new catfish!

[ben the newb]

well we went to try and loook for some bogwoood that didnt cost the earth and was big enough for our latest tank... not an easy task =p

and we spotted this gorgeous catfish, it wasnt priced up so we got him/her cheap and the attendant was very jelous said if he'd spotted it he would have had it !!!

anyhow! no piccys as of yet, it is hard to get a good one

but any help in possibly identifying what type of catfish it is

it has a dark black body, is only about 3 cm long it has about 2/3 whiteish stripes, very thin going horizontally along its body quite close together,
also its head is quite wide, it reminds me of a hammer head shark oddly enough as its eyes are quite far apart

any ideas? ive been googling and searching through pictures but i cant see anything remotly similar!

please help :P

will try and sort pictures out...or possibly a video XD

[rugbystar55]

is that it

[Salamanda]

Originally Posted by rugbystar55

is that it

I like striped raphael catfish

[Marinam2]

Wow thats neat!!

Marina

[sami]

I've got one of those It's awesome.

Eats loads, and makes a really cool noise! Although I've never heard it while in the tank, only when I've moved it from one tank to another...

[ben the newb]

absoblutly gorgeous fish there but no that is definatly not it!
it is longer and thinner than that one

i looked at the eel catfish and thats the closest in look legnth wise and shape fornm the pictures ive seen but it isnt that one lol :P
seeing him/her in better light today it is more silvery streaks than white, he is also active :P very much so hehe! a total joy to watch but i want to discover what exactly he is to tend for his needs best :P

will try and get some pictures on but does anyone have any other ideas???
x

[ben the newb]

potentially soved the mystery

Pangasius hypophthalmus aka iridescent shark

beautiful fish, luckily, we have a very large tank ....

does any one else keep these fish? do you keep them in groupd or singually diue to their potential size??

though from his behaviour he is happy, swims in the middle of the tank, is eating well and is curious
also the tank is in the bedroom so no one can scare him easily

[_jake_]

Hmmm... good thing you got a big tank then lol. But for future refrence, get them to put the fish up for a few hours.. and do some research on the fish before. Not being moody or anything, but you would of had a disaster otherwise! lol

[nixynoonoo]

lol if it is a pang you'd better have a VERY large tank, these can get up to several meters long, most never do sadly and die in home aquariums.

The larger pangs you see will often be blind or have excessive scarring on their heads as they are very prone to panicking, darting forward and 'stunning' themselves on the glass, they then fall motionless to the bottom and its been known that people have assumed them dead and inadvertantly killed them by removing them in that stunned state.

They are also very intolerant to stress-related illnesses, they don't travel well and are easily stressed by other fish. Their lack of scales makes them hyper-sensitive to any chemical treatments.

You may think this sounds really preachy and wonder who I think I am to say all this but it's part of the aquatic trade I have a massive problem with, I have an OATA certification and work in a pet store, more importantly I had several of these lovely fish myself (I'm big into cats) sadly I learnt the hard way about their unsuitability for the home tank - didn't do my research!, mine lived several years, through recourrent cases of whitespot and rehoming but my final move finished them off.

Pangs like many other large, (often) unsuitable hobby fish (gibbiceps, silver sharks, redtails and clown loaches being some others) are all too often sold to unsuspecting customers by pet shops who should know a hell of a lot better. I'm not saying where I work doesn't sell them but I'll always personally make sure a customer knows what they'll be getting.

All that said they are a lovely fish but have a massive space requirement, yes people keep them and can grow them slowly (I expect someone will mention this) but what quality of life is provided to a fish forcibly kept in too small an environment?

I understand it's too late for you to do anything about it now and I'm sure it'll have a good caring home with you but this mini-rant may at least stop someone else from impulse buying one, might be the only way to stop them being mis-sold so frequently. More than happy to help with any questions you may have as had quite a bit of experience with these