Stunted ID Shark - Will it grow again?

[ShanerBock88]

I recently learned a friend of mine had an ID shark in a 35 gallon community tank, which was already overstocked. The cat is 2.5 years old and is only about 6 inches. He looks perfectly healthy, but obviously he's been severely stunted. He was visibly stressed and very jittery. My friend also said that he barely eats, just a pellet or two every 3 or 4 days. Apparently the LFS didn't tell him that the fish gets huge, so my friend had no idea. When I told him he needed to be in a bigger tank he offered to let me adopt him so I could put him in one of my larger tanks. I took him home about a week ago and he is already very clearly more relaxed in my lightly stocked 100-gallon. He's eating regularly and is a great addition to my fish room.

So my question is this: does anyone know if an ID that's been so severely stunted can start growing if properly cared for? No matter how I search I can't find anything that helps, so firsthand experience would be very helpful. Thanks!

[Viktor Jarikov]

Hey, you've found the Planet!

Welcome!

I think chances are you friend's IDS is a runt and won't ever break 1'. It is possible that it was stunted and/or undernourished and that it will blossom in your care into a 2'+ specimen in 6-12 months, as has been observed to occur but exceedingly rarely.

This may help you farther:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... es.505668/

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 30#p298963

[naturalart]

Yes, agreed. Fish never stop growing completely. So your cat could grow more. Problem is, its already lost 2 very important years of development, so odds are, it will forever be smaller than average.

[ShanerBock88]

Great, thanks for the info!

[Moontanman]

I had one I got from a fish store that was traded in, it had been kept in a ten gallon tank and was around 10" long. I kept it for several years and it never seemed to grow even though it was kept in an outdoor pond in the summer or a 125 in the winter. I feed my fish mostly live food and it never grew... A heron got it one summer, really bothered me, the fish would take food from my hands...