Need Help!

[DSMchild]

Hello guys. Ok I am new to the whole fish keeping hobby and I have a question that I have searched over and over yet cannot find the answer to. First off I will list all the fish I have in my tank... BTW it is a 5 gallon but i am getting a 90 gallon this friday. They are also ALL juvenile.

-1 Iridescent Shark
-2 Red Fin/ Rainbow Sharks ( 1 is albino)
-1 Colombian Shark
-1 Leporinus Fasciatus aka Banded Leporinus
-1 Bala Shark
-1 Loach
-1 Pleco


Now I have read many places that once the Colombian Shark begins to reach maturity, it will need to be in brackish water (mixed with marine salt). I purchased all these fish from PetSmart and no one ever told me that they would need to be in saltwater and they were being sold out of tanks that were labeled tropical freshwater fish. I am concerned that the salt will kill all the other fish and if I don't add the salt, the Colombian Shark will die. The Colombian Shark is my favorite out of all of them so letting him go will be difficult. Can someone please tell me if I will need to get rid of my Colombian Shark or can the other fish survive in this type of water. Please respond ASAP because the store only gave me 14 days to return him and it has been about a week already. Thank you in advance.

 

[rewlyn]

you could always when you get your 90gal set it up as a freshwater tank and change your 5gal to salt, this way in the future you can upgrade your saltwater tank to whatever size you want and still get to keep all your fish.

 

[DSMchild]

Can't afford nor do I have the room for 2 huge tanks. Colombian Sharks need lots of swimming room.

 

[rewlyn]

ok then if you pm "SHELAGHFISHFACE" she should have an idea

 

[Bobtastic]

Well I guess you have 3 options. First is to take back the Colombia Shark, and setup the tank for the rest of the freshwater tropical fish that you have. Second is to take back the other fish and get some more brackish water liking fish and set the tank up that way. The third option is if you haven't cycled either of the tanks yet is to take all the fish back and spend the time cycling your tanks and investigating the fish that you would like to keep and the conditions they favour.

I'm only new to the hobby so I'm sure some of our much more experienced members will be able to give you some more concrete advice.

 

[Anna Robinson]

The Colombian shark will need a huge tank, though.

If you go for the freshwater set up, I would return the iridescent shark anyway - these reach about a metre long. They are not suitable for home aquariums. Bala sharks also grow very large, need a lot of swimming room, and prefer to be kept in groups - they are another species that is not suitable for most people. Rainbow sharks are territorial towards their own kind, so it would be better to keep just one of these, not two.