Columbian Cats

[D&M]

Picked myself up a Columbian Cat (silver tipped shark, or whatever other
common names they have). I wasn't going to get one as I've been warned over
and over again that they're a "bad" cat, do not get, worse than black
sharks.

So, the obvious, he's going to grow like a ID shark, he's gonna get big, but
what other downfalls have people actually had with them.

When I got him, he was in a tank with guppies. They didn't have do much as a
mark on them, he hovered peacefully at the bottom of the tank. I brought him
home, he's been in QT for a while now with some platties and skunk botias.
He has to be the most peaceful fish of all the fish I own. Very polite, even
during feeding, he'll move out of the way to let a platty nibble at
something on the substrate, even though he was chewing on it. Skunk bit his
tail, he didn't even flinch, just kept his low hover across the bottom of
the tank.

Another thing I love is he stays out in the open, my pim cat, don't even
know he's in the tank. He's always frantically pacing in his cave waiting
for the lights to go out.

What I'm wondering is if this is a wolf in sheeps clothing, he's only 4"
right now, when he gets bigger, is he going to start getting agressive, and
attacking other fish? Or is this one of those cats you can train behaviorly,
with proper feeding, tankmates, etc.

Cheers

[^*^ Vosklady ^*^]

"D&M" > wrote in message
...
> Picked myself up a Columbian Cat (silver tipped shark, or whatever other
> common names they have). I wasn't going to get one as I've been warned
over
> and over again that they're a "bad" cat, do not get, worse than black
> sharks.
>
> So, the obvious, he's going to grow like a ID shark, he's gonna get big,
but
> what other downfalls have people actually had with them.
>
> When I got him, he was in a tank with guppies. They didn't have do much as
a
> mark on them, he hovered peacefully at the bottom of the tank. I brought
him
> home, he's been in QT for a while now with some platties and skunk botias.
> He has to be the most peaceful fish of all the fish I own. Very polite,
even
> during feeding, he'll move out of the way to let a platty nibble at
> something on the substrate, even though he was chewing on it. Skunk bit
his
> tail, he didn't even flinch, just kept his low hover across the bottom of
> the tank.
>
> Another thing I love is he stays out in the open, my pim cat, don't even
> know he's in the tank. He's always frantically pacing in his cave waiting
> for the lights to go out.
>
> What I'm wondering is if this is a wolf in sheeps clothing, he's only 4"
> right now, when he gets bigger, is he going to start getting agressive,
and
> attacking other fish? Or is this one of those cats you can train
behaviorly,
> with proper feeding, tankmates, etc.
>
> Cheers

You may want to check out the following:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile63.html

Hope this Helps! :)

~ Vosklady

[D&M]

Kinda to answer my own post.... (thought maybe someone else might be
interested)

One of my local fish experts told me some info on them today. Apparently
they grow fast, 8-12". They're slow movers, do fine in a 90g tank.
If recieved young, can be trained behaviorly to remain a peaceful fish. If
he is in a tank is other fish that eat feeder fish, he'll learn to eat
feeder fish as well if no other food is provided.
For example, he showed his two 12" and 14" ID sharks, he has them in with 3"
balas, serpae tetras, and some other small fish. Only thing they eat are
pellets, don't even look at the smaller fish in the tank.

Guess it's all in the owner how the fish behaves. I've heard stories of
people getting ID sharks and feeding them neon tetras as soon as they were
big enough to eat them, moving them up to comets.

There's also punks I always in the lfs's, asking the clerks "will this one
eat other fish" going from tank to tank until they find one that does. You
can teach a Bala to eat feeder fish if you don't give it anything else to
eat. Eventually it will be all it will eat.

So... overall, his impression as a fellow hobbiest, and lfs owner is they're
an ok cat, they just get big fast, not recommended for hobbiests with small
tanks. Do fine with most community freshwater fish.

Cheers



"D&M" > wrote in message
...
> Picked myself up a Columbian Cat (silver tipped shark, or whatever other
> common names they have). I wasn't going to get one as I've been warned
over
> and over again that they're a "bad" cat, do not get, worse than black
> sharks.
>
> So, the obvious, he's going to grow like a ID shark, he's gonna get big,
but
> what other downfalls have people actually had with them.
>
> When I got him, he was in a tank with guppies. They didn't have do much as
a
> mark on them, he hovered peacefully at the bottom of the tank. I brought
him
> home, he's been in QT for a while now with some platties and skunk botias.
> He has to be the most peaceful fish of all the fish I own. Very polite,
even
> during feeding, he'll move out of the way to let a platty nibble at
> something on the substrate, even though he was chewing on it. Skunk bit
his
> tail, he didn't even flinch, just kept his low hover across the bottom of
> the tank.
>
> Another thing I love is he stays out in the open, my pim cat, don't even
> know he's in the tank. He's always frantically pacing in his cave waiting
> for the lights to go out.
>
> What I'm wondering is if this is a wolf in sheeps clothing, he's only 4"
> right now, when he gets bigger, is he going to start getting agressive,
and
> attacking other fish? Or is this one of those cats you can train
behaviorly,
> with proper feeding, tankmates, etc.
>
> Cheers
>
>