PlanetCatfish.com

Hi, I googled Shovelnose Catfish and wound up here. Great site.

As for me I have been keeping tropicals for 10+ years and after scoring a 110 I decided to take on raising a LARGE cat. Normally I kept Angels, Bala Sharks,et al.

Looking forward to having a 2-3 foot cat in my living room tank.

I posted some feeding questions and photolinks in the appropriate forum, if anyone can help, great!
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... highlight=

ShevelNoseNY Wrote:

As for me I have been keeping tropicals for 10+ years and after scoring a 110 I decided to take on raising a LARGE cat. Normally I kept Angels, Bala Sharks,et al.

and

Looking forward to having a 2-3 foot cat in my living room tank.

First off welcome to PlanetCatfish.

I am certain you will find a wealth of information on this site. I hate to start off as a critic, but a 100 gallon aquarium is hardly big enough for a large open water predator like a Pseudoplatystoma .

Given the fact that the adult length of these fish is in excess of 40" long, and in the wild they reach these lengths in just a few short years, our goal in keeping them should be that they do the same under our care. We should never be satisfied if our two-three year old shovelnose is 24-36" long.

These fish require REALLY big tanks. Consider a minimum of 60" in any given dimesion!

That said, we are here to help you and there are numerous moderately sized catfish species that would be a much better fit for a 100 gallon tank. Fit for the entire lifespan of the fish, which BTW can exceed twenty years or more.
Please condered the following (and this is just of few of many South American species, there are many, many more to choose from, including Asia, Africa, etc.):
Cephalosilurus fowleri
Calophysus macropterus
Sorubim lima
Pimelodus ornatus

Anyway, sorry for the critique. Welcome to PC.

and if you like it really big, you might try a "1 fish tank" with a Perrunichthys perruno or Leiarus pictus; wich in captivity needs exactly the same care.
but this one reaches 50-60 cm or so.

bigger than that; you're into "zoo-keeping" like Pturley already said; next to impossible in a normal home.

Thanks for the warm welcome, I was hoping to get this kind of insight. Unfortunatly for now the 110 will have to suffice. When this cat outgrows this tank I will either gift him to someone with a large enough tank or crank up the BBQ. From some sites I studied before the purchase it said 18-14 inches in captivity would be normal and 100+ gallon would be fine.

Pturley-We should never be satisfied if our two-three year old shovelnose is 24-36" long.

I would, and why shouldn't I? that's pretty darn big. Is this stunted growth or poor care for the fish or just common from cramped quarters?

It's a shame you were given wrong advice. maybe you confused the tiger shovelnose for the lima shovelnose?

with regard to the growth i think you've hit the nail on the head there.

a TSN that reaches just 24" in 3 years has not been cared for properly.

i aim to give my fish the BEST possible accomodation and care. not just merely enough to survive.

i think eating your pets has been discussed before in a thread.

as far as giving it away is concerned, the problem is that there are more tank busting catfish around than there is 1000 gallon aquaria.

it may be very hard to get rid of it.

pturley wrote:ShevelNoseNY Wrote:

As for me I have been keeping tropicals for 10+ years and after scoring a 110 I decided to take on raising a LARGE cat. Normally I kept Angels, Bala Sharks,et al.

and

Looking forward to having a 2-3 foot cat in my living room tank.

First off welcome to PlanetCatfish.

I am certain you will find a wealth of information on this site. I hate to start off as a critic, but a 100 gallon aquarium is hardly big enough for a large open water predator like a Pseudoplatystoma .

Given the fact that the adult length of these fish is in excess of 40" long, and in the wild they reach these lengths in just a few short years, our goal in keeping them should be that they do the same under our care. We should never be satisfied if our two-three year old shovelnose is 24-36" long.

These fish require REALLY big tanks. Consider a minimum of 60" in any given dimesion!

That said, we are here to help you and there are numerous moderately sized catfish species that would be a much better fit for a 100 gallon tank. Fit for the entire lifespan of the fish, which BTW can exceed twenty years or more.
Please condered the following (and this is just of few of many South American species, there are many, many more to choose from, including Asia, Africa, etc.):
Cephalosilurus fowleri
Calophysus macropterus
Sorubim lima
Pimelodus ornatus

Anyway, sorry for the critique. Welcome to PC.

I took your advice and returned the cat and will not get another till I can tank it correctly.

I picked up a cool little lobster though, and since I still have cory cats in the tank I guess I can still post here?


Thanks for the advice.

Wow, you really need to find a different pet store to shop at!

Your Corydoras will disappear one by one with a Yabby in the tank with them. These freshwater lobsters are active predators and scavengers and will prey first on the benthic fish in the tank (those within their reach). Then on anything else they can catch.

That depends entirely on species.....

the TRUE Yabby's from Oz (Cherax) are mainly vegetarians/scavengers and co-exist fine with fish. (they mow down any vegetation; but that's another issue )
I breed C quadricarinatus in a 1 meter tank and in that tank is 1 Ancistrus sp domesticus; a shoal of breeding Ilyodon furcidens (Goodeidid livebearer) and 2 pairs of the dwarf Neetroplus panamensis; both of whom spawn and succesfully defend their young against the lobsters.

I once made the mistake of trying to raise 40 or so baby Cherax with a similar number of Lophiobagrus, and that's the only time the lobsters caused casualties (among baby cats and themselves); too many bottomdwellers!

Procambarus on the other hand.....
The North- and Central American genus of Procambarus are true killers; indeed these lobsters/crayfish (what's the difference btw?) actively hunt and kill fish.
you can effectively clear out a tank with a single 4-5" Procambarus clarckii!

best not use the Aussi name of Yabby for the very similar looking but quite different in temperament American Procambarus; esp since these are very hard to distingish when it comes to the blue species......

If you like a lobster/crayfish in with your Cory-cats; try to find the 2" Cambarellus montezumae. this small one is harmless, has all the characteristics of such a creature (there's a very pretty orange-red variety too), but it's very peaceful. you can breed them as well, in a well-planted tank; moms are good mothers.

pturley wrote:Wow, you really need to find a different pet store to shop at!

Your Corydoras will disappear one by one with a Yabby in the tank with them. These freshwater lobsters are active predators and scavengers and will prey first on the benthic fish in the tank (those within their reach). Then on anything else they can catch.

The corys are too quick, he snapped at them and they took off like a shot. I don't think it's an issue for the angels since they are mid water fish, and the pleco has a small nook of a hiding spot where this crayfish can't reach.

Yes I do need a new fish store, any recommendations for Nassau County NY?

One would be quite surprised at how far crays will go to snag fish...I'd say that the cories are quite likely to get nailed at night, as are the angels...crays climb on aquarium decor with ease and will use that ability to take out any piscine tankmate that is around. The plec might be safe, but I'm not making any guarantees.

SidGuppy is correct, I shouldn't use the common name "Yabby" as that isn't the animal you have there. Your's, and most all that can be found in the U.S. hobby originated from Central America and are per Sid's post, piscivours.

If he's already going for them now, it's only a matter of time before he get's one...

I hope there are some members out there that can help out with a few shops in your area that offer more than just fish! Say, like some good advice once in a while!!!

BTW: Regarding the population of your tank. One of my favorite tanks I have seen was a 125 gallon with the usual compliment of a couple Cichlids, etc. and a school of 10-15 3"-4" long common pictus cats. It was very cool how the cats stayed in a group and were totally bold searching the tank from end to end... Just something to consider.

A shoal of pictus cats would be very cool indeed.

about the Lobster; it looks to me it's that hermaphrodite species, but I'm not really saure if those are that blue.

They're good eating though; so you can have a great snack

a shoal of pictus would be ace just make sure you get 4 - 5
they live happily with angels because mine dont even notice my cats are there!!!!
just make sure there is lots of open bottom space for HUNTING
mine also live with a shoal of dainos ( leopard) but im not sure how long they are gonna last!!!!
if you cant get pictus get 2 ornatus