How to care for your new shovelnose catfish with pictures

LA Pic
Underside view of four-inch lima (hockey stick) shovelnose. Severe under bite. You can see how that wide mouth became called a shovel.

LA Pic
Shovelnose catfish -- much more active than the tiger shovelnose. Theoretically grows to two feet. Sorubim lima used to be the most common shovelnose.

LA Pic
He ignores the large goldfish below him. Goldfish mix well with shovelnoses but eat all the non-feeder fish we try to feed the nosers -- especially worms.

LA Pic
Nice full bellies. When you see them in their typical "heads up position," you see where they get their "hockey stick" name. We never quite caught it on film. Most of the limas are now coming in as tank raised. Just a guess, but we assume these guys come from Peru.

LA Pic
7-incher hanging out under a power filter.

LA Pic
10-inchers eat goldfish.

LA Pic
Tiger shovelnose at two inches. These guys are also coming in as tank raised. They're stronger than the wild caught guys but also smaller. They're getting much more affordable.

LA Pic
Three incher full of feeder white clouds. We never know what species we'll get when we order tiger shovelnose catfish. This could be Hemisorubim platyrhychas. If it is, it grows to 20 inches. There's more than one type of spotted shovelnoses out there.

LA Pic
Seven-inch tiger shovelnose. Could be Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum. The description fits.

LA Pic
20-inch tiger shovelnose (with appetite). Raw wound on caudal peduncle from 24-inch snakehead. Much smaller mouth and more numerous but thinner bars.

LA Pic
About a month later he really whacked the wall. Not the first time. He's a fast healer. Totally different mouth on the big guy. Will the real Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum please stand up?

LA Pic
Another spotted shovelnose catfish, three inches. Sold to us as a cross between a South American red-tail catfish and a tiger shovelnose. Really a Sorubimichthys planiceps.

LA Pic
Really a pretty fish but not a cross. Could be a Sorubimichthys planiceps.

LA Pic
Same fish in a regular aquarium. Pretty fish. We've probably set back your knowledge of shovelnose catfish several years. But that's okay. Some one will look thru a bunch of pickled shovelnoses and change all their names anyway. Our computers help us make our mistakes much faster these days.

Justin William Vickrey, April 1, 2009
Hey Aqualand, I love your website and a lot of the information you have on your site is very good. However, on your shovelnose page you have "Another spotted shovelnose catfish, three inches. Sold to us as a cross between a South American red-tail catfish and a tiger shovelnose. Really a Sorubimichthys planiceps." It actually is a red tailed cat tiger shovel nose hybrid. S. planiceps has a white stripe down the middle but also has a brown stripe below the white. The RTCxTSN hybrid has the color attributes of the RTC, which as you know has a white belly.
These are two good websites to compare the two:
RTCxTSN hybrid
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=304
S. planiceps
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=122
Thought you guys should know, because these hybrids are becoming more and more common in the hobby. Thanks,

A: Yup. I wrote that page back in 2004 when they first started appearing in Des Moines. I've seen dozene of them since then. Thanks for updating my page for me. LA

	Pictures of Your New Shovelnose Catfish Aqualand's info on some shovelnose species.

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LA Pic Probably more diurnal than nocturnal. Eats well. LA Pic He ignores the large goldfish below him. Goldfish mix well with shovelnoses but eat all the non-feeder fish we try to feed the nosers -- especially worms. LA Pic Nice full bellies. When you see them in their typical "heads up position," you see where they get their "hockey stick" name. We never quite caught it on film. Most of the limas are now coming in as tank raised. Just a guess, but we assume these guys come from Peru. LA Pic Sorubim limas really love 0.5-inch sections of nightcrawlers. LA Pic Even at three inches, Sorubims love rosy reds. LA 2.5 incher full of rosy reds. LA Pic 7-incher hanging out under a power filter. LA Pic 10-inchers eat goldfish. LA Pic Foot longers prefer more goldfish. LA Lots of cichlids lurking in the back. LA Pic Tiger shovelnose at two inches. These guys are also coming in as tank raised. They're stronger than the wild caught guys but also smaller. They're getting much more affordable. LA Pic Three incher full of feeder white clouds. We never know what species we'll get when we order tiger shovelnose catfish. This could be Hemisorubim platyrhychas. If it is, it grows to 20 inches. There's more than one type of spotted shovelnoses out there. LA Pic Some shovelnose catfish are good at hiding in the floating watersprite. LA Pic Another three-incher hiding from a kribensis. LA Pic At three inches, they chow on pellets. LA Pic At four inches they stuff their guts with goldfish. LA Pic Cool schoolers. LA Pic Or keep yours as a single. LA Pic Five-inch tiger shovelnose. Different species altogether. LA Pic Seven-inch tiger shovelnose. Could be Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum. The description fits. LA Pic Same guys after rosy red rations. Note those bellies. LA Pic 20-inch tiger shovelnose (with appetite). Raw wound on caudal peduncle from 24-inch snakehead. Much smaller mouth and more numerous but thinner bars. LA Pic Same guy getting along great with this Pimodella maculatus. LA Pic About a month later he really whacked the wall. Not the first time. He's a fast healer. Totally different mouth on the big guy. Will the real Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum please stand up? LA Pic We put some inch-long convicts in there for food. They chewed on him. LA Pic Another spotted shovelnose catfish, three inches. Sold to us as a cross between a South American red-tail catfish and a tiger shovelnose. Really a Sorubimichthys planiceps. LA Pic They must like the taste of each other's dorsal fins. LA Pic Really a pretty fish but not a cross. Could be a Sorubimichthys planiceps. LA Pic Same fish in a regular aquarium. Pretty fish. We've probably set back your knowledge of shovelnose catfish several years. But that's okay. Some one will look thru a bunch of pickled shovelnoses and change all their names anyway. Our computers help us make our mistakes much faster these days. Justin William Vickrey, April 1, 2009 Hey Aqualand, I love your website and a lot of the information you have on your site is very good. However, on your shovelnose page you have "Another spotted shovelnose catfish, three inches. Sold to us as a cross between a South American red-tail catfish and a tiger shovelnose. Really a Sorubimichthys planiceps." It actually is a red tailed cat tiger shovel nose hybrid. S. planiceps has a white stripe down the middle but also has a brown stripe below the white. The RTCxTSN hybrid has the color attributes of the RTC, which as you know has a white belly. These are two good websites to compare the two: RTCxTSN hybrid http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=304 S. planiceps http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=122 Thought you guys should know, because these hybrids are becoming more and more common in the hobby. Thanks, LA 5-inch shovelnose X red-tail cross -- bit bleached out over the white sand. A: Yup. I wrote that page back in 2004 when they first started appearing in Des Moines. I've seen dozene of them since then. Thanks for updating my page for me. LA LA Pix Just a reminder that little ones love pieces of nightcrawlers. LA And the big ones eat some very large fishes. Mix them carefully. LA © 2004, © 2006 LA Productions 3600 Sixth Avenue Corner of Sixth & Euclid Avenues Des Moines, IA 50313 515 283-0300 Home Fish Other Stuff	Anabantids Betta Leaf Betta Breed 1 Betta Breed II Betta Info Betta Housing Betta Pla Kat Choc Gourami Climbing Perch Gourami Pix Kiss. 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