Iridescent sharks, loaches, clawed frog and baby fry REpost from intro

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stasie

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Jun 3, 2008
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Hi everyone! I found this site because I was looking for more people who have iridescent sharks. I purchased a shark last year, knowing absolutely nothing, at the local walmart. I wanted a little tank for my bathroom, I actually let my son choose the fish he wanted, he happened to pick an iridescent shark.

Well, after a year I went from a 1 gallon, to a 30 gallon, then to a 45 gallon and now I have a 90 gallon set up. I absolutely love these fish (I have had 2 for about a year now, I had a third but it died early on) and I am saddened that with all of my research since I read that they should not be in an acquarium. However, when I talk to fish store ppl who have them, they said theirs grew only a little more than a foot long. I feel so frustrated that these fish are being sold everywhere here in Ontario. I love them and I am willing to continue to upgrade my tank.. actually I have become a little fish obsessed.. I had no idea I would love this so much!

I am wondering if anyone here owns an iridescent shark and if they have had success with them? Mine are so peaceful and swim so gracefully, they like to swim together and like to touch each other as they swim!

I also have 2 dinosaur eels, birchers. They are also very amazing! I have had them for a year too and they are very graceful and love to be together. I have some little silver dollars, whom I'm really enjoying and some blue botias, along with some clown loaches. These loaches are all fairly small and when they grow I will be moving them as needed. I love loaches too! LOL! My sister happened to buy 2 rainbow sharks (against my advice.. just because I returned some .. they were tank terrors..) anyway, one was terrorizing the other so I made a home for him here in my 90 gallon.. he is doing well and doesn't bother the other fish at all, probably because they are bigger than him.

Ok, in my 45 gallon, I have two Albino African Clawed frogs, a male and a female, one chinease algae eater and one male blue gourami..The 30 gallon houses the fry (a week old) from Blue and his "lady friend" I wasn't prepared for the fry, or for Blue's aggression! But now he is with the frogs and my algae eater who is full grown and likes to display his dominance!

So I'm taking care of the fry.. hopefully I am doing the right things!

Anyway, this is my aquarium life! I love it, but I'm stressed about caring for my iridescent sharks! Anyone else here have them, have they out grown your tank yet?
Thanks,
Stasie
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After some responses and a picture of full sized ID sharks (and a comment to start a thread in this forum) I have had to make some hard decisions:

Wow! That picture was enough for me. I love my sharks and I've been pretty stressed about this, but the right thing for me to do is bring them in to Big Al's. I could upgrade my tank to 200 gallons, but certainly that won't be good enough for my shark babies.

I think I'll be doing some major tank changes in the next few days. I'm going to bring back my clown loaches and blue botias.. truly my tank is not going to house them for the long haul either, especially since they require groups of each. I will have my 2 dino eels and 4 silver dollars and a khuli loach in my 90 gallon. I would like to have a shark, the bala seem to be the right fit in temperment but they need a group... and that won't be good either. The rainbow shark did not do as well as I thought and today he succumbed to an injury he had before joining my tank.

I really appreciate the responses, and it will truly be difficult to give my sharks away, but I realize now that it is the best thing.

Ohh and yes, my african clawed frogs in the other tank are wonderful. "Lady" is full grown and loves to eat.. "Freddie" is near full grown and he loves Lady.. LOL! He hugs her and tries to "snuggle" but she only puts up with it for a short time.. she's more interested in food! LOL!
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stasie said:
I also have 2 dinosaur eels, birchers. They are also very amazing! I have had them for a year too and they are very graceful and love to be together. I have some little silver dollars, whom I'm really enjoying and some blue botias, along with some clown loaches. These loaches are all fairly small and when they grow I will be moving them as needed. I love loaches too! LOL! My sister happened to buy 2 rainbow sharks (against my advice.. just because I returned some .. they were tank terrors..) anyway, one was terrorizing the other so I made a home for him here in my 90 gallon.. he is doing well and doesn't bother the other fish at all, probably because they are bigger than him.
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If I were you, I'd return the Yasuhikotakia modesta. They can grow to 8-10 inches and despite this being an uncommon achievement considering many people just do not keep them for a long time, they can still have the nasty attitude. These are by far one of the most aggressive loaches. Mixing them with clowns would be a mistake as the clowns cannot tolerate severe harassments especially one coming from the rather feisty Y. modesta.

If you like these loaches, better get another tank and keep them with the more aggressive loaches such as the skunk loaches, tiger loaches and Y. eos.

Anyway, this is my aquarium life! I love it, but I'm stressed about caring for my iridescent sharks! Anyone else here have them, have they out grown your tank yet?
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No matter their size, they will either be stunted or they will outgrow your tank. In the first place, they shouldn't have been made available in the aquarium trade at all.
 
Are these "dinosaur eels", bichirs? Bichirs will eat your kuhli loaches. Best keep the kuhli loaches with small fish. If you like sharks, give Puntius denisonii a try although the downside is the price tag. They grow to 6 inches and are subtropical species so you'll need to select tankmates that can tolerate temperature no more than 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Perhaps, get Botia striata, Botia histrionica or Botia kubotai and keep some arulius barbs and filament barbs. This is a biased suggestion considering I'm into Asian fishes nowadays.:grinyes:
 
I really appreciate al the suggestions! I was hoping to hear some! I will look into the shark you mentioned! Also the Modesta's are going back along with the clown loaches. I do love loaches, but I need to make sure that they are happy.. they won't be. I was worried about that with the Khuli loach! But my Dinosaur eels have not shown any agression.. I was more worried about them being in the tank with the frogs.. Lady eats worms almost his size.. but then again, the Dinosaur eels are starting to eat the worms too. I never see squiggly.. (Khuli loach) .. he is in the substratum most of the time, under a rock or log, but I imagine that it would be just a matter of time. Thanks for the insight, I guess he'll be joining the crew to the LPS :(
 
Bichirs can limit your stocks. You'll need to avoid the torpedo-shaped specimens. If you wish to widen your stocks, just ditch the bichirs and stick with loaches, ropefish, plecos or even Platydoras costatus. Bichirs aren't aggressive. It's the fact they may attempt to eat their tankmates that is the problem.
 
I agree that Iridescent sharks should not be sold. I work at a LFS and we get them in from time to time and I discourage anyone from buying them. I try and tell people that they get upwards of 36". I also disagree with selling red tail catfish for the same reason. The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has some large Iridescent sharks and I saw a 5' red tail catfish at the Tennessee Aquarium.

I'm glad to see that you want to do the best for your sharks and I know how hard it is to give away your babies. Last year I had to give up my albino channel cat. When we give him away he was 20", we had him in a 125gal aquarium. He could eat 100 goldfish in 20 min and that is besides the pellets he eat during the rest of the week. The day that we gave him away The Shedd was coming to look at an Iridescent shark that was 20" long as well they said that they may take the our channel cat as well. I haven't been to the Shedd in awhile but I'm going in a couple of weeks maybe I'll see my baby.
 
Hi and welcome. I also have ID sharks, silverdollars,! I had a bichir but he crawled out and died before I found him!:eek3: ID sharks can get over 1'.
Well Heres some pics of my sharks:

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WOW Bigfishkeeper. I looked at your sig and you have all that in a 125gal. You must have more tanks then just a 125. A lot of your fish will out grow your tank. The tiger shovelnose (39"), The lima shovelnose (24"), the pacu (30"), the iridescent (36") and the red tail cat (48") will get huge. I hope you have made plans for when that times comes.
 
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