Pangasius Sanitwongsei not eating

[Joemartini]

Hi,
I'm new here and looking for info pertaining to the Pangasius Sanitwongsei, or from what the pet store and most info on the net dubs them - HiFin or HiFin Paroon Shark.
Friend of mine originally bought them a few weeks ago and couldn't get them to eat, pet shop wouldn't take them back nor did they explain in the first place that these fish get big. Unfortunately they were in a 10g when I came to pick them up. I currently have 2 5" ID sharks that I bought and had plans for an indoor pond eventually but ended up with 2 more rescue ID sharks, these last two are 2"s (1 being albino) and have not grown in the last few months so I assume they are stunted from being in a small tank for so long.

Anyways, I've read as much as I could find, which wasn't much till I figured out that they were a Pangasius Sanitwongsei, and it was very conflicting info at best as far as food goes. I thought at first that the water parameters may not have been great when my friend had them so that would be why she had trouble with feeding them but after a week at my place in a 33g with water testing fine (only them in there with an Angelicus Botia and a Botia almorhae for bottom feeders), they are still being super picky and rarely eat, if at all. I saw the one eat a few pellets that I put in the first day and then they wouldn't touch the pellets after that. Both are around 3-3.5 inches long.

The pet store says to keep them at 86 degrees but that goes against everything online, also says that they feed them small ciclid pellets and showed me the ones he had in a tank eating everything he dropped in the tank. Not sure why the ones at the store will eat them but these ones won't and they came from the same school that the pet store still has.

I've tried varied frozen foods, flakes and pellets. I even tried putting in live small feeder fish, rosy red minnows, and they won't even so much as acknowledge their prescence. They don't look like they have concave bellies but they just don't eat. I end up taking out a bunch of the food that isn't eaten so the bottom feeders don't gorge themselves.

Any suggestions?

I luckily have a friend at the local aquarium that will take them in if they get too large for me to handle seeing as originally I only had plans for the two ID sharks in the first place. I'll move them up to the bigger tank once I can get them established and eating fine.

They look just like this guy here - http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=pangasius ... =126&ty=81

[Viktor Jarikov]

Welcome, mate!

IME and IMO, paroon sharks and IDSs require about the same care and diet. They live side by side in the wild and have very similar habits. Paroons are a bit more predatory, I've heard from others, sometimes taking a small tank mate, which pretty much never happens with the IDSs (I am not talking about an intentional live feeding but unintentional).

86 F is way wrong. If you follow the care sheet for

Pangasius sanitwongsei

, you should be all right, albeit I am a bit surprised at what's written in the "Feeding" section for both Paroons and IDSs. Mine always refused fleshy foods but took all manner of pellets happily.

[Jools]

albeit I am a bit surprised at what's written in the "Feeding" section for both Paroons and IDSs.

I've tweaked it as it only talked about the diet of wild fish.

Jools

[Viktor Jarikov]

Thanks, Jools. I had that feeling. It'd be nicer if it was put so that it cannot be misunderstood that this is more about the wild conditions.

[Joemartini]

Thanks guys
They have started eating finally, I can see their bellies getting fatter and today I watched them eat some flakes and pellets. I have a few different varieties now of flakes and pellets so they will have a pretty good varied diet, they just don't care for the frozen or live foods yet :/

[Viktor Jarikov]

Good. What live foods do you offer them?

Please, keep us posted of your efforts and their behavior, if you will. We learn the most from each other.

[Joemartini]

I've tried rosy red minnows, all three that I bought are swimming around happily and in no threat of being eaten any time soon, lol.

The feeder fish from the store are rather large and with how small my guys are, I doubt they would touch them so that's why I tried the minnows, they were tiny enough that I thought it would be an easy meal but I was wrong
I also had some really small tiger barbs in with them when the two ID's were super small and they didn't touch them when they got to 5".
Tried varied frozen food but they seemed to only like the meat when they were young, not so much now. It just gungs up my filter.

Surprisingly, the sanitwongsei's tend to be skittish around the ID's, especially during feeding. I've put them all together in the big tank and they are all eating fine but it's just weird, when I viewed the other sharks at the petstore, they were lightning fast at eating anything that dropped in the tank and nothing got in their way but my ID's somehow intimidate these two sharks. The ID's aren't even being aggressive either. Just a strange thing I've noticed.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Interesting. I think they are just still settling in. There will be behavioral changes.

As for not taking the minnows - that's some of what I was addressing above.

Don't get me wrong, please, but since IDK you, I have to ask: are aware of the pros and cons of offering a live fish diet (however (un)successfully)?

[Joemartini]

No worries, I'm not offended

I usually don't like offering live foods, it was something I felt I needed to resort to with these two.

Unfortunately (for the minnows) I discovered two missing in the tank today. I assume they have been taken alive.....

[Viktor Jarikov]

I've tweaked it as it only talked about the diet of wild fish.
Jools

Only now I saw what you had done. Thanks much, Jools.

[Viktor Jarikov]

No worries, I'm not offended

I usually don't like offering live foods, it was something I felt I needed to resort to with these two.

Unfortunately (for the minnows) I discovered two missing in the tank today. I assume they have been taken alive.....

Excellent. Could you tell by the tummy size if they were taken by the IDS(s) or the Paroon(s)? Or is there any other fish in the tank but only these 4?

[Joemartini]

Yesterday morning I couldn't tell which one took it, sometimes it's hard to find all 3 minnows but it was definitely gone in the morning and none of the sharks looked like they were overly fat. Then last night, I discovered the 2nd one gone and one of the ID's had a bigger belly. The only other fish are the 2 small bottom feeders that couldn't possibly eat a minnow.

Now I feel bad, I started to like those little guys, named them after how much they cost in total - Five, Seven and Cents.

Cents is gone (he had a distinctive dot on him) and either five or seven is gone, I couldn't tell them apart lol!

[Viktor Jarikov]

That's funny I guess the humane argument, often cited against live feeders, bit you a little bit

So as far as you could tell the Paroons have not taken any minnows.

[Joemartini]

Doesn't appear that they have, just the ID's currently. I came back from vacation yesterday and the last minnow has gone missing, my friend taking care of them for me couldn't tell who took him.

Should of nabbed the last minnow and stuck him in with the tiny ID's before I left last week

My albino ID is really off and on lately, he's way more skittish and unsettled than most ID's. I know they play the dead game when they are scared and lay still to recoup. This morning I found him upside down against one of the caves breathing funny. He snapped out of it about an hour later and galavanted about the tank, freaking out, quite often I find him laying still and looking like he is on his last legs but he comes back to life after a while and scrambles around. I think he is inbred or maybe it's from lack of care before I got him, he doesn't grow just like the other little guy that came with him.
Maybe his organs are failing from not being able to grow properly?

[Viktor Jarikov]

That sounds way bizzare. He must be ill. How long have you had him and what's his feeding like (does he eat well?) and has he grown in your care?

I imagine (without any grounds or experience or knowledge about it) that it may be a brain damage?

[Joemartini]

The albino has never eaten very well on any type of food I give him, sometimes he'll eat the vegetarian flakes but it's off and on. Neither of the little guys have grown since I've had them, there was originally 3 when I picked them up but one died abrubtly about a week in. I was away for a few days and my sister was watching them, they were all good when she came in to change some of my betta tanks water and when she returned, one had perished.

Now the other little ID is not doing well. I firmly believe that it's due to being in a small tank for too long. Could definitly be brain damage but I think it has been caused from not being able to grow. He was fine last night, ate well as usual, this guy hasn't given me any trouble before, then this morning I found him on his side in the cave and for about a few hours now he has not been doing good. I have two powder blue rams in with the ID's and they never show any signs of illness, the little guy looks like he has a blood clot forming in his eye

Hopefully treatment works, poor little guy is my favorite.