Odd Red Tail Shark Behavior.. or not?

[heyimeugene]

Well.. I recently got this small Black Red Tail Shark... about 1.5 inches in length. He act's like the Ostrich birds in the cartoons just sticking his front end in the crack of a pile of rocks and stays there for hours... leaving his tail and a little bit of the body sticking out... is this normal?

I don't know if he's intimidated by the other fish... there are 2 guppy's, 2 zebra danio and 2 small blue gouramis... plenty of other hiding spots like a flat rock against the wall and plenty of vegetation... but he chooses to stick his head in a small pile of rocks all day... even with lights on or off..

If it's normal then okay... but if not what do I do?

-- EDIT --
He's not dead... he comes out every once in a while but spends most of the day in the pile of rocks...

 

[Curtiss]

How long have you had him? Judging from how pale his tail is he has not yet adapted to his new tank. Give him some time. He'll probably stop doing that once he has adjusted, and, his tail will turn a very pretty shade of red.

-Curtiss

 

[vmong]

hi man. my fish was also like that when i first got it, it kept hiding behind the filter, first thing i did was keep the light off because thats when he was hiding, then i got a candle thingy, it had lots of hole it was made of ceramics i think, and i placed it into the tank and he liked to play with it etc then everything was fine, but when he has settles down he bullies all the fish except the pleco he will retaliate and it will get nasty!!!

 

[judcoynehunter]

hi man. my fish was also like that when i first got it, it kept hiding behind the filter, first thing i did was keep the light off because thats when he was hiding, then i got a candle thingy, it had lots of hole it was made of ceramics i think, and i placed it into the tank and he liked to play with it etc then everything was fine, but when he has settles down he bullies all the fish except the pleco he will retaliate and it will get nasty!!!

i agree give him time and he will come out of his shell one i had was the same they like caves as far as i know and will set up a terriotry some where so they can hide and feel safe

that gravel is loud as smithrc comments below!!!

 

[smithrc]

He may not feel at all comfortable with the WHITE gravel (yep its that loud it shouts white)...
he's a dark fish and will try to hide somewhere as close to his colour when he's not happy....

Try to add a patch of draker substrate and see how he reacts.. he might like it in a corner with some cover for a while.

 

[DrOizo]

How new is the tank? Is it cycled? His very pale tail is a very good indicator of stress if he's new then his tail should be fairly pale but that is almost white!! Give him time and see how he does. At the moment hes trying to hide so get him a cave that he can actually fit into and then he will settle down what size tank is he in aswell?
HTH

 

[heyimeugene]

Thanks for the replies... it's been like 3 days now and he has finally come out and is enjoying the tank with the other fish. Yes the tank is cycled and its a 10 gallon tank. I know he's gunna get a little to big, that is why I'm contructing a 30 gallon acrylic tank in my garage... fun stuff maybe I'll post up some pictures later. BUt for now I'm just happy he isn't sticking his head in the pile of rocks. Yea, the white gravel maybe over does it a tad, so I'm going to goto the LFS and get some darker ones... maybe dark brown.. not sure atm. but thanks!

 

[Ruby Shark]

Hi

I know that he is doing better now but I just wanted to add something.
I believe that he was doing that either because he was stressed/scared or he was trying to establish a territory. Do you have a cave for him to hide in? Rtb sharks do better when they have something like that to retreat to and/or name their territory.