Losing an Iridescent Shark

Rocketman

Rocketman

Detroit; proud of it.
Oct 24, 2002
740
0
0
38
Detroit, MI
Real Name
Reid
Loosing an Irridecesant Shark

It seems my IS was attacked sometime late today. He has been with his fellow tankmates now for almost 4 months with now changes, he himself has been in the tank for almost 9 months I'd say. Anyway, it seems his eye has been scratched off, (i know, gross.) Although this is not unheard of in my tank; it is the third such injury in the last year, one of which happened to the other IS shark in the tank. Anyway, he seems to have white scratchs on his body, and seems to generally float with the current, but then will spring to life and swim as if nothing unusual is happening.

He can't fool me though.

There are red scratchs on his body that I have noticed for awhile now. So I have 'Written him off' I guess. Anyway, assuming he isn't a goner when I got back to my tank, what should I do? Try nurse him to health in my 15 Gallon Guppy Breeding Tank, (which would be no great loss if he eat some, they are only feeders,) or just... do something else? I haven't the heart to chop his head off, as manly as I am, so I am not interested in humane ways to euthanize a fish. I have already read up on those a few weeks ago in case I saw a fish that was in really dire straits one day, and needed to be 'taken out.'

Arg.
 
There are only 2 choices:

The frogs (with claws)
or the Gar.

Im leaning towards the frogs. My brother had one and witnessed him grab a tetra and bite the head right off!

Nasty little critters! who wants frogs BTW? I dont..

1 Small Needlenose Gar (Carnivorous)- Will grow to big for a 45
2 Small Tinfoil Barbs- needs at least 3 of them- Too big for a 45
1 Medium Bala Shark- needs 3. Too big for a 45 gall
1 Small Red-tailed Black Shark- fine
2 African Clawed Frog, (Carnivorous)- Nasty little things
1 Small Cory- one??? Needs at least 3-5 schooling fish
1 Medium Silver Dollar- again- need 3 of them
2 Medium/small Irridsent Sharks- grows WAY to big for a 45 gal
1 Small Red-Eyed Tetra- needs a school..


You blew it BIG time? I bet you didnt research this before buying the fish??? The store guy probably picked them out?
 
Last edited:
Jamison,it is 6 not 3 for balas,tinfoils and silver dollars but this is logic based on other's experience,Rocketman-must be the gar,long scratches explains it,do you have sharp objects in the tank by the way?
 
First thing is, alot of your fish will grow out of your tank size.
I had two iridesent sharks(I was told they grew to 8",)and they grew to be uncomfortable in my 125g! They were 8"and 10"when I gave them to a local pet store. I have now read that these fish grow over 3 feet and you'll need a 300g to house them!
Don't let post's that say didn't you research your fish first?,get you down. I'm sure most have all been in your position before,hey that's how you learn!
Now for your question; iridesent's are skittish and run into the sides of aquarium's all the time and are known to go blind with age,so before blaming tank mates look into this.As for his weird behavior "going with the current," that makes me wonder how big he is already?. When my sharks got to be around 8/10"they did the same thing and also would just lay on the bottom of the tank,many times I thought they were going to die,only to see them swimming around in the morning ! My thought is if you can't get a huge aquarium bring him back.I hope this helps.
 
Yeah, I'm well aware of the problems with my tank. If you were here when I posted my overstock article, you'd know... Well I'm one less Irridescent Shark now. All the fish I have are small, and we were about to return the IS's. I also think the frogs are cool, so don't diss them. I've seen the Gar lunge at the small (dead) IS before when he had been going w/o live food for awhile, he even went once for the frog (and drew blood.)
You can count the 2 Tin Foils and 1 Silver Dollar as 3 Tin Foils, the Silver Dollar really doesn't know the difference and has actually taken to behaving like the Tin Foils. Where he used to cower in the back the entire time, he know partakes in limiting schooling with the Tin Foils. He has also taken to eating cichlid pellets, and darting around during feeding like he is a Tin. Weird.

After I get my new tank set up, the Tetra will most likely be moved to the new 60 Gallon with more of his own kind. I was gonna move him in my 15 Gallon breeder with the guppies, but after I saw him eat one that I put in as a feeder, I dropped that idea. As of know, the remaining IS, Cory, Silver $ and Bala are the only TRULY herbavorous fish in my tank.
 
No fish is truly herbivorous in an aquarium,in the wild,yes,fishes are oppurtunist,it is a matter of bite size or not
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom