channel catfish? I hope not please help,bought from pet shop

[munkeycraz]

I asked the lady what this cute lil catfish was and if he would be ok in my fish tank. She said yea..so i bought him. He is growing quite quickly...maybe from the lil fart eating all my fish up at night..or just growing b/c of type. I have been on many forums tryin to fig out what he is. Can any one help?

[Graeme]

Any pictures?

[munkeycraz]

IT SAIS THE FILE IS TOO BIG..HOW ELSE CAN I POST?

[Dave Rinaldo]

Resize the pic

[munkeycraz]

:0( i CANT FIG OUT HOW TO DO THAT LIL MAN WITH A PIPE?

[Dave Rinaldo]

:0( i CANT FIG OUT HOW TO DO THAT LIL MAN WITH A PIPE?

Click on a smilies to the right when you post


Preview your post to make sure everything is the way you want it

[Graeme]

Try this for resizing your pictures.

http://www.shrinkpictures.com/

[munkeycraz]

[Graeme]

Hemibagrus nemurus

[Mod edit: Use persistant link... --Mats]

[munkeycraz]

SIDE VIEW

[munkeycraz]

I HOPE YOUR RIGHT...I LOOKED AT THE PICS UNDER THAT NAME AND IT LOOKS LIKE HIM. HOW BIG DO THOSE CATS GET. I HAVE A WIERD AQUARIUM..IT IS TALL..PAIN TO CHANGE OUT WATER OR DECORATE!! IT IS 47 GALLON...BUT I GOT FOR 140 FOR HOOD, TANK, AND STAND AT PETSMART...NEXT TANK WONT BE LIKE THAT AT ALL. CAN THIS TYPE OF CAT THRIVE IN . IF YOU HAVENT GUESSED IM A NEWBIE AT THIS WHOLE THING. HE HAS ATE MOST OF MY FISH THAT COULDNT DEFEND THEMSELVES. I LIKE HIM THO....

[Yann]

If it is indeed Hemibagrus nemurus, it will grow to a whoopy 65cm SL...which would make it 75-80cm long cat at adult size...so it will well overpass your tank...and will not be happy in such tank...and will keep eating any other fish you will put him with...except for any similar sized...which is not the best idea to do...

So either get a much much bigger tank...like 10 times what you have already...or bring it back to the shop that has sold you these fish... you might find similar shaped fish with similar behaviour but growing to a much small size and more adapted to your aquarium size

Cheers
Yann

[sidguppy]

two things:
this fish doesn't just grow big, it can and will develop into a real killer. very few other fish can survive being in 1 tank with any Hemibagrus

typing in caps is considered shouting....you might want to lay off the caps a wee bit

[Richard B]

I can't see any nasal barbels in the photos - this would mean it is not from the bagrid family & not H.Nemerus. Has anyone picked them out in any of the photos

[munkeycraz]

Do you think i need to get a better pic of his face? He is pretty quick! Would this help you all out any? And sorry for all the shoutin'..i didnt realize

Shari

[Yann]

Sure it could help!!
Cheers
Yann

[Richard B]

Do you think i need to get a better pic of his face? He is pretty quick! Would this help you all out any? And sorry for all the shoutin'..i didnt realize

Shari

No worries via the CAPS - everyone makes mistakes

A good close-up of the head would help to definately ID the fish as advice could vary massively dependant upon what it is. As a simple question, does it have 4 pairs of barbels? (2 small pairs under the chin (inner & outer mandibular barbels), a small pair on top of the nose (nasal barbels) & a main large pair at the sides of the mouth (maxillary barbels) - see this http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/anatomy.php for a better explanation

[apistomaster]

Most likely, you have an albino channel catfish.
The only other common large albino catfish sold is Clarias batrachus and they have been banned in the USA for decades and there is always a good supply of young channel catfish(albino form) available in this country's aquarium trade.

[sidguppy]

nope, the mouth is too wide for a Channelcat. this is most likely a Hemibagrus.

[munkeycraz]

Yeah, he has 2 small on top, 2 small on bottm and 2 large on sides. I will try to get a good pic of his face today. He stayes in his "cave" unless he comes out a makes a round or so and then goes back in. He likes when i shut the light off tho.... Any hints on gettin a good pic...flash.,.no flash...light on/off in tank?

[munkeycraz]

Correction... He has a total of 8. Two short, small ones on his "nose" and 4 under his "chin" and the two long ones on the side.

[MatsP]

So definitely an asian catfish then - all North and South American catfish (that could possibly be confused with this one, at least] have a total of 3 pairs.

Here is a picture of the H. nemurus close-up of the face, and you can clearly see it's barbels:


--
Mats

[apistomaster]

Not to get too side tracked, but are albino Hemibagrus spp in the trade?
I've never heard or seen of any but an absence of my knowledge is not evidence of proof.
I know anything big enough to be cultured for food is eventually likely to produce albinos which often find their way into the fish trade.(I never make mistakes. )
A photo showing the whole fish would make an identification easy.

[Richard B]

There seems to have been quite a few albino species appearing in the trade in the uk over the past year or so. I haven't paid too much attention to any of them as they're not my thing but certainly they include some bagrids & were not made up of run-of-the-mill albinos like clarias. H.Nemerus could well have been one of them

[Silurus]

Not to get too side tracked, but are albino Hemibagrus spp in the trade?

They are quite common in LFSs here.

[andywoolloo]

dang that's a nice pic Mats! Look at those whiskers!

[MatsP]

dang that's a nice pic Mats! Look at those whiskers!

Not my picture - came out of the Cat-eLog.

--
Mats

[munkeycraz]

I need to do a partial water change tomorrow. I will see if I can get him in a container to get some good pics and post them. He does look like that picture up there ^^. I live in Virginia Beach and have heard of people importing some strange things to the LFS. He was in a tank with a sand bottom and a baby sting ray. Freshwater..... If he is however not a channel cat and the other will I be able to keep him you think if I get a lager tank for just him and a few "hold ya own" fish? Happy Halloween Y'all

[Martin S]

Not kept these, but generally, they are a fish which are best kept alone - anything else in the tank will normally get killed, however big! From the catelog "An aggressive loner. As with other Hemibagrus specis, very intolerant of other fish inhabiting the same tank. What it cannot eat, it will kill out of spite." As you will also see from the catelog, adult size is about 2' (not sure if albinos get as big?), but you'd need a big tank to take a fully grown specimen - I would recommend tank size to be anything upwards from 6' x 3' x 3' on the assumption it doesn't grow much above 18".
HTH
Martin

[pureplecs]

Yowza I would take that fish back to the LFS and give that worker lady a stern talkin' to!!!