Red Tailed Labeo

[jamie2010]

hi there .i got home from work a couple of montha ago and my girlfriend had bought 2 of the said fish .they looked preety cool so i was happy,then i noticed what seemed to be one of them grazing on the side of my kissing gourami.surely it waswnt feasting on its slime coating?then a week later the gourami died. is this common in these fish or am i mistaken in what i thought i saw?
any info on these fish would be great,my reference book is a bit vague.
cheers

 

[The-Wolf]

I take it you mean a RTBS (red tail black shark) labeo bicolor.
yes they can sometimes suck the slime coat of other fish.

 

[jamie2010]

it was sold as a ruby shark i believe,not a red tailed black shark.but your the expert so im putting my trust in you geeza.will the fish be a problem?

 

[severum boy]

It may be. It might get a taste for the slime coating and persist in eating it. You should only have 2 RTBS if the tank id large, say over 60 gallons. Keep an eye on the fish, and if it starts eating the slime again, then you may have to revome it. hope this helps.

 

[The-Wolf]

ok ruby shark is labeo frenatus
and they can be just as bad as a RTBS

 

[Lateral Line]

RTBS are territorial, and will often/usually fight amongst themselves if there are 2 in a tank. Even in large tanks there can be problems if their is no "obvious territories". Placing a large structure centrally can provide a natural division for example, which can help. Generally they will be aggressive towards their own kind, or any other fish that share their territory and resemble them.

They are difficult to categorise with regard to suitability for communities because they have such individaul tempraments. Some are pretty docile, others completely evil. Most are at least semi-aggressive.

 

[jamie2010]

cheers guys,im running a planted rio 180 at the mo with 2 of these fish always having a go at each other i think i might take them to the lfs and do a trade.or maybe keep one at the most.
thanks again

 

[whip]

I have a RTBS with my silver dollars. It would occasionally graze on the silver dollars. It never seemed to bother the other fish, and it looked like some would let him. Others would just swim away. It never seems to cause any problems. As was mentioned above, RTBS' can have very different personnalities.