Red Tail Shark attacking anything that moves...

pedzola

pedzola

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Aug 26, 2005
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I have a mature red-tail shark. As he has grown over the last year, he has become increasingly aggressive.

In the beginning, he got along fine in a 40g tank with danios, a tinfoil barb, loaches, a catfish, some tetras, and a couple of gouramis.

As time went on he became more and more aggressive to more and more different fish. I had to move fish around and get a couple of new tanks just because of this shark... most recently, I gave up and bought a 20g tank for JUST the shark.

However, since he had been in there alone, he never came out of the asian palace decoration that the lives in (he is emperor of his tank). He seemed to be healthy, but he would only come out to eat, and then go right back into his house. I had read that isolation makes fish more aggressive, so I decided to put my pearl gourami w/the shark. The 2 "grew up" together, and had always gotten along great.

And in fact, this situation turned out very well. The shark became much more active, and would often "investigate" the gourami, but he was never aggressive towards this fish.

Some other fish that the shark always "hung out" with were the clown loaches. I think the loaches and gouramis are the only fish that this shark would not attack. So I decided to pick up a couple of yo-yo loaches, since my 3 clowns are probably too big to be happy in a 20g tank. I thought that the sharks loach-love would be universal, but boy was I wrong...

The first few minutes were probably the deciding factor... the shark peered out from his house as the new loaches swam around trying to find shelter... and one of them happened to find the sharks house quite attractive... needless to say the shark wasn't too happy about a little loach wriggling around in his personal space.

The YoYo's are actually small enough right now that they can get away from the shark pretty easy. There are some decorations in the tank that they can fit into/under/between that the shark can't fit in. The shark I think has been frustrated by the fact that he can't chase the loaches around the tank endlessly, and has turned his anger on my poor pearl gourami instead.

This morning when I got up, the shark was chasing the normally stationary gourami all over the tank.


So I've found that my shark will not tolerate the following fish:
tetras, danios, rainbows, gouramis, loaches, barbs (even a very large tinfoil will run in fear from my RTS)... the shark even nipped at my crayfish sometimes.

What do I do? Go back to an empty shark-only tank? Is this OK? Is there any way to get him to calm down? He is one of my favorite fish... but he has one heck of a mean streak.


:shark:
 
i have mine in with cichlids and hes so tough that he even attacks my convict cichlid!
either buy tough fish like him (semi aggressive) or go back to isolating him in his own tank. but he doesnt have to be alone, by some rosey red minnows for him to "play with" and that should bring him out of hiding. and if he kills them well they are feeder fish so either way their life doesnt look promising
its usually best to have them with robust larger fish but since your tank isnt that big that doesnt look like an option
i named mine Jet by the way lol
 
the behaviour exhibited by your RTS is typical for the species ... basically they don't get along with any fish in a tank smaller than about 100 gallons.
 
liv2padl said:
... basically they don't get along with any fish in a tank smaller than about 100 gallons.
Click to expand...

:sad:

That sucks. I did a lot of research before I bought the shark, and most web sites say it'll be a good fish to have (but only 1) in a community tank. I mean, he WAS a good fish in my community tank... for a couple months!

Is there ANYTHING I could put in the 20-L (30x12x12) tank w/this shark? I know this tank is kinda small - but I already mentioned the probs I had with him in his intended 40g tank. He is only 5 inches so he has plenty of room to swim around in the 20L.

Are there any crabs or crayfish species that thrive in warm water w/o needing access to air? I can't imagine the shark could do much damage to something w/a hard shell and claws.
 
vaderbanger said:
... i named mine Jet by the way lol
Click to expand...


Yeah I think my tank is too small for any cichlids. I never particularly minded when he chased around the giant danios I had in the other tank.. I figured they were all getting a bit of exercise! lol

But I don't know if that is an ethical thing to do... put a fish through misery just to give my shark a workout!


Jet is a great name for one of these sharks for sure... but I think mine will always be "The Shark." I think that describes his personality better than any name I could come up with. And not just "shark," but "the shark." He is my only shark, so it is basically his title. Like Mr. or Dr., but "The" sounds a little more important.

When I say WHATS UP THE SHARK! he comes to the front of the tank and sucks on the glass. Or maybe thats just cause he recognizes me and thinks I have food. lol He loves to eat!
 
pedzola said:
But I don't know if that is an ethical thing to do... put a fish through misery just to give my shark a workout!
Click to expand...

If your shark eats the "misery" fish, you should do it. If THE SHARK is only going to bother and damage him, don't.

Your best solution to cut down agression, is to get a larger tank.




MAYBE OFF TOPIC:
Sadly, when you get predator fish, that's how you are supposed to feed them. If you are softly hearted and can't throw live fish to become snacks, you should keep another kind of fish.
 
The red shark won't eat any added fish, just abuse them. This really is the tendency for these fish--they are extremely territorial and intolerant of changes, and other fish. If you could upgrade to a 100 gallon tank, the shark would likely tolerate tankmates, as long as he could claim a portion of the tank--this would also give the other fish better options when it comes to avoiding aggression. In a 20, there really is no place for them to go, so they get stressed and abused.
 
patoloco said:
If you are softly hearted and can't throw live fish to become snacks, you should keep another kind of fish.
Click to expand...

Red Tail Sharks are small freshwater fish (mine is about 5" full grown). They aren't real "sharks" and don't even have teeth. I've read they are actually a member of the carp family - but have a downward sucker mouth more like a catfish or something. Anyway, they dont' eat other fish - they just chase them around.

I would love to upgrade to a 100g, but the apartment just cannot hold this kind of tankage. I guess I will leave the shark alone and hope he is ok with it! I think he's got plenty of room for himself in the 20g tank... but I guess thats it. I hope he won't go back to living life completely inside his palace when the other fish are removed this afternoon.
 
i disagree with the larger tank and he will behave himself. thats most likely not going to happen. ive had a few of these sharks in the past years and some were fine and some, like the one i have now, are down right bullies, and honestly no matter what tank i put him in he will always pick on some one.
but keep in mind fish are not stupid, they will only pick on a species they know they can. my shark occasionally chases my convict because the convict is still a baby, this will not last long. the convict has allready started to catch on that hey im tougher than this guy and he has been retaliating, and in just a few more months the convict will be big enough to do some severe damage to the shark.
my red tailed shark knows to stay far away from the oscar and gold severum because they are twice his size and in no way would put up with him. if they swam away in fear then the shark would harrass them. so yes it is all about who you place with this fish and the size of tank has only a small part in this role. you can always set up a divider in your tank to seperate him.
about rosey reds, they are very strong fish and very fast. they may just out swim the shark :o
 
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