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Bill McBurnie (3) Peru Aquarium Group (1) Johnny Jensen's Photographic Library (2) Choy Heng Wah (3)

Aquarium Care: Tete sea catfishes are occasionally available in the pet trade under a variety of names, including Colombian (or Columbian) shark, silver tipped shark, white tip shark catfish, black fin shark, Christian catfish, Jordan's catfish, and West American cat shark. However, they are not appropriate for most aquarists because they must be acclimated from freshwater to saltwater as they mature. It requires a very large tank due to its size and active swimming habits. The problem as this fish grows is that it will require more salt and from a sub-adult brackish water system they will progress into a marine environment which will need marine salt to be added. Another problem of course is that your previous tropical tankmates will not be able to tolerate the added salt and would need to be moved to a tropical tank setup immediately. A juncture to this is that they can get aggresive as they mature so not really a catfish for the hobbyist unless you know what is ahead of you and you can maintain this species through the stages of tropical (juvenile) brackish (sub-adult) and adult (marine). This of course mimicks the lifestyle of this species in the wild as they migrate from the rivers of the Pacific coast countries of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and out into the sea where they can fend for themselves as large adults. A large tank will be needed, 72inch or larger would be good for four adults. Growing plants will be difficult due to the added salt. Provide caves for hiding, a dark substrate and low lighting. They will also need good filtration with a swift current. Diet: Omnivore, insect larvae, frozen foods such as mosquito larvae, tubifex and bloodworm. Tablet and flake foods are also taken.

Shark Cat, Jordans Catfish, Colombian Shark, Tete sea catfish.

Arius seemanni, Tachysurus seemani, Arius jordani, Hexanematichthys seemani, Sciades seemanni

Ariidae

Western America: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Type locality: Central America (Pacific).

35cm. SL (14ins) but can grow larger in the wild.

22-26°c (71-79°f)

7.0-8.0.

Baensch, H.A. and R. Riehl 1985 Aquarien atlas. Band 2. Mergus, Verlag für Natur- und Heimtierkunde GmbH, Melle, Germany. 1216 p.
Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
ScotCat Factsheet no. 161. Nov. 2009.
Marceniuk P. Alexandre & Menzes A. Naircio. Systematics of the family Ariidae (Ostariophysi, Siluriformes), with a redefinition of the genera (Zootaxa 1416) 126 pp.; 30 cm. 2007.