Rainbow shark

[bettaman]

I noticed my new addition to the aquarium is slightly aggressive. I've witnessed him chasing some of my panda cories away from what he deems to be his territory. Is this chasing stressful on the cories? Will the stress hurt them in the long run or affect thier health?

[vfrex]

Any stress is bad stress. If the territorialness keeps up, i'd say get rid of it. Red tail sharks are usually territorial.

[bettaman]

This is a Ruby or Rainbow shark, not a red-tailed shark. They are relatives though.

[FishmasteR2002]

I have a Rainbow Shark in my tank and he isn't that aggressive. He is territorial though. How big is your tank and how many fish are in it? If you have a small tank then yes he will be more aggressive towards smaller fish. Just get a docile fish that is bigger than him and he should stop. I put a Firemouth Cichlid in my tank after the shark was acting up and he stopped. Could have been coincidence though.

[Winnie]

The key to rainbow and RT sharks and their aggression is getting them a cave they like. Then their territory isn't the whole tank anymore. Sure, they still bust out and chase everybody, but contact is never really made. If you watch them closely when they have a good cave, their anti-social behavior doesn't seem to bother anyone else; it isn't violent, just chasing.
My four cories totally ignore my albino rainbow. Sometimes they go foraging right through his cave and out the back door.

[bettaman]

I have two caves set up in my 20 gallon and it seems he likes to control both of them!! What should I do now? I've watched him and it's true that he doesn't make contact but getting chased around has to have some bad effects right?

[bettaman]

Alright, it's getting physical now. I just saw the rainbow shark poking one of the big cories with his nose until he moved out of the cave!!

[JamisonBWolsh]

Like the RTBS, they can become MORE aggressive as they age. Its an individual personality. It will only get worse.


Not sure on this..so maybe...about 50 percent sure:

I think they are actually more aggressive then red tail sharks. Find out from people who actually owned these. If no one with exp here answers...check the usenets

[Serrateeth_2002]

I think they get less agressive with age because in the wild,bigger means less competition.

[JamisonBWolsh]

I KNow with RTBS they get more aggressive as they get older. I believe this is also true with the rainbow shark as well.

Check this link: a few people say they are aggresive:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&threadm=35aea2ad.8921887%40nntp.service.ohio-state.edu&rnum=2&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Drainbow%2Baggresive%2Bgroup%253Arec.a quaria.freshwater.misc%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUT F-8%26oe%3DUTF8

Teeth: dont take my disagreement personally please. My opinion.

[Serrateeth_2002]

JBW-the reason i said i think because i am not sure,anyway,those fishes are bad community fishes,they are better off with larger fishes than themselves.

[JamisonBWolsh]

I agree with serra,


When I was looking for somemore negative comments, people would say they would do fine with larger fish. Its just they tend to show aggression to the smaller type fish. I KNow with my RTBS, he ignores all the larger fish and goes after my female neon rainbows and sometimes my boesemans, he does this only ONCE in a while maybe I just keep him well fed? he has a FAT belly....

[Serrateeth_2002]

bettaman,what other fishes do you have in the tank?This fish is a bully,i got once before,it harassed everyfish in the tank,good thing it died of high nitrates(i think) but not the other fishes.

[bettaman]

I have neon tetras and some panda cories in with rainbow shark. One of the panda cories is thicker than the shark but he doesn't seem to mind.

[Wippit Guud]

I have a rainbow shark in a 29g, only real problem I had was a dispute between him and my betta, which the betta started (and got his tail handed to him, he's in his own tank now). The shark likes to chase the other fish, but there's no real aggression beyond that...

... and he turns into a kitten with the pleco that's roughly double his size starts moving.