My Fish named "Sharkey"!!!!!But what is he?

[macsean13]

Hello, I am Sean and My girlfriend Lindsay is very interested in my fish...So I will now let her take the honors:
Alright, my boyfriend Sean has had this fish since the year 2000. His neighbors were about to throw him away, (alive and in his tank!) Thankfully Sean resued him. The neighbors warned Sean that the fish was a "punk" and we soon found out why. In his first tank he bullied two full grown oscars and another bottom feeder fish. Since then he has grown to about six or seven inches long and has a large top dorsal fin and other shark-like features. He is jet black and has four shourt whiskers which led us to believe he is a catfish. He prefers warmer water. His other favorite pastimes include killing any other new fish introduced to the tank, no matter how large. His victims include two parrot fish, six juvenile cichlids, and one large oscar and a juvenille oscar. He also persists in destroying any live plants we place in the tank and appears to dislike the bubblestone, he pushes it constantly. Someone mentioned that he may be a Black Lancer, or another type of Asian catfish native to lakes and rivers. We are novice fish owners and we have grown fond of Sharkey's "interesting" personality, but we would like to know what kind of fish he is so we can take better care of him. Local fish stores are stumped and I have flipped through books with pictures but nothing seems close. Any ideas anyone? Or pictures you could post in response for us to view and compare with? We would really appreciate it!! Thank you.

[Caol_ila]

Hi and welscome!

Your best bet would be flipping through the catelog http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/index.htm
Checking for Bagrids sounds like a good first choice. Does the fish swim upside down?

[macsean13]

Well according to the index he resembles Hemibagrus wyckii the best. His personality fits to a 'T' to the description. The provided picture looks just like him except Sharky has smaller shorter wiskers. I will try to provide pictures soon. And thx......

[Chrysichthys]

The barbels aren't right for a bagrid. I think it's possibly not a catfish, but a Black shark, Labeo chrysophekadion, which is a large cyprinid with a nasty temperament. If so, it will have scales, unlike a true catfish.

[sidguppy]

Morulius chrysophekadion

they can be very nasty.
however, it can be kept with many other fish, EXCEPT when in a too small tank....

[Jools]

Just a fairly related story. My father used to keep fish when I was a very young kid. He gave up after a few years and it took me a few years again to decide to start keeping them myself. One big memory I have of the tank was a black shark (<I>Morulius chrysophekadion</i>) nicknamed sharkey.

Nice to think about him again, he lived in a plastic shipwreck.

Jools

[macsean13]

A Shark huh?....Tight... That picture that siguppy put on this thread, looks like sharkys shape, but he is a bit slimer and all black. The nasty temperment is dead (<--LOL dead) on. So Catfish don't have scales? What size tank should I put him in? One more question...Where can you buy these fish at? Can't seem t find any dealers.
Thx again all, Like I said I will try and get some pics of him posted asap.

[brianfl]

Black Sharks get pretty big. We have one in the pond that is about 18" so you will need a sizable tank. Our black is only a little over a year old, they generally grow very fast. Whatever you do, don't put two black sharks together. At least one of them will die, generally the smaller one. We didn't have any problems with other fish in with him (catfish and gouramis). We had him in a 120 gallon until we moved him outside. We have had several, they are quite fond of veggies. All of ours have loved zucchini.