# Shark like fish



## incrisis

I have been asked by someone about pet sharks, I told him that he would be lucky to get an actual shark as a pet and told him there are some small things that look like sharks.

Can anyone tell me what they are called?

Also I think the person who asked me is a bit of a plank, so I don't want to give him any ideas about trying to get a proper shark, even though it might be fun to feed him to a shark :bash:


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## shell2909

isnt a cat fish part of the shark family


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## incrisis

shell2909 said:


> isnt a cat fish part of the shark family


I have no idea, what I know about fish you could write in big letters on the back of a stamp. I don't even like eating them. :lol2:

I know my local aquatics place has some grey things that look a little like a small shark, and I think they have shark in the name, but don't know what they are.


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## Corsetts

There are freshwater fish called sharks, the Red tailed Black shark is probably the best known.
Even these are best avoided though as they get aggressive in community tanks.

If he's on about proper marine sharks, the bamboo sharks are probably the most frequently available although even the likes of Black tip reef sharks are sometimes available.
Obviously with sharks, unless you have a system of many thousands of gallons, it's just not even remotely humane to attempt to keep one.

HTH

Chris


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## incrisis

Corsetts said:


> There are freshwater fish called sharks, the Red tailed Black shark is probably the best known.
> Even these are best avoided though as they get aggressive in community tanks.
> 
> If he's on about proper marine sharks, the bamboo sharks are probably the most frequently available although even the likes of Black tip reef sharks are sometimes available.
> Obviously with sharks, unless you have a system of many thousands of gallons, it's just not even remotely humane to attempt to keep one.
> 
> HTH
> 
> Chris


Thanks for the info, but I really want to steer him off the idea of getting a fish that will grow quite big as I know he doesn't have the space.

I just recalled seeing these other fish that looked like sharks but were only a few inches long so thought I would send him down that route instead


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## Corsetts

Is it freshwater though? those sharks do look a little like sharks (big dorsal fin) but only stay small (4" or so IIRC) it's just that they get aggressive with other fish.

Other than those, I don't know of any fish that look like sharks and I'm a real anorak when it comes to fish :blush: :lol2:

cheers

Chris


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## incrisis

Corsetts said:


> Is it freshwater though? those sharks do look a little like sharks (big dorsal fin) but only stay small (4" or so IIRC) it's just that they get aggressive with other fish.
> 
> Other than those, I don't know of any fish that look like sharks and I'm a real anorak when it comes to fish :blush: :lol2:
> 
> cheers
> 
> Chris


Yeah I am sure it is freshwater, I have had a google at the red tailed black shark and that isn't what I saw, but I will tell him about them.

As I said earlier, I have no idea about fish, I used to own goldfish once but the cat decided to go fishing one day :blush:


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## Corsetts

Sorry bud, I've drawn a blank on that then :surrender:

Good luck in your hunt :2thumb:

cheers

Chris


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## _jake_

Ahh, sounds like the Silver shark or Bala. Great little fish, get about 8" i believe, generally peaceful. If he wants a shark fish, id recommend the Red-tailed as they are peaceful fish with the right set-up and tank mates. Tank mates should be relativley fast swimming, (tetra's, Danios) or big fish, but none predatry. I've had RTBS in with guppies, no problem, they really are peaceful fish, just due to their name they are automatically given this 'reputation'. But you can get the odd one that is very aggressive, but never aggressive enough to kill a fish.


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## mike515

herpmad_boi said:


> Ahh, sounds like the Silver shark or Bala. Great little fish, get about 8" i believe, generally peaceful. If he wants a shark fish, id recommend the Red-tailed as they are peaceful fish with the right set-up and tank mates. Tank mates should be relativley fast swimming, (tetra's, Danios) or big fish, but none predatry. I've had RTBS in with guppies, no problem, they really are peaceful fish, just due to their name they are automatically given this 'reputation'. But you can get the odd one that is very aggressive, but never aggressive enough to kill a fish.


 
Silver sharks get much bigger than 8". I believe the biggest ever caught was around 19". 12" is a common size in tanks though. Plus they are a shoaling fish so you'd need a decent group of fish. So big tanks are a must.

Red tails are alright with medium sized fish. They need their own space though so a good sized tank is needed with no small fish.


There's a few fish around that have a shark look, pangasius catfish are known as shark catfish, but get huge and tend to be happier in groups (some species will live singuarly but the majority will shoal when stressed. Not really a good idea though unless you have a massive tank.


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## _jake_

Wooops, my mistake..


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## gazz

Fish with shark in there name.

Hi-finned shark.









Cigar shark.









Red tail black shark.









Ruby shark.









Colombian shark catfish.









Pangasius shark catfish.









Black shark.









Silver shark.









Non of the above are what you would call small.

As far as i'm aware there are no true shark that you can get for a tank that are freshwater.There are some true sharks for marie tanks though.

There is a relitive to the shark that is freash water quite common these days.

Freshwater sting ray would be the closeist to a freah water shark.








Again not small fish.


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## incrisis

The silver shark is what I saw in my local fish place, how big do they grow?


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## gazz

incrisis said:


> The silver shark is what I saw in my local fish place, how big do they grow?


I beleave they can max out at about 16 inch's.


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## mike515

gazz said:


> I beleave they can max out at about 16 inch's.


 
potentially a bit bigger than that. Realistically they tend to max out at 12" but need the company of their own species in a good sized group (min 5/6) so you'd be looking at a 6 foot tank minimum for full grown adults


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## hadgo

The is a fish called silver shark which i had its big though but not as big as a real shark:mf_dribble: but i dont know if they would eat other fish pobs if they were guppy size and they were fully grown.
I have a small tank and mine wernet that big but you would need a big tank.
They are friendly and easy to feed and they pair up with loaches for some funny reason haha.

I think theyre calld bala shark aswell so i hope thats what ur looking for anyway.


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## alpharoyals

hadgo said:


> I think theyre calld bala shark aswell so i hope thats what ur looking for anyway.


Bala Shark and Silver Shark are the same thing, I had a few before, they can be very skitty and bash into your heater and crack it if your not careful. They dont grow too fast tbh and your can buy them very small to start with.


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## squirl

I would deffinately advise against pangasius spp. they get over a metre and they are generaly skittish as they are from fast flowing areas. all of the other fish with the word shark in the name are generally Cyprinids. other than rays which are too an elasmobranch, the closest you could get to a fresh water actual shark would be a bull shark, but i wouldnt reccomend that hehe. there is actualy a species that slightly resembles a shark but their not that easy to come by and their usualy around £50+ its a Cetopsis coecutiens, an amazonian catfish. in my opinion thats the closest looking.
cheers 
squirl

Just to add, the hi-fin shark (Myxocyprinus asiaticus) that gaz posted on the pictures would require a defra licence as their a temperate water fish, if any1 was thinking about buying 1.


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## carpy

shell2909 said:


> isnt a cat fish part of the shark family


err - no. you serious?


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