Red tail black shark hes new at wont eat

[ccg]

UPDATE:

Well is has been a week or so since I got this guy, and I have yet to see him eat. However he does dig at the gravel and is not longer shy, He also had a white stomach when I got him but now he is all black. I assume he is eating something as he seems to be doing very well. I dont know how to use a camera, but this is the best I can do:

Hello everyone,

I recently got a Red tail black shark and he is about 5 inches long. He is very big, and appears to be very healthy.

I put him in my barb-only tank. He his now friends with 4 tiger barbs, 6 cherry, and 6 golden barbs. Everyone gets along well, although I cant get this guy to eat anything.

It is only the second day, so I shoudlnt be to worried yet, but not sure whats up. He has lots of hiding plces, and the other barbs go crazy when its feeding time, so he will kind of hide during this time. But even then, there is food right infront of him sometimes and he has no interest in it. Any suggestions?

I have tried flakes, frozen brine shrimp, live dew worms (other fish go insane for these), algae wafer, cucummber, shrimp pellets (very tiny, he could easily eat soemthing 10x the size of these). Not to sure what to do or try.

I have given him options but still no bite.

Thanks for any advice!

EDIT: I have also tried feeder guppies (they hide in the same clay put he does, and he still wont eat them

 

[LoachLover]

Well I don't think he would eat the guppies. Just give him a little more time.

 

[Ferris]

Yep, just needs some time to settle in, thats all.

 

[LoachLover]

Update us in a few days on how he's doing



And remember he might be eating when you're not watching.

 

[Zenn]

5 inches long you say

That is a fully grown RTB you know, some do get bigger, but thats normally what size they stop at, now depending on whether this RTB used to be another person that the store has taken in, or whether the RTB has been in the store a long time...

Fish do get depressed like humans because they grow up in a habitate for a while and grow acustom to their surrounding, now how would you feel to be taken away from where you had spent most of your life and put in with strange fish and in a new place with strange surroundings, he is probably depressed in one form or another, and his size suggests his age as well, you said you tried most of the foods that you can offer fish and he still wont take up on then, does he go scating around the tank, sucking on the glass and gravel and such?

If so he is still picking up food, but wont eat in large bulks such as algea wafers, i had a RTB that wouldnt eat while the other fish did, but waited for scraps to full in the gravel and then he would eat it later, or to let the fish eat while the algea wafer broke down and then he would come along and eat that by sucking it all in...

Does he have a home in the tank, like a thick dense of plants, or a cave, and also how well planted is your tank, RTB sharks love heavily planted tanks because it resembles their natural living habitate...

Also try a few other food

Here are a few you can try

Red raw meat (small slivers)
Cooked white meat
Chopped up earth worm (make sure it is clean)
White worm
Blood worm
Lettace
Peas
Black Mosquito larve
Hairless caterpilla's
water fleas

I can list more, but its a very big list

He might take up on the meaty factions of food, since they do len towards being carnivors, however a healthy balanced diet is reuquire, if you find something he will eat, he may in time start picking up the other foods as well, also try putting small bits of food where he lives...

You will also find RTB sharks are also most active at night, because they have blooming good eye sight in the dark and a extra advantage of track down food through thir good sense of smell and the two barbles on the top of the head



I hope this was of help to you, and i really hope you RTB sharks starts eating again

 

[ccg]

I posted how I got this fish in another thread and you get read this hear:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=86465

You only need to read the first bit to see how I got him. Anyhow, so the fish was taken full grown from his old home and ended up in my tank before he could make it to the LFS.

So there is a very good chance he is depresssed or very stressed from the move. I am not sure how old he is, but I he nearly 5 inches so I am guessing hes not to young. I feed my fish peas 2x a week, and they love them. I fed the other day and he had no interest, but maybe what I will try to do is make the room / tank darker somehow, so there is very little light, and I place some peas in his hiding places and see if he takes any.

As for the hiding places, he has one corner of the tank heavly planted with silk plants and he hangs out back there. He has has a clay put that is on its side and the front is like 90% coverd, with a little gap in the middle for him to go in, and he spends time in there as well. He seems a bit spooked whne the hood lights are on, and more active when they are off, and the room is still lit so he can still see. I am hoping he likes his new home, he seems to get along with all his tank mates.

He has calmed down a lot since I got him and he seems to be doing well over all other then the not eating anything. Also about him not wanting to eat guppies, I'm sure he will when he gets settled in, as both the golden and tiger barbs go crazy for them.

The camera batteries are charing right now, either tonight or tomorrow i'll learn how to post pics and try and get a good shot of him, he is a very nice looking fish.

Anyhow, thanks for the advice guys, i'll keep you all updated on how he makes out, maybe i'll try and make even more hiding places for him tonight, although he has plently.

 

[Katchan]

Some Red tails are more nocturnal tha others, also I almost never see my large red tail feed but since he's in great health I assume he does. My small one loves (and almost all my other fish for that matter) shelled cooked prawns in about 1cm cubes or small bits of cooked chicken leave in 12-24 hours the remove any remains

Katchan

 

[Fishist]

Just as said above, give him a few more days to settle in. My RTS likes algae disks which I break up into smaller pieces to avoid issues between him and other fish, then I remove the remains after 12 hours.

 

[ccg]

I did a water change today and he seemed to take that pretty well, he just hid in his pot the whole time. I have the hood lights off today as he seems to like that better and he is out and about picking at the gravel (first time he has ever done this) so hopefully he's finding something to nibble on.

 

[Zenn]

Yeah this means he is more nocturnal then, he probably feeds at night, if you feel that he aint gettng enough food, place some sinking tablets before you go to bed and that, i sure he will find his way around to it, but as you can see he is more active in the dark, i find that most RTB shark love the dark and are most active in the dark, because they feel they cant be seen because they are of course pitch balck themselves apart from their tails

 

[sylvia]

Just wandering about the feeder guppies - are these 1-2" fully grown fish or are you talking about fry? I can't imagine a tiger barb swallowing a full grown guppy

 

[ccg]

Sorry, these "feeder guppy" I am talking about are fry that are anywhere from a day old to a couple of weeks old. My mistake, I apologize.

They don't get them often, but when they do the fish go insane for them. They tiger and golden barbs search the entire tank looking for the ones that got a chance to hide. Funny thing is, its usually the cherry barbs that find them but tehy are to small to eat them, so they just follow the guppies around.

It is pretty funny to watch.

EDIT: One time while doing a water change, I found a guppy fry that had been in the tank for about 2 weeks! He somehow survived and didn't get eaten the entire time, talk about a lucky fish. I since removed him and let him grow out in my livebearer tank, he deserved it.

 

[Zenn]

Me myself, i am too soft hearted, i could never, ever, ever feed baby fry to fish on purpose, i always raise them and allow them the chance to live their entire lives (That is if they dont die of illness)

I guess i got a lucky pick the other day when i got me a new RTB shark, because he is more than ever out in the open scouting around the tank and getting along, though he is only a baby, i would say he is a inch long, and he seems to rest at night, thats what we ment by these RTB sharks being different from one to the other, sometime thy will be aggressive, sometimes they will led peacful lives, some feed at night, some feed at daytime, some try to escape when give the chance, and other thinks, whats the point of a suicidal run for freedom

 

[squirrelrabbits]

I had a rts that wouldn't eat when I first got him. He would chase food, then lose interest and not actually follow through and eat. After a couple of weeks of hardly eating, he jumped out of the tank... so I would keep an eye on your guy. Let him settle in but also cover your access holes. It sounds like he's just having a tough transition.

 

[Zenn]

Sharks are jumpers, thats why in the research into sharks it always advises you to have the lid on and no open holes available at time and if you have the lid off, not to leave the tank unattended

Seriously, he might just feed at night, see my new Red tail black shark when ui first got him chased food but didnt eat it, but he is eating fine now, what gets me though, he is active from 7:00am til about 8:00pm, at 8 he goes to his cave and he sits there, not venturing from it, but all throughout the day he is all over the tank, swimming in the open water and such... Oh he is so adorable as well, i went for the smallest RTBshark they had in store and he is only a baby, i love watching them grow, he was skinny when i got mine, pointing out that he wasnt eating, but i got him eating and he is getting quite the belly on him now