he gets that now too (but if we run out he's fine with just the flakes for a while anyway). We also discovered he is also a fan of algae wafers, but the shrimp pellets are his favorite. I like watching him as they float down past his nose. He puts his dorsal fin up like an exclamation point and devours them. But the majority of his lifetime just the flakes (though its hard to say how many fish disappeared that we didn't realize because he had eaten them or something. lol)

 

[slj3]

Oh, and you may notice in the pic his dorsal fin is short... he did lose a chunk of it a few years ago. We had another one in the tank with him that we had had together all their lives and the tank lid wasn't heavy enough and he came out of it and landed on the back of the couch. Luckily he lived! (Ironically the one that came out of the tank lived longer than the one that didn't...although he didn't die until years later either) Now we have glass book shelves on the top of the tank to keep him in! So far it's been successful! And since I've recently revamped the tank and added a bunch more fish he seems much happier! He wanted friends, go figure. (and no, not to eat, they are all accounted for. I check a few times a day since I'm still in the "14-day guarunteed" period from the pet store!)

 

[bettaowner]

These are actually venomous catfish. They are active and schooling so they need a large aquarium to acomodate their size plus a tank large enough to prevent waste from building up plus enough room for multiple sharks to move around freely.

 

[slj3]

venomous? where'd you find that info? I've literally never heard that or anything close to it.... not saying it's not true, I've just never heard that before...

 

[Jesselav1233]

I've never heard of these guys being venomous either and I've had a few of these guys over the years maybe I'm wrong but I really don't think they are

 

[HUKIT]

These are actually venomous catfish. They are active and schooling so they need a large aquarium to acomodate their size plus a tank large enough to prevent waste from building up plus enough room for multiple sharks to move around freely.

I'm call shenanigans on this one as well, I've never seen any documented proof of a venomous spine on these guys.


Iridescent Shark, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, Pangasius Catfish, Striped Catfish

 

[Talvari]

I've heard that their dorsal fin has a venomous spine in it, but never from a reputable source and always second hand like "someone told me that...". We have these at the store I work at and no one has ever gotten sick or died from being stabbed by a dorsal fin of a IS, including myself, so I don't know how much truth there is to it.

I'm not sure of the schooling thing, either. We keep them in a pretty large tank at our store and I never see them exhibit any schooling/shoaling behaviors. Usually they are just swimming aimlessly around the tank.

 

[vanimal]

They only school when they are juviniles. And I also have never heard about a venomous fin.

 

[bettaowner]

The TFH book Catfish by Lee Finely says that fish in this family have a deadly sting. I could be wrong but Large catfish are not fish that should be kept by a careless aquariust.

 

[Ibrahim]

The TFH book Catfish by Lee Finely says that fish in this family have a deadly sting. I could be wrong but Large catfish are not fish that should be kept by a careless aquariust.

He is obviously not a careless owner otherwise it wouldn't be alive for 28yrs.

 

[bettaowner]

I'm not saying he's careless. I'm just stating the danger that comes with owning these fish.

 

[christine2012]

That is one bad*ss shark! Way to go keeping him healthy that long! Very impressive!

 

[vanimal]

Could you post some pictures of the whole tank please?

 

[slj3]

The TFH book Catfish by Lee Finely says that fish in this family have a deadly sting. I could be wrong but Large catfish are not fish that should be kept by a careless aquariust.

Not all things in such a family are necessarily the same, no? So maybe he has cousins which are but when I searched it online the other night the only thing I could find said irries specifically--NOT venomous. Not much had any info pertaining to that one way or the other but the one that I found said negative.

 

[slj3]

Could you post some pictures of the whole tank please?

My computer that I have the pics on is having internet issues so I will post them when I get it fixed!

 

[vanimal]

Pictures??

 

[FishFanatic88]

My dad and i keep two large roughly 8" or so IS in a 75 gal also and they are the most peacful fish in the tank. It is funny how you mentioned that they jumped out, cause sometimes mine go bizurck and will try and jump out but they cant due to the lid being weighed down by a large wooden external lid (complicated to explain). We have had them for about eight years now and the smaller of the two survived having a worm grow out of its side and now it has a large bump there but it is healthy as a horse! Mine love shrimp pellets too, but we just started feeding algae wafers for other fish and they dont seem too interested in them. The only fish we have lost (that we know of) is a rather small clown loach that got swallowed whole when the big IS scooped up some gravel to get the pellets. That was the most expensive food a fish in our house has ever gotten!!