Red Tailed Black Shark

[Southyorkshirefishkeeper]

I've heatrd bad things about the red tailed black shark but alot of people say that they are not as bad as people make them out to be, is this true? i know my parents have had them before and they seemed ok, some people say that they are all mouth and once a fish stands upto it the red tailed shark will not bully it anymore.

I am really considering getting one, i currently have a few zebra danios in the tank but i am going to add some angelfish, tetras, kuhlii loaches, flying fox, gouramis etc.

I would like to get one and see what happens but what do you guys think?......

 

[Gatorbait]

Every one of them is different. For the most part, none of mine ever messed with anything too bad. A lot of chasing, especially Tiger Barbs. Every one I had absolutely HATED them guys. I think, with tiger barbs being nippers, one must have at one time or another nipped him and the rtbs never forgot nor forgave. lol

I've had them with zebra danios and he would only bother them when I fed him his food on the bottom and they would congregate around it. he was more interested in chasing them all off than eating. He couldn't ever catch them or turn quick enough to.

They are pretty brave fish, at least for minnows, but when a larger fish stands up to him, IME, they back down. They will/can harrass fish until they die from stress tho.

You'll probably get the whole gamut of opinions and we'll all be different since each rtbs will act differentyl so I'd just get one and try it. I think the angelfish,tetras and zebra danios would probably be ok with it. The others you stated I've never kept so someone else will have to let you know.

 

[fishwatcher]

I think gouramis are typically fine with them as well. Flying foxes I'm not sure about though.
I've also heard good and bad about them, but I think it's worth a try. From what I've heard/read, it's as they get older that they get a bit more aggressive. And it depends a lot on what size tank it is, too. The more room the better.
If you have somewhere you could take it to if/when it does get mean then I see no harm in trying. They are quite beautiful when they are in a good environment... deep velvety black body, bright red tail... a real sight!

 

[raptorrex]

I've heatrd bad things about the red tailed black shark but alot of people say that they are not as bad as people make them out to be, is this true? i know my parents have had them before and they seemed ok, some people say that they are all mouth and once a fish stands upto it the red tailed shark will not bully it anymore.

I am really considering getting one, i currently have a few zebra danios in the tank but i am going to add some angelfish, tetras, kuhlii loaches, flying fox, gouramis etc.

I would like to get one and see what happens but what do you guys think?......

mine is a bit of a chaser, though it more like tag, and it gets chased on the way back! i keep mine with all the fish you mentioned, and it never chased or harried any of them. you dont mention your tanks size. now i know RTS only make 4.5 -6 inches, but they are swimmers, and imho need over 50ukg per fish!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the general theory with RTBS is if the fish has a similar body shape or is a similar colour then it'll get attacked, which rules out most cories, loaches, plecs, catfish etc

however with middle-top swimmers of different colours they should be perfectly fine.

so they can work in a community, but only a carefully chosen one.

 

[roseykat5]

i have one and they dont bother much with the others .. just chases or tries to chase the plecos i have in there dont bother the cories or the clown loaches infact the clown loaches i have 4 and they follow the rtbs around the tank... hes fine and im getting another one an albino ones to put in with him and that put him in his place and htey can play tag as i was told and will believe that and my tankis more than big enough for two

 

[raptorrex]

i have one and they dont bother much with the others .. just chases or tries to chase the plecos i have in there dont bother the cories or the clown loaches infact the clown loaches i have 4 and they follow the rtbs around the tank... hes fine and im getting another one an albino ones to put in with him and that put him in his place and htey can play tag as i was told and will believe that and my tankis more than big enough for two

be very careful here, putting 2 RTS or indeed a RTS and a rainbow shark in together, is just asking for trouble. you may not have seen problems yet, but you will if you do it. i had a RTS, still have, and a rainbow shark together for some time. then just after a rearranged the tank, the RTS killed the rainbow, it took it 10 minutes to do so. a quick search on the forum will give you lots of warnings about doing this, so i am not the only one who has had problems.

 

[jkrekord]

They all have individual personality, i had one and he was a monster, he terrorized all my fish, murdering several fish including a dwarf gourami, and injuring the other dawf gourami so bad it did'nt last long. I re homed mine to my LFS who have a massive hex tank (seriously...its a couple of hundred gallons id guess) and last time i visited he was the smallest of the fish, yet still seemed to have the biggest attitude lol. I tried the method of puttin a fish in to put him back in his place, i found a nice bulky krib, and at first it worked because when the rtbs tried to bully the krib it got a shock as the krib attacked an charged him, but after a day or two my rtbs had enough and hammered my krib an the krib just became another victim.

forgot to mention, rtbs are still my favourite fish, they are so cool

 

[D4N]

i had to re home mine because it got so agressive but it never bothered my loachs just fish bigger than him

Edit: at feeding time mine used to keep any fish away from my yoyo loach when he was eating, so he can have some