Agressive Shark

[mart609]

sorry this is my 1st post since the itroduction hope its in the right section

so the back story, i'll make it quick. when i was a kid my mom had a tropical tank, in it she had a red tail black, ever since i've wanted a tank and a red tail, as it was my favourite.
so about a month ago i got a tank, started off with a few neon tetras. then after a week started stocking with some other fish. (red tail shark, pleco, pakistani loach?, black ghost knifefish)
all was good. the guy at the shop did say some sharks can be a bit aggressive and just watch it with the neons, but he was fine.

then a couple of weeks back i decided to get a few more fish (2 angels, 2 silver dollars and a clown loach)

after a few days i noticed that the shark started getting really aggressive, chasing pretty much everything in the tank. even the pakistani loach and pleco, who he never bothered with before. except for the knifefish and a funnily enough the neon tetras (doesnt bother them at all)

well yesterday i got back from work and 1 of the angels had suddenly died. couldnt see any visible reasons for him dying, and that morning was feeding when i fed them and seemed fine.
so i think i've put it down to maybe stress from the shark?

the shark seems to be getting worse too. i'm thinking of maybe removing him and taking him back to the shop. hes 1 of my favourite fish, but i dont think its fair on the other fish in the tank

any suggestions?

 

[Malawi MaD]

Red tails sharks are notoriously known for there aggression, some people are lucky and have a placid red tail and some people are unfortunate enough to have a psycho that will chase everything/stress others out etc.. What size tank are all these fish in? If the tank is an adequate enough size then I'd say to remove him for your other fish's sake as you said.

 

[Hollywood1992]

(y)


I'm lucky as my red tailed shark is fairly placid (he just gets moody if another fish goes into his ship) But then again he is the only large bottom feeder- my others are small corys. The simplest thing to do would be to move the shark though....or upgrade to a larger tank

 

[england]

As stated mate, it really depends on the redtail shark, however there seems to be a few bottom dwellers in there, if you set up a tank right including the size then you can usually have a peaceful redtail, i find red tails need a large tank, atleast four foot, with only a few bottom dwellers, set up alot of caves etc and area's it can define as for its self, Could you please give a full discription of fish in the tank and what size the tank is L/W/D

 

[mart609]

thanks for the fast replies.

the tank is 31.5" x 16" x 11.5"

heres a quick pic of it i just took

 

[micko]

Your tank is seriously overstocked. The RTBS needs to go, along with the silver dollars which should be in groups of 6+ and the same for the clown loach.
The plec, black ghost knife also needs to go as they both grow far too big for your tank.
The pakistani loach needs to be in groups of 6+ also. Angels are also not suitable for your size of tank.

Give that fish shop a wide birth from now on or research the fish you buy before you go in as a fish shop will tell you anything to get a sale. Its business to them.

 

[england]

Theres your problem mate, tanks too small, as stated above, sorry

 

[mart609]

thats not good

so what kind of fish would you suggest for that sized tank?

we also have a Trigon 350 in the other room, which currently has coldwater fish in it. would that be more suitable?

 

[micko]

thats not good

so what kind of fish would you suggest for that sized tank?

we also have a Trigon 350 in the other room, which currently has coldwater fish in it. would that be more suitable?

I honestly don't know what I'd suggest for stock with this tank. The trigon would be better in terms of the fish you could put there, you could have your angels and rams. I'd rule out the BGK and the plec though if its a common plec. Silver dollars as I said need to be in groups of 6+ so they grow too big for the trigon as do the clown loach.
I wouldn't put the RTBS in the trigon as although its big enough in litres the style of a corner tank means its harder to get his own territory and can/will harass your fish to death. He's showing signs of doing it now but this could just be that he wants more space. If your considering moving your fish to the trigon what will you do with the others that are already in it? You would also need to increase your number in the angels.

 

[mart609]

thanks for the advice, thats what i get for not reseaching and trusting LFS
the trigon has goldfish in that we bred from 1 of our ponds outside, they can go back in the pond. we just liked looking at them in a tank.
looks like i'm going to save up for a nice big 6ft+ tank.

cheers for the help

 

[sanchez]

i have a 160 gal tank and has 27 fish with my red tail shark that i have had for 3 years.now im down to 13 fish and he is huge do they eat other fish?