getting a shark for a new tank

[nickfox45]

Don' worry about the shark he will get food at any cost, lol.

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i plan on getting a pleco as well just to keep things clean, will the shark(not sure of species, lets assume a black red finned shark) be aggressive towards him since its kinda similar to his body shape. i guess i could get around that by making the pleco much bigger than him.

are shark cats out of the question with the red finned shark? my LFS has them but i cant seem to find their profile on here...

 

[nickfox45]

after feeding my tiger barbs this morning, i definitely want to get a shark. one of the barbs has established himself as the jerk of the tank, chasing around the other 5 to no end. i just want a shark to come in there and bust him up! looks like i gotta wait a few weeks before the bully can turn into the bullied!

 

[WILDER]

Probably settle down, sorting a pecking order out.

 

[nickfox45]

Probably settle down, sorting a pecking order out.

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yea ive noticed the biggest one is just picking on the three other medium size ones, but he leaves the two smallest ones alone. but it was sweet earlier when two of the medium ones started fighting back and chased him away for a few minutes!

 

[@ombomb]

Shark Cats (could be pretty much anything) GENERARLLY turn out to be Irredescent Sharks which are monsters really not suitable for a home aquarium. A plec should be fine with a RTBS, as you're not really going to find many plecs that are really very shark-like. The thing with RTBSs is that they have very individual personalities. You can't simply say "All RTBSs are aggressive" they aren't, unfortunately you certainly can't say "all RTBSs are good community fish". You need to remember that they only really show their true aggression when they mature so it's going to be hard to tell what sort of temperament your's has.

Personally I got lucky. I bought mine with no real idea of their reputation and it has lived happily in a community for the last 5 years without showing any more than passing irritation towards the odd clown loach. She's a bit grumpy at times, but as long as nothing else is in her spot she's happy to let the other fish do their thing, including a pair of SAEs which of all my fish are the two that would generally be thought of as at risk.

My advice would be to keep a close eye on your fish and get to know it (assuming you buy a RTBS) there is no sure rule that your fish will be a terror, but it is a possibility. Assuming you provide plenty of space for it to define a territory and enough space in the tank for the other fish to avoid that territory you'll probably be fine.

 

[kat and james]

we have one rtbs and three bala sharks, moving all our fish to a 170 gal asap, but at the moment the largest fish in teh tank (other than a galaxy plec) is the bala shark who is just over 2 inchs, the rtbs was showing a little aggression towards the two sharks when they were 'playing'/'mating' not too sure which it was .. but all has settled down now.. and he leaves everyone alone!
hopefully when he gets bigger, he'll still be nice and calm! in a tank of 170 gal there should be plenty of space for each fish to have thier own territory!! but we are still gonna keep a very close eye on him!
he has not even looked at the two plecs, on is quite a bit bigger than him, while the bn is about the same size, he isn't worried by them, and they aren't worrie dby him either!

 

[nickfox45]

thanks for the info. i got another 4 tiger barbs(for a total of 10) today along with 3 red tailed black sharks, all still very small. they all seem to be getting along well so far, but its only been a few hours. fingers crossed itll stay that way.

i can keep three sharks together right? my tank is 65 gallons.

 

[@ombomb]

i can keep three sharks together right? my tank is 65 gallons.

Absolutely 100% no! Two of them HAVE to go back to the shop.

 

[kat and james]

rtbs are quite aggressive, especially to fish of similar body form to themselves! when they get bigger they will become more territorial, and would imagine that the largest of the three would kill the other two! i think that if you want multiples of these fish you have to keep more than six... i may be wrong.. but i'm sure that's what i've read/been told!! sorry..

 

[@ombomb]

i think that if you want multiples of these fish you have to keep more than six... i may be wrong.. but i'm sure that's what i've read/been told!!

I have pretty serious doubts this would work and even then it would have to be a tank big enough for them all to establish their own territories and that would be a monster of an aquarium.

 

[nickfox45]

i was afraid of this. i'd read something like that here, but when i talked to the LFS guy yesterday he told me i should either get 1 or 3, so that the bully of the group would have 2 to take out his aggression on and not just one.

how long before they get really territorial? i've been reading that its as they get older and bigger, so how fast do these guys grow? maybe i can a place for the other two.

if anyone else has any thoughts on this, i'd really appreciate it

 

[kat and james]

i think that it is very differnt for each fish.. thing is if you keep them for awhile, you become attached, and then you don't want ot give it away.. it's better to deal with it now, rather than later.

 

[@ombomb]

Really as soon as they establish their own territories, they be aggressive towarsds their own kind and more likely to be aggressive towards other fish from about 3"+ They grow about in inch a year to max out about 5". Although they may keep plenty in a tank at the shop, none of them have the opportunity to form territorial boundries so aggression isn't a problem. You need to get rid of two asap, it's not a case of one being a bully, they will ALL see each other as a threat.

 

[WILDER]

Bad lfs advice again red tailed black sharks can only be kept on there own as they don't tolerate there own species.

 

[nickfox45]

Really as soon as they establish their own territories, they be aggressive towarsds their own kind and more likely to be aggressive towards other fish from about 3"+ They grow about in inch a year to max out about 5". Although they may keep plenty in a tank at the shop, none of them have the opportunity to form territorial boundries so aggression isn't a problem. You need to get rid of two asap, it's not a case of one being a bully, they will ALL see each other as a threat.

thanks for the detailed response. im gonna go back to the LFS today and talk to the guy about bringing two of them back. they have a no refund policy, but the guy has always been helpful to me before(helped me fix my filter for no charge), so im gonna ask him if he knew about this, and if he didnt, ill tell him. if he refuses to take them back, looks like he wont be getting my business anymore and ill just go to a different LFS. too bad this guy is right down the street, but if hes going to give me bad info, thats what i gotta do