Pangasianodon hypophthalmus • Pangasiidae • Cat-eLog

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	**Pangasianodon hypophthalmus** (Steindachner, 1878)
Common Name(s)	Iridescent Shark, Pla Sawai
Type Locality	Laos, Indo-China
Synonym(s)	Helicophagus hypophthalmus, Pangasius hypophthalmus, Pangasius sutchi
Pronunciation	Pang ah see ah naw don - hi poff thal muss
Etymology	The generic name is derived from Pangasius + an (Greek for without)+odon (Greek for tooth); in reference to the toothless state of the adult fish.
Species Information
Size	1300mm (51.2") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	An albino variety is also, commonly, available.
Sexing	Males have darker stripes and are more slender than females. It is unclear at what stage this becomes evident.
Habitat Information
Distribution	Southeast Asia: Known from the Mekong, Chao Phraya, and perhaps Mekong basins (Thailand, Laos, Kampuchea, and Viet Nam). Introduced into additional river basins for aquaculture. Mekong (click on these areas to find other species found there) Thailand Waters, Chao Praya (click on these areas to find other species found there) (Click the map-icon to show/hide map of species distribution)
pH	6.5 - 7.5
Temperature	22.0-26.0°C or 71.6-78.8°F (Show others within this range)
Husbandry Information
Feeding	Youngsters are more carnivorous than adults. Bloodworm and catfish tablets are best at first, moving onto shrimp and spinach cubes as the fish get larger. Ultimately any primarily vegetable based floating pellet foods.
Furniture	As little as possible, this fish needs space. Floating plants will reduce this fishes skittishness.
Compatibility	Peaceful; can be kept with smaller fish, although this fishes extreme nervousness will affect what fish you can keep with it.
Suggested Tankmates	Large active fish, the bigger barbs, Labeo ''sharks'', Loricariids, Pacu.
Breeding	Unknown and probably impossible in the confines of a home aquarium. Is commercially bred for the aquarium trade in large ponds.
Further Information
Registered Keepers	(1) arapaima, (2) Daniel Machado, (3) cats4me, (4) kntrygrl4lyfe (k: 3), (5) hatecrew24/7, who also notes: " got 1 of these, its still a small fish.", (6) fishie650, (7) bukster, (8) Plank, (9) Gurytza_ta (k: 2), (10) unkaface, (11) puner, (12) GoGoCactus, (13) RedTail Cat, (14) rosemarydawn, (15) ichhater, (16) Young_Yacht, (17) Koltsix, (18) Plunt, (19) mini-fée, (20) mante-religieuse, who also notes: "I had 2 for almost a year,one died 2 days ago.It was healthy,died from an unknow desease...now keeping just one(will not add another one)", (21) kubastanik, (22) GixxerBabe, (23) necrocanis, (24) doesdavid, (25) Simonh1, (26) dragonfish, (27) Arherp (p: 5), (28) Reginator (k: 2), (29) wwajfd (k: 2), (30) anglerfishuk, (31) AU_Arowana-RG, (32) Sumners83, (33) PangasiusSutchi37 (k: 5), (34) Viktor Jarikov, who also notes: "active swimmer but often along the glass wall, up and down, good eater when not picked on; peaceful but gets nervous often, sometimes darts", (35) jscoggs27, (36) eggy080, (37) roadkingray, (38) d3n2 (k: 4), (39) Mqktandy, (40) 000, who also notes: "1st fish excluding when I was younger Named Monsieur Vite (is much quicker than I ever expected)", (41) Mezel, who also notes: "I made a mistake getting this one, it was one of thouse ( it looked like a cool cat and i just had to have it) impulse buys. Like the common pleco, a real tank buster. I plane on building a 500 gallon tank in my spare room. I justt hope i can get it build before he busts mt 50 gallon...", (42) clarenas, (43) kemozabi, (44) arapaimag (k: 3), (45) TheInfamous, who also notes: "While still a juvenile is very active, rarely hides and gets along with my other cats. Very fun.", (46) kp90, (47) Margie, who also notes: "Got him as a 3 inch rescue in 2001. Moved him 3/5/12 from 210 to 1000 gallon indoor pond. On 6/5/12 he has grown another 3 inches since 3/5/12.", (48) agusmeteor (k: 18), (49) luv4bigcats, (50) mickeymygrey, (51) Pcpolo111, (52) Ysori (k: 2), (53) booitsme3109 (k: 3). Click on a username above to see all that persons registered catfish species. You can also view all "my cats" data for this species.
Breeding Reports	None.
Articles	- CotM 1998 August
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Hits	68182 hits.
Last Update	2010 Feb 14 13:23 (species record created: 2001 Apr 24 00:00)

Cat-eLog Data Sheet

Scientific Name

Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (Steindachner, 1878)

Common Name(s)

Iridescent Shark, Pla Sawai

Type Locality

Laos, Indo-China

Synonym(s)

Helicophagus hypophthalmus, Pangasius hypophthalmus, Pangasius sutchi

Pronunciation

Pang ah see ah naw don - hi poff thal muss

Etymology

The generic name is derived from Pangasius + an (Greek for without)+odon (Greek for tooth); in reference to the toothless state of the adult fish.

Species Information

Size

1300mm (51.2") SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.

Identification

An albino variety is also, commonly, available.

Sexing

Males have darker stripes and are more slender than females. It is unclear at what stage this becomes evident.

Habitat Information

Distribution

Southeast Asia: Known from the Mekong, Chao Phraya, and perhaps Mekong basins (Thailand, Laos, Kampuchea, and Viet Nam). Introduced into additional river basins for aquaculture.
Mekong (click on these areas to find other species found there)
Thailand Waters, Chao Praya (click on these areas to find other species found there)

(Click the map-icon to show/hide map of species distribution)

6.5 - 7.5

Temperature

22.0-26.0°C or 71.6-78.8°F (Show others within this range)

Husbandry Information

Feeding

Youngsters are more carnivorous than adults. Bloodworm and catfish tablets are best at first, moving onto shrimp and spinach cubes as the fish get larger. Ultimately any primarily vegetable based floating pellet foods.

Furniture

As little as possible, this fish needs space. Floating plants will reduce this fishes skittishness.

Compatibility

Peaceful; can be kept with smaller fish, although this fishes extreme nervousness will affect what fish you can keep with it.

Suggested Tankmates

Large active fish, the bigger barbs, Labeo ''sharks'', Loricariids, Pacu.

Breeding

Unknown and probably impossible in the confines of a home aquarium. Is commercially bred for the aquarium trade in large ponds.

Further Information

Registered Keepers

(1) arapaima, (2) Daniel Machado, (3) cats4me, (4) kntrygrl4lyfe (k: 3), (5) hatecrew24/7, who also notes: " got 1 of these, its still a small fish.", (6) fishie650, (7) bukster, (8) Plank, (9) Gurytza_ta (k: 2), (10) unkaface, (11) puner, (12) GoGoCactus, (13) RedTail Cat, (14) rosemarydawn, (15) ichhater, (16) Young_Yacht, (17) Koltsix, (18) Plunt, (19) mini-fée, (20) mante-religieuse, who also notes: "I had 2 for almost a year,one died 2 days ago.It was healthy,died from an unknow desease...now keeping just one(will not add another one)", (21) kubastanik, (22) GixxerBabe, (23) necrocanis, (24) doesdavid, (25) Simonh1, (26) dragonfish, (27) Arherp (p: 5), (28) Reginator (k: 2), (29) wwajfd (k: 2), (30) anglerfishuk, (31) AU_Arowana-RG, (32) Sumners83, (33) PangasiusSutchi37 (k: 5), (34) Viktor Jarikov, who also notes: "active swimmer but often along the glass wall, up and down, good eater when not picked on; peaceful but gets nervous often, sometimes darts", (35) jscoggs27, (36) eggy080, (37) roadkingray, (38) d3n2 (k: 4), (39) Mqktandy, (40) 000, who also notes: "1st fish excluding when I was younger Named Monsieur Vite (is much quicker than I ever expected)", (41) Mezel, who also notes: "I made a mistake getting this one, it was one of thouse ( it looked like a cool cat and i just had to have it) impulse buys. Like the common pleco, a real tank buster. I plane on building a 500 gallon tank in my spare room. I justt hope i can get it build before he busts mt 50 gallon...", (42) clarenas, (43) kemozabi, (44) arapaimag (k: 3), (45) TheInfamous, who also notes: "While still a juvenile is very active, rarely hides and gets along with my other cats. Very fun.", (46) kp90, (47) Margie, who also notes: "Got him as a 3 inch rescue in 2001. Moved him 3/5/12 from 210 to 1000 gallon indoor pond. On 6/5/12 he has grown another 3 inches since 3/5/12.", (48) agusmeteor (k: 18), (49) luv4bigcats, (50) mickeymygrey, (51) Pcpolo111, (52) Ysori (k: 2), (53) booitsme3109 (k: 3).

Click on a username above to see all that persons registered catfish species. You can also view all "my cats" data for this species.

Breeding Reports

None.

Articles