Will my ID be ok in a 260 litre / 94.12 US gallon tank for two years?

HI everyone!
A relative recently gave us what she was told was a "catshark, that wouldn't grow too big for her 3 foot long tank" - she felt it wasn't fitting in with her other fish as it hid all the time.
After a bit of research, I have learned to my horror that the little guy is an ID shark. Nargh! This was not in the plan! As mentioned in another thread, my husband and I are setting up a four foot long tank in January. I'll be putting our ID in there ASAP.
My question is, can he stay in there for a couple of years? I can plant/light it according to his needs.

New tank will be 260 litres capacity (that's 78.4 UK gallons and 94.12 US gallons); glass, bow fronted, 121 cm long by 64 cm high and 46 cm front to back; and comes with a Fluval 305 external canister filter, heater and GLO T5 High Output Lighting.

We are moving house in 2013 and we figure on building an indoor pool for him in a heated fish room. We have to move anyway because I have a degenerative joint condition that means I will need a bungalow. Since we both love fish ( and animals in general), a fish room seems logical.
Any tips/advice welcome. If need be, I can buy a plastic pool and set it up as a temporary home for him.
arky

 

To put it bluntly, NO. The id shark can get to 4 feet and can literally break your tank. The last thing you want is 260 litres of water on your floor believe me.

Nick

 

Plastic pool in the back room it is then...

 

I know he'll get to four foot, and I was planning on monitoring his growth rate. I figured we could put him in the 260 for starters and then move him to a plastic pool once he started getting up in size. He's just reached four inches - that's two inches in a month, so about half an inch a week.
52 weeks times one half is 26 inches in a year...that would put him at two and a half feet by this time next year. Of course he'll probably be like the baby mollies and grow at three or four times that rate...
So I guess we'll need the pool by around Easter, just to be safe.

BTW, the ID in question is currently very settled and showing no signs of stress. He shoals with the other fish (he'll probably see them as food when he's bigger) and is eating a variety of foods. Our pleco shares the bubble stream from the air stone with him at night; they both chill out in the current together.
If I could return him I would, but she bought him in a store which is now closed and my own LFS doesn't want him. Short of managing to find a new home (highly unlikely) for our giant to be, it's either kill him or keep him. And I would rather keep upgrading tank size to suit him than kill him.

 

If you can house him in a pool that would be great but what you need to remember is the longer he is in a small tank the more chance he has of being stunnted, which means his body will stop growing but his internal organs won't thus a slow and painfull death. Just a thought.

Nick

 

:'(Yeah, I know.
I am furious that they sell these fish as pets. Still, we will do everything we can to stay ahead of his growth.

 

Oh, it says in your sig that you have a featherfin. So do we - they are very fun fish! Took ours' ages to get used to us walking by the tank. Now they come out for attention!

So, do you have any tips for moving him as he gets bigger? At the moment, he just swims up and into the net, but I doubt that this will remain the case! Do they even make nets that size? Maybe for angling - would one of those be ok?

 

Yeah I have a featherfin, he is about 6and a half inches at the mo and built like a tank. He is the boss of the tank even though my black shark is bigger than he is.

You should be able to get a large net or even a tupperware style lunch box to catch him until he is about a foot long, ater that i'm not sure. Fully grown I would use a 42" landing net, the type used for carp fishing. Be carefull though as they are awfully skittish.

Nick

 

Thanks

 

260 litres = 68 US gallons, not 94. And when we talk about gallons, we are talking about US, not UK.

 

Converter no work properly...

 

hahah you are stuck in sticky situation... pool could work, but for 2 years..idk and that tank will probly last him a unhappy year ,so maybe you have a fellow hobbyist that hold him ( that would be a big favor though) ....hmm let get back to you

 

Great news! I found a LFS that will take him - they have customers that only keep really big fish and are confident of rehoming him properly. Now I just have to catch him...