PlanetCatfish.com

on the E-log it states 12"... others are telling me this is incorrect. That they can attain 24". I want to house three in a 90 with 2 Snake fish, 2 African Butterflys and an elephant nose. At 12 inches I think that would be ok... but at more Probobly not.

Experience with these, anyone?

If these do get that big do you have any suggestions for comprable cats? I love shovelnoses and really want to keep them... but if none stay this small... similar suggestions would be appreciated.

They probably do get bigger than 12" but I have yet to see one this big. Maybe someone has pictures? Anyway, we are dealing with several species here and I suspect some are larger than others. I don't have the details yet, but when I do I will alter the clog accordingly.

Jools

Hi!

Mine got to 28 cm in under a year, from ~16 cm if i remember right. Dunno how big it is now but the new owner is also oin this forum, so maybe he can tell us. He also told me that a friend of him had even bigger ones of around 50 cm. So 90 gallons might even be too small...

Thank you for the replys.

I guess it sounds like they could but not necessarily. Do you think that they would be ok with the fish stock I am planning on keeping. I dont think they would ever see an elephant nose as food or an african butterfly... but I wanted to ask the experts.

The 90 is an intermediary tank as I plan to upgrade to a 180 in about a year and half. But was hoping to keep these guys in the 90 and make the 180 available for M.Tigrinus as that has been dream fish for a while now... so if these get as big as the Tigrinus anyway... maybe I will just skip on them... course I really dont want to wait a year and a half... advice?

Wow! Thanks for the posts! I was thinking about some Lima shovelnoses in a 50-gallon tank! That would have been a mistake! I now need to look at other predatory catfish that would fit in my scale (small tank)!

Thanks,


Scott

Beersnob wrote:Wow! Thanks for the posts! I was thinking about some Lima shovelnoses in a 50-gallon tank! That would have been a mistake! I now need to look at other predatory catfish that would fit in my scale (small tank)!

Thanks,


Scott

Just to sidetrack slightly, Pimelodus ornatus would be a good fit and a stunning fish to boot.

Jools

i think the max size for these fish varies greatly.

i have heard of them stopping at 10" but on the other end of the scale my lfs has a 22" specimen that is around 15 months old! (that they won't sell me at any price!)

i have two that were bought at the same time a year ago at 4",one is now 14" the other9"


i would safely say though that they don't get as big as m tigrinus. (i've seen these at over30")

Hi:
Max size that i saw of S: lima in hte wild was 63 cm, i think they don´t grow up much
Cheers

my s. lima is about 10 or 11 inches long, i had a friend that had one about 18 inches. as long as they have ample room so they are not stressed they will grow. he wont look at the elephant nose as food as long as he cant put him in his mouth, that is the general rule with the shovelnoses, if it fits in mouth it is fair game

Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has several lima's in large tanks (think a few thousand gallons) and I yet have to see any over 15".

In large tanks they'll reach sizes like 60cm.

My lima is in a 190 with other pims and I have had it for about 8 months I got it at about two inches and it is about 15 to 16 inches as of today, and a very voracious eater

I have noticed the limas at Shedd Aquarium seem to have, along with the stripe alongside the body, spots and flecks of brown on the sides of the body, and the spots/stripe are more brownish than black. My lima has no spots/flecks and its stripe is black. Two different species?