Boring rainbow shark

[wesa]

My rainbow shark is boring. He only comes out at night now, and he doesnt seem to want to do anything during the day. He's gotten pretty big now, 4 inches maybe and healthy looking. These dang guppies keep multiplying and he's supposed to be population control. He was a lot cooler when he used to actually swim around. My tank is 29 gallons and i just have lots of guppies, 2 big snails, and the shark. Are rainbow sharks nocturnal by the way?

 

[inflexion]

my rainbow shark is out all the time but he does like to hide in the castle some of the time and he has been known to disappear for a day as well so i guess that mine cant make his mind up.

mine is only about an inch though

 

[RedShark]

My Rainbow shark is about 4 inches as well and also very healthy. She is set up in a 30 gallon with two casltes and plenty of shaded planty areas to hide. She is always out and about slithering around like a sneaky little snake or something. Although that species are bottom dwellers, she doesnt seem to mind hanging around the top and middle of the tank as well. She probably thinks she has to keep all that territory to herself . She is very active and seen for the most part. contrary to what i've heard from everyone else.

 

[wesa]

I think ill get him some caves and plants for more cover . . . maybe that will encourage him to swim around

Oh, he's out now but it's like midnight

 

[dwarfgourami]

Your best bet may be to tweak your viewing times. I was really disappointed when my corys went from being out and playing all day to being nocturnal, but now I've started trying to make time to feed them and watch them just after lights out, and they are just as much fun.
As for the population control, it is annoying when fish don't do what you expect, but it seems to be really hard to predict how any individual is going to react, so fish are unreliable workers. We've just had this discussion on the livebearer forum: some people claim that guppies and platies do NOT eat their fry, others feel you have to lock mummy and daddy up if you ever want to hear the swishing of tiny fins. All down to individuals. Potentially very frustrating depending how you wanted them to act in the first place.

 

[Teelie]

My Red Tail which is a close relative, likes to hide but during feeding time or when he thinks it's feeding time (I keep it random), he comes out patrolling for food. I have a huge chunk of bogwood though for him to hide in so he's usually camped out in it where I can't see him. He takes cues from the more active gourami and clowns who see me and think "food!"

 

[wesa]

"some people claim that guppies and platies do NOT eat their fry"-i agree, i have a lot of fry and i've never seen them being eaten by their parents. I can keep netting the bigger guppies out but it's just about impossible to get all the fry