Rtbs

[jimmyb323]

Hi all,

I have a red tail black shark but his/her tail (not sure wot sex it is) is not very red more like a peach colour. A friend of mine has the same type of fish and he was saying that when he turns his light on first thing hes RTBS tail is the same colour, but after 20mins it turns to a deep red colour.

The light in my tank looks bright and my shark is the king of the tank and very happy but his/her tail is not very red.

I think if my be down to the sex of the fish

any ideas

Cheers

Jay

 

[Fella]

Hi all,

I have a red tail black shark but his/her tail (not sure wot sex it is) is not very red more like a peach colour. A friend of mine has the same type of fish and he was saying that when he turns his light on first thing hes RTBS tail is the same colour, but after 20mins it turns to a deep red colour.

The light in my tank looks bright and my shark is the king of the tank and very happy but his/her tail is not very red.

I think if my be down to the sex of the fish

any ideas

Cheers

Jay

They can look quite washed out under stressful conditions. What tank is he in, with what fish?

 

[jimmyb323]

The tank is about 35 gal with fake plants and hideing places, The water is fine (took to lfs and they did a water check last week when i got some new fish).

In the tank there are;

2 moonlight Gouramis
2 rams
4 black tetras
5 neons
RTBS
Bronse Coy
4 black mollies

As i said everyone in the tanks seems fine and the sharks the boss.

 

[jimmyb323]

anyone?

 

[catxx]

sounds like he could be a little over-crowded!!

*does quick math*

if you go by adult-fish-inch per gallon, you got too many fish.
rtbs' grow to around 4 inches
the gouramies to 6 inches
and the rams 4 inches too
the cory 3inches
and those mollies can hit between 3 and 6 inches

so not even including the tetras, that's too many fish

 

[kat and james]

what is his diet?

i find that when our fish get brine shrimp, blood worms, prawns and especially krill the colours really show, especially on fish with reds and oranges in their colouration.

kat

 

[jimmyb323]

his diet is flake and blood worm once a month.

 

[kat and james]

we feed our fish brine shrimp, bloodworm, krill, tubifex, or daphnia at least twice a week, and on the day we feed them a meaty food, we do not feed them flake.

perhaps try feeding them frozen or live food more often!

it works for us, all our fish are very brightly coloured!

kat

 

[jimmyb323]

thanks alot kat will do.

 

[Genesis]

make sure some of your flakes always sink, RTBS are natural scavengers and will pick food up off the bottom, hold some flakes in the water for about 2 seconds then release, with any luck they will sink to the bottom where he can scoop them up

my RTBS always hunts around for any food which has been missed, as a result hes always a very full red on his tail

 

[jimmyb323]

Thanks again genesis and everybody else. I leave cucumber at the bottom of the tank and i think he eats that coz when i wake up in the morning its all gone.

He is nearly always looking for food (Some times upside down eating whatever is on the plants very cool) or if hes not doing that then hes protecting HIS barrel.

Again thanks for all your help i have taken onboard everything

Cheers

Jay.

 

[kat and james]

he sounds like a happy healthy fish! good luck with the new varied diet.. it will benefit the other fish also!

kat