Red Tail Shark Vs. Black Ghost Knife...help!

[juiced1300]

I've been trying to find information on this topic but havent found a thread with it so here goes... I have a red tail shark and a black ghost knife fish, the BGF is roughly 6 to 7 inches long and the shark is probably 5 inches. Theres other fish in the aquarium but they all live in absolute peace, then theres these two. The ghost knife has his own cave/home and theres other ones for the shark as well but the shark will constantly taunt the ghost knife when he comes out to feed, its hard to tell if this is play or what but the more i watch the more i'm convinced the shark is being a bully and i'm considering pulling him from the tank. The ghost knife is very passive, never killed even the tinest guppy or ever nipped at my betta, he's really intelligent and will take food right out of my hand, but i have to put my hand near his cave since the shark will go nuts when he sees the ghost knife come out. At first i thought the shark wanted that cave, but i've put in other ones, bigger ones and yet he doesnt seem to give up. It was never the sharks cave since the ghost knife was here first and i've had him for years and the shark has been with me now for a good 3 years but i'm concerned the shark is just adding unneeded stress to the tank. Any ideas or advice?
~Vinny

 

[sophos9]

I have a RTBS and he seems to bully a selection of fish, he leaves the tetras, plecs and cockatoo cichlid and sometimes chases the Ottos, kribs and female cichlids... Usually it seems worse when he is cruising for food

All the other fish are much faster than him so he never touches them

I think its in their nature to be a bit bullish

 

[Miss Wiggle]

rtbs are very agrressive to fish that look similar to themselves, now obviously yo or i can tell the difference between a BGK and RTBS easily, however to him it's mroe than likely just a block of black fish, which is very close to himself.

these two fish are therefore not compatible and shouldn't be kept together.

 

[beechey]

my rtbs will torment any black fish.......

ps my rtbs killed my bgk

 

[Garbage]

Your RTS is gonna win that fight.

 

[juiced1300]

ok, so heres my next question. What can I do with my shark? Will a store take him? I dont care about whether they pay me or not, but at the same time I dont want this shark to live a bad life, after all its not his fault, and he's really beautiful, healthy and always well taken care of so i'm nervous about his well being too. I remember years ago (I live in Chicago) I had these awesome koi's and eventually they got so big that I was considering building a pond but ran into huge problems because of my under ground sprinkler system for my lawn, so I called the Shedd Aquarium downtown and they were more than happy to take my koi and keep them there. At least i knew they were gonna be in huge cold water tanks, and actually I found that they ended up breeding just a year later! So thats a happy ending, much more than if I just gave up on them and dropped them off at a pet shop, know what i mean?

 

[Garbage]

Any chance you could start another tank? Put him in there with cichlids? RTS do make great tankmates for cichlids.

 

[juiced1300]

I'd love to, but I just sold my house about 6 months ago and where i'm staying now isnt where I wanna stay for more than a year or so, so i'd hate to set up another tank here. When i get my new house I plan on setting up a 125 gallon for freshwater tropical and then a bigger tank for some bigger fishy's
I'm gonna have to see if i can find him a good home. I dont wanna resort to stores. I wonder if the Shed Aquarium would take him? I should find out.

 

[showjyr]

My rainbow shark used to pester my BGK all the time. After the Rainbow stopped growing at around 5 inches and the BGK had reached between 7 or 8 the tides turned, he won't even attemt to bother the BGK anymore and seems to be slightly affraid of him. If he really doesn't harm the BGK you may be able to wait it out until you can set up a bigger tank.

Others may say this is a bad idea but thats what i was told when i mixed 2 RTS and a Rainbow shark in the same 55gal tank and they are all very happy together.

 

[juiced1300]

I mean the red tail shark seems more to pester the ghost knife than hurt it, there isnt any nips on the BGK or anything that shows he's been "attacked", the red tail shark on the other hand has a couple war scars from when the BGK got sick of his antics and gave him a nip on the side of his body. It helps that the BGK has a house that he lives in, theres only one way in and out, its not a tube, so the shark cant get in there at all, but i feel bad that the ghost knife cant come out, even for a little bit without being chased back into his house.
Oddly, why doesnt the shark try to pester my pleco? its a very dark pleco (my oldest fish too, he's invinceable!). I would think he'd try to pick on him too but instead they get along great and often will both squeeze into a cave together like best buddies. Granted the pleco's not black, but pretty damn close know what i mean?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

anything of a similar colour shape or size to the RTBS should not be kept with it.

that includes any dark plec as well.

the BGK is less aggressive and territorial but possibly capable of inflicting more damage than the RTBS.

You really need to sort out that stocking combination, the behaviour you have described is not acceptable, your fish are stressed and as such prone to disease. sort it out before someone gets poorly and it wipes out your tank, or someone just gets killed.

 

[beechey]

yeah thats right about any dark plec aswell

they do squabble a bit