Rainbow Shark

Tara I believe that they do like being in schools, at least that's what I have read in books. They can be kept alone or in large groups (sort of like how they do at pet stores).

For all rainbow owners: have you noticed they grow very slow? I have had an albino in a 35 gallon tank for a while and have seen very little, if any, growth. It's a picky eater that mostly goes for frozen shrimp and blood worms. It's going into a 72 in August.
 
Given a large enough territory, they will schoal. There are very few home aquariums big enough to provide enough space for this. As juveniles--ie, all the fish you see in the LFS--they will schoal, but this behavior vanishes once the fish hit about 2 inches and they will become quite quarrelsome.

They shouldn't grow that slowly. Mine was about 2 inches when I purchased it, and was up to 4 inches within about 18 months.
 
Captain Hook... I agree w/ Orion Girl on the schooling thing, they all have to have their own territory to go back to, and unless you have a very large tank, that just won't happen. My rainbow's territory is the entire back right corner of my 29 gallon! Given a large enough space though, and a lot of little nooks for them to claim as their own, I bet they'd do OK.

As far as growing goes, our rainbow shark will be 4 years old in July (well, we got him 4 years ago, lol!). He was teeny when we got him, about 1 1/2", and now he's about 7 1/2". I don't know if he'll grow more, or if he's all done... but he's definately the fastest growing fish we have and have ever had (except for my pleco, he's been growing right along with the shark and is now 8 1/2" or so!)

~Tara
 
I don't really agree. First of all a shoal is not the same in form and definition as a school. A shoal, as I have been informed, is a loose group of fish that don't swim together but stick together for protection and mating. These groups are not like a school in that the fish aren't closely knit. A shoal can consist of a large group of even aggressive fish. A school on the other hand is a grouping of many fish that swim together for protection mating and comfort (without each other they are vulnerable and weak as individuals) So in this case, yes I understand that rainbow sharks are somewhat aggressive to their own type but they prefer to have others of their kind around. Now this may not work in a smaller tank, but if your tank is bigger and has enough room it is better for the fish.
 
As long as you understand that the 'bigger' in this case means a few hundred gallons, no problem.

Here's a quick tidbit--relates to SW fish, but is applicable to many group fish. Yellow tangs, in the wild, hang out in these enormous groups, hundreds of them. They have no apparent hierarchy, not many fights. If you try and have even 2 in a 100 gallon tank, they will likely kill each other off. Just happens. We know they live in groups in the wild, but it doesn't work in an aquarium. Some researchers figured out that if you made the tank into an oval, like a racetrack, the fish are happy and get along. But, in a standard rectangular tank, it's a blood bath. Rainbow sharks are very similar--given a big enough tank, they'll get along fine. In the small tanks common to FW setups, it's a fight waiting to happen. The behavior of fish in the wild is not always possible to duplicate in an aquarium.
 
I agree with that OrionGirl. Yes the tank would have to be very large (maybe not 100 gallons since they are so reclusive) I have never attempted to have more than one in a tank at the same time, so obviously the right choice here is to only have one in a tank for best results.
 
Thank you everyone for your suggestions.I think ill go with one Rainbow Shark becuase Im only getting a 50 gallon I dont want to try and have two in that size of a tank and some Tiger Barbs and maybe one or two more fish.
 
Everyone read this its from a site that sells Rainbow Sharks.


a Rainbow Shark is great for the semi-aggressive community aquarium, as long as they are the sole shark and the other tankmates are of similar size. The Rainbow Shark is a beautifully colored fish which is a dark gray to black with red fins.

It requires a large aquarium with driftwood, rocks, and spots of dense vegetation. This shark may set up territories around the aquarium. The Rainbow Shark will become very aggressive towards its own species.

Unfortunately, the breeding habits of the Rainbow Shark have not been documented.

An omnivore, the Rainbow Shark is not a particularly finicky eater. Flake food, freeze-dried bloodworms and tubifex, as well as vegetable-based foods should be fed.

Ideal tank mates include: Barbs, Danios, Gouramis, Rainbowfish, similar sized New World Cichlids, Loaches, Plecos, and similar sized Scavenger Catfish.
 
I think i'll set it up this way 1 Rainbow Shark 3 Green Severums 4 Tiger Barbs a litlle drift wood a few rocks and some plants and then top it all of with some lighting.What do you think?
 
I've have a rainbow shark at my parents place going on 4 years. He's outlived anything that I've had in there with him which included various types of barbs and a catfish. I would only suggest that you do have sort of "cave" that the shark would make it's own. Mine claimed a plastic cannon thing from Wal Mart from the day I placed it in the tank. Mine mostly comes out at night and spends the rest of his time within his "cave"
 
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