Red Tailed Shark

[juliethegr8t]

So today when I went into one of my LFS's, I was looking at scavengers, sharks, and the like.... when I came across their 2 Red Tail Sharks. Anyway, one's tail wasn't red it all, it was faintly pink maybe, but mostly clearish white. Does this mean it's an unhealthy fish? It looked fine otherwise. I'm maybe interested in buying one of these, but I don't want to get this one if he's gonna stay that color or is unhealthy. Maybe if he was in improved water conditions he'd get redder? Totally curious.

Also - goodness, I've decided it's a dangerous thing for me to go into fish stores, I want to buy so many!! And sheesh, I only have room for a few lil guys if any. I took a look at the dwarf frogs, might go with them, they're adorable. But the shark was pretty nifty, as were the dwarf puffers. I'm going back tomorrow, I'll let y'all know if I pick up another fella.

 

[smb]

I've seen some redtail sharks that had lighter tails but not white. In my experience they always grew darker when they were away from the dominate redtail, but I don't know about the tail being white. Maybe it's just a more sever case than I seen and everything will be ok? I'm not sure.

You sound like me. There are so many fish I want. African dwarf frogs are really cool too. Them dwarf puffers are the cutest lil guys tho and I'm getting 4 of them for my 10g tank as soon as I can find them.

Let us know what you decide on and hopefully someone can answer your question about the white tail.

 

[Mitch]

i keep 2 red tailed black sharks and they are constatly fighting. the dominant one has a much redder tail. i think what you will find is that the shark with the lighter tail is being picked on a bit by the other.


hope it helped.

 

[Moe]

My red tail shark was pretty washed out when I bought it now it is dark black with a bright red tail. I think they get better color with good conditions. I had two also and they didn't get along. Had to return one. Then I read that you should never have two red tail sharks as they are territorial. The article went on to say if you have a big tank you can keep 3 as long as each one has his own cave / home. If you have only a 10G I wouldn't get one because it gets 4 inches that will use up a lot of your fish inches per gallon.
Disclaimer: this is the opinion of a newbie not to be taken as the gospel truth.

 

[smb]

Disclaimer: this is the opinion of a newbie not to be taken as the gospel truth.

All posts by everyone here is just opinion, Moe. Yours is just as important as anyone elses. There are a lot of opinions and sometimes noone is wrong but there is a differing of opinion but hopefully if we give out bad info someone else will come in and correct us in a polite way and we can learn from that too.

Just jump on in and lend us the info you know. Time spent in the hobby is no indicator of knowledge at all.


juliethegr8t, how is it going now? Did you buy one of the rtbs?

 

[Wolfefish]

my sharks werent too red in the shop, now they are very bright. as they are more comfortable the colors will come out. they are usually stressed is the store aquariums. my sharks may be different.. but i am convinced they are playing not fighting. they are the most entertaining of all my fish. have a good fish day. Wolfefish

 

[gi4get]

i've noticed stress can cause any fish to loss its coloring, esp. the redtailed shark. almost all of the little sharks i see in the pet shops have pink to whitish tails, but nothing near the healthy red it should be. as a few have noted, the colors come back with better, stable conditions.