Columbian Shark

General information

These fish have a high dorsal fin and long whiskers, they are elongated and silver with a white belly and black fins with white tips. They can reach 14 inches. To keep these fish in captivity, water pH should be between 7.0 and 7.5 and water temperature should range from  74ºF to 79ºF. The aquarium should have rocks, a dark substrate and caves. Some aquarium salt should be added to the tank, as they grow older more salt should be added until it becomes a marine environment.

This species is omnivorous. They can be fed with sinking catfish pellets, bloodworms and algae wafers.

Columbian sharks are paternal mouthbrooders. They spawn in the sea, there the males incubate the eggs in their mouths, swim into coastal rivers and release the fry. Fry spend their early life stages in the river and then migrate to the sea. Because of this migration between freshwater and seawater it is hard to reproduce this species in captivity since it is hard to replicate the necessary conditions.

This species can be found from Mexico to Peru. They inhabit tidal lagoons and estuaries.