help - I don't know what these guys are

[scott_p]

I bought 2 "shark" cats from the LFS and now can't identify them. They are silver / blue / purple. Young - about 3 inches long and look "shrink - wrapped" - i.e. their head is large and flat like a hammer-head and their body long and thin with incredibly defined muscle structure.

They swim like sharks and the guy said the were "pangang sharks" but i've never heard of this and can't see any pics which look like them.

I do hope they arent pangassius monsters but the ones i've looked at on the net look fatter bodied and larger finned for their size. They have an elongated anal fin, 4 steering fins, four barbels 2 short / 2 long, flying-v tail and small anterior fin behind the main shark-type dorsal fin. Any ideas guys?

Oh and by the way they were bought with 2 aquatic frogs of unknown origin, brown with heads like a ferret or weasel / black band thru the eys like ninja turtles (lol) - agressive little buggers too - head-butting any fish stupid enough to come within 4 inches of them...(my prize neons - duh)

[doctorzeb]

DOn't know about the shark cats, but the frogs, (by behaiour anyway), sound like a type of xenopus laevis. They're the most common type of aquatic frog sold, some are dark brown and some are albino. The nose isn't terrible pointed thought, so it may not be a laevis. Do a google search for Xenopus, and then Xenopus laevis, and see if you can find anything.

Good luck

Rob

P.S. If you hae any small fish in the tank, (ie. your prize neons) watch out. If it is X.Laevis, they will eat everything they can get their hands on, they are nicknamed the PACMAN forgs, and they grow to the size of a fist.

[Silurus]

I'm afraid you do have Pangasius (most likely P. hypophthalmus or P. sanitwongsei, the two most common species).
And doctorzeb, Xenopus laevis and pacman frogs (sometimes known as Argentinian horned frogs, Ceratophrys ornata) aren't the same thing.
The two most common aquatic frogs sold in pet stores are Xenopus and Hymenochirus and they look almost identical.

[doctorzeb]

OOps sorry Silurus, thats just what I've always known them as, probably because they're greedy little fellas.

rob

[magnum4]

if you don't think that they are a pangassius even though the dircription was then check out the the Ariidae species in the cat-elog more than likely if it is one its Arius seemani. often refered to shark cats in the uk or any outher name they make up. big 15". eat small stuff. actually brackish suits them best.

[Barbie]

The common name for those frogs is the african clawed frog. There is also a dwarf type, that isn't nearly so voracious.

Barbie

[scott_p]

Hi all,

Thanx for your swift replies guys! I think from what has been said that I do have 2 African clawed frogs - but hope they are dwarves...i do like my little neons! Anyway I'm off to look up that last genus info on the fish. Never had cats before - except a recently purchased Pleco. Thorny subject catfish eh? he hee.

On the subject I think it was very irresponsible of the LFS owner to sell me fish for an aquarium which may be too large for ANY tank except a public one. He said "oh these may get quite big- bring em back if they do and I'll swap em" - the question is where would they end up??

[scottydog]

Hey ho
I recently acquired some homeless pangassius sangitswongi and struggled to id them at first. Now I know what they are! A seriously big fish- see my post in Asian Catfish. Over the past couple of weeks I've been wondering whether as keepers of fish we should be fighting against the trade of huge fish like these (even though they are SERIOUSLY cool to watch!). If that's what you have I'd start planning for the future now... If they're the columbian shark cats as mentioned above, they are much more realistic if you've plenty of space. I have these guys living successfully in a 100g brackish aquarium where they are now thriving. Either way- your little fish are history!! As for the frogs, I've been keeping amphibs for a good time now and find clawed frogs a delight to keep. They are predatory though, so you need to be aware of this, how aggressive they are seems in my experience to be down to the individual. I've always got tons of spawn from clawed frogs but the fish in the tank just munch that up. I keep clawed frogs with decent sized fish (4"+) and don't ever have problems. The clawed frogs will grow to about the size of your hand in captivity and will live with silver sharks, pl*cos etc... feeding well on frozen foods ( some can be tempted to take prepared food from time to time- I think they're fairly opportunistic feeders naturally so will have a go at anything they percieve as grub! Enjoy

Dog

[scott_p]

Hi all,

ScottyDog - cheers for the info mate. I haven't actually found an identical picture of my little baby cats yet but the pangasius hypothalmus looks the closest.

My babies have blue and purple iridescent stripes but look like hammerhead sharks (complete with shark-type gills which look like ribs...).Their eyes are large shark-type ones and the have the same fin structure as P.Hypo but my juveniles look different to the stock photos ive seen. I will have to take a pic somehow and post it for surety.

they are 2 weeks old and are about 4" long. Active swimmers - they love pl*co tablets and brine shrimp. Not overly nervous - my silver sharks are worse!!!

And they really do look like hammerheads - they have a wide flat head and slender body - swimming in a wriggling shark fashion etc due to them having 4 manouvering fins. Their fins are all edged in black tho not as heavily as my silver sharks.

Still think they are hypos etc?

Any comments welcome...


Scott.

[Silurus]

Sounds more like P. sanitwongsei to me.

[scottydog]

I agree with Silurus. Sounds like the guys I have. In Scotland they are sold as Dolphin Sharks/Paroon Sharks/ Hammerhead Sharks. My advice - Take them back!! They grow HUGE and eat EVERYTHING!!!!! MIne ate an adult gold sev. that I maistakenly placed with them short term. I wrongly assumed the sevs size would be too much for my 6" sharkys. WRONG. One of them grabbed it by the head, held it for 3 days then spat out the leftovers- then the other 2 ate the leftovers. They use dog carcasses to catch these fish in the wild. Huge means up to 8feet long!!!! Loads of folk in fish trade have told me this is untrue but just go and check out the fishing web sites and see what the guys who catch these things as adults say...

If this is not the fish you have, ignore all I say!

[scott_p]

Hi Guys,

It seems that - yes - I do have P.Hypo's. The best sources I can find confirm their large size even in an aquarium and their voracious appetite is legendary.

They appear to grow to full size within 4 years at an average of 1" per month so I think I will have to take them back to the LFS. Mine must be about 4 months old so by xmas they will be almost 8" long and could hoover up all of my other fish - sigh. (plus they look bloody ugly as adults )

The frogs are dwarves according to the LFS owner. They have settled down and don't seem to bother the other fish now although they have strangely adopted my common pl*c as he is a very similar colour and pattern! They swim up to him when he is sitting under his "monument" (my only "fake" tank ornament - a miniature "destroyed" roman colliseum) where they either sit on top of him or wriggle under him to hide! He gets a bit pissed off when they try to get under him but doesn't mind them sitting on or beside him...

cheers for all the advice