Hi I have some a catfish...

Question
Hi I have some  a catfish in my tank . I dont know what kind it is but it looks like a shark. I think it might be pregnant, Its getting really fat and i was wondering how to care of the babies. Does the mother eat them or can she be in with them                  

                  Thank You
                    Linda

Answer
Hi Linda;

The type of catfish you described sounds like a Silvertip Shark, also known as; Colombian Shark Catfish, Tete Sea Catfish or Shark Catfish. All catfish are egglayers so a female needs a male with her as the eggs are laid. Otherwise, the eggs will be infertile and never hatch. If it is the kind of catfish I think it is, the male keeps the eggs in his mouth until they hatch. Weird but true! They are not bred in captivity though, so it is unlikley that it will happen in your tank. They also get a foot long and need salt water as they mature. So, unless your tank is 70 gallons or larger, you might want to shop for a bigger one!

Here are links to profile pages to know more;

http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/1998_06.php
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/sharkcat.htm
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/sharkcat.xml

Scroll down to the 'colombian shark catfishes' on this next one; http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/brackfaqpart4.html

If those pictures don't look like the one, here is another type called the pangassius cat or irridescent shark and they get about 4 feet long;
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/iridescentshark.xml
http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/1998_08.php

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Come on over and join us on the freshwater fish forum at About.com to get even more information too;
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/questionsanswers/a/naavigateforum.htm