Origin: The parents of this Banded Hifin Shark lived in the Yangtze River Basin in China.

Where pollution, dams, and other human activities have greatly reduced the numbers of this fish.

So they're now being cultivated by skillful fish farmers and sold as pets for aquariums all over the world.

Maximum Size: They can grow to be about 50" long, which is much-much too big for home aquariums.

So if you get one and take very good care of it with excellent water and premium foods, it will most likely outgrow your aquarium and will need to live in a large pond.

Behaviors: this is a rather inactive swimmer that's not aggressive.

Compatibility: When small they can be kept with non-aggressive cool water fish such as White Clouds, Rosy Barbs, Goldfish, and Koi of about the same size.

Later when larger they can be kept in ponds that don't get too cold in the winter with Goldfish and Koi.

Click here to read more about compatible groups of pet fish.

Temperature: they can live pretty well from about 60 to 78-degrees F., but they're probably most comfortable at about 68 to 72-degrees F.

Usually they can live in aquariums without heaters.

Click here to learn about aquarium temperature, aquarium thermometers, and aquarium heaters.

Feeding: Premium Fish Food Flakes when small and Premium Pellet Food when larger.

Click here to learn more about and shop online for premium fish foods.

Water Conditions: Hifin Sharks seem to be tolerant of a wide range of water conditions.

Probably a pH of about 7 with moderate hardness is best.

Most water in the US seems to be OK, so it's probably best NOT to adjust the pH or the hardness of the water.

Click here for a lot more information about aquarium water conditions.

Aquarium Size: When young and less than 3" long, it's probably best to house one in at least a 30-gallon aquarium, but bigger is better.

They'll soon need a 50 to 60-gallon aquarium. Then an aquarium with 100-gallons, 150-gallons, 200, 300, and finally a large pond will probably be best for them.

Decor: they do not need gravel, and a layer of gravel more than 1/4" thick will usually fill with bits of uneaten food that will contaminate the water.

Click here for more about aquarium gravel.

Live Plants: are beautiful and improve the water quality, but the plants will be bulldozed as these guys look everywhere for food.

Click here for more about live Aquarium Plants.

Aquarium Filter: Bio-Wheel Filters are highly recommended.

A Penguin 200B Filter in an aquarium with 30-gallons of water is OK, when they're small, but a Penguin 350B Filter is the right size for a 30 to 50-gallon aquarium.

Soon they'll need bigger and bigger aquariums with more and more filtration.

Click here to learn more about aquarium filters.

The addition of Lava Rocks will keep nitrates in the ideal range. Click here to learn more about using Lava Rocks in aquariums.

Life Span: Banded Hifin Sharks can live for many years in fact more than 20-years with excellent water and premium food.

Gender: It's not easy to tell the males from the females, when they're young and sometimes, even as they mature.

As females mature they often fill with eggs and become plumper, which may be a clue to their gender, but difficult to see in a pond.

Breeding: rarely bred, except by professionals with large ponds, and we are not aware of any reports.

Popularity: in spite of the comments above about their eventual size, Banded Hifin Sharks are rather popular.

We like to tell our customers what we know about each type of fish, and then let each customer decide which fish to buy as pets.

Names: The scientific name of Banded Hifin Sharks is Myxocyprinus asiaticus.

This fish has many other common names, which can be found on the internet by doing a search for their scientific name, given just above.

Variations: there are no variations that we know of now.

We hope you've enjoyed reading these comments.

DrTom - 12/29/2014