red tail sharks habits

[trying]

I have two small red tail sharks. They are only about an insh long. they are in a 10 gallon aquarium together. once in a while they chase each other, but most of the time they swim side by side quivering and bumping into each other. Is this a form of agression or do they like each other?

 

[dethjam316]

it is most certainly aggression. these sharks are territorial and aggressive towards conspecifics (fish of the same species).

it is typically recommended that you keep these sharks singly or in groups of more than six in a very large tank (say, 75g+). usually, a 20g is the minimum recommended tank to keep a single shark, as they get over 5" i believe when fully grown. the 29g i've set up at my workplace has one red-tailed black shark, and it is doing quite well, but i made sure to buy only one for that tank for the above reasons.

in your case, in a 10g, this is really too small a tank for one, let alone two. i strongly you suggest you take one back, and you should consider returning both and exchanging them for a fish more suited to a 10g. also, make sure your tank has a cave or similar hiding place, as these sharks need the security of a cave. they will usually establish a territory based around such a hideout.

 

[andruboz]

this is one about 5" long. he is in a 75g with a puffer and tends to whupp on anything that has a similar shape to his own. he trys to tell everybody where to go. even crayfish.

 

[dethjam316]

that is an awesome specimen, andruboz. he looks like a chubster, heeheehee.

ps: is that crayfish puffer food?

 

[frogguy1]

I second that, you need a definately need a larger aquarium. A 55g starter kit at Petsmart is only around $170 bucks.

 

[Lazersniper]

I've kept three of these before. I've also kept two of the same size in a tank. It was a large tank and they still fought. Yes that side by side 'bumping' is aggression. One of them ended up dying. It was only three inches and it would take on fish 6.5 inches or more. I took it back to the store for a trade in/credit the owner put the shark into his tank full of other red tails and rainbow sharks. The next day there was very few left and him swiming around. I'm assuming this guy was just way more aggressive then normal but thats been my exp. with them.