Red Tail Sharks

[Alasse]

I have an adult in a 30gal tank, it shares the tank with Neons & Cories

Keeps to itself and doesnt bother anyone

You have the exception to the rule. Which of coarse there always are. What we don't want is for the person to run into issues when he doesn't have to and that he should be aware that he may not be as lucky as you. Generally speaking it's not a good fish for a small tank and to co-habitate with certain fish. It is a risk.

My current RTS is not my 1st owned over my 30+yr of fishkeeping

ALL of them have been non aggressive in 20gal+ (20g for juvenilles only 30g for adults)


I will say though NEVER try house more than one in the same tank (unless you can observe and remove one if it doesnt go well, which in most cases it wont!), especially a smaller tank

 

[Geoff-]

As a general rule you can't have more than one RTBS unless your tank is huge. RTBS are territorial and aggressive towards their own species and sometimes fish that look similar. Therefore "similar looking fish in the same tank" is also a risk, not as much as a second RTBS but still a risk.

As Alasse's experience has shown, I think that *sometimes* the recommendations for min tank size can be ultra conservative. A competent fishkeeper can successfully keep fish in a smaller size than the "minimum" and still have a healthy, well adjusted fish (criteria being the fish's behaviour, if this is truly normal then there is no problem!). However, for those new to the hobby it's recommended to stick to the accepted guidelines.

I'm keeping 1 x young RTBS in a 2ft 24g very successfully, it doesn't harrass the other fish excessively (sometimes chases my serpae tetras but they deserve it!). If he grows too large for the tank I will upgrade to a 3ft tank, which I'm kinda thinking about anyway. But should I not have an RTBS at all? Where's the fun in that? I don't mind growing the tank size as my fish mature, it's just like letting kids play in a playground and then opening the gate to the big wide world once they know the road rules