# Iridescent shark / catfish



## kduncan (Jul 12, 2010)

I figured I could put this in here since it technically is a member of the catfish family. Anyway, I have a 5" iridescent shark in my 55g community tank. And lately some of my smaller fish have been disappearing. So far, 3 glowfish, 1 neon tetra, and 2 small guppies has vanished. Could this guy be the culprit? Only other fish I have large enough to eat them could be my 3.5" pictus catfish. And even then he seems kinda small to be eating 1" - 1.5" guppies. Im planning on trading him in at my LFS, but I wanna make sure he is the one eating the smaller fish before I put more smaller fish back into the tank.


----------



## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

I had a problem with my pictus catfish eating my pearl danios and glofish. When I moved him to another tank, no more fish vanished. 

If you have another tank maybe you could separate the one you think is most responsible for a while and see if any more fish go missing.


----------



## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Sounds like it's time you took the fish to your lfs. This is why you don't mix semi-aggressive and community fish. I hope this serves as a lesson learned.


----------



## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

It did for me. I stay away from all but cory cats now


----------



## kduncan (Jul 12, 2010)

Ghost Knife said:


> Sounds like it's time you took the fish to your lfs. This is why you don't mix semi-aggressive and community fish. I hope this serves as a lesson learned.


Yes I definitely learned the hard way. Are you saying that he is the problem fish? Or is it my pictus?


----------



## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

kduncan said:


> Yes I definitely learned the hard way. Are you saying that he is the problem fish? Or is it my pictus?


Could be either one, but the point is that they are both semi-aggressive fish. If you want an idea of other semi-aggressive fish just look at my signature.


----------



## kduncan (Jul 12, 2010)

Ok thanks. Im gonna take them both to my LFS tonight and replace the community fish that became dinner.


----------



## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

kduncan said:


> Ok thanks. Im gonna take them both to my LFS tonight and replace the community fish that became dinner.


No problem. Remember to always research first when it comes to live animals.


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

observe the location of the mouth on your catfish...mouth on the bottom = scavenger...
mouth in middle = predator...
both of your catfish are major predators...your iridescent shark can grow to 4 feet in length...a bit big for the hobby unless you can afford a 1000 gallon tank for it..and even that may not be big enough...


----------



## kduncan (Jul 12, 2010)

Thanks for the tip. I took both catfish back to my LFS and got more community fish a few days ago.


----------



## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

kduncan said:


> Thanks for the tip. I took both catfish back to my LFS and got more community fish a few days ago.


What did you get?


----------



## kduncan (Jul 12, 2010)

2 otocinclus catfish
2 male fancy guppies
and a school of neon tetras


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

say goodbye to most of your fish....
chinese algae eaters get to be about 8 or 9 inches and get rather mean...they also like to kill other fish..


----------



## kduncan (Jul 12, 2010)

I think thats what they are....or maybe they are Ottos...my LFS said these only get to be 3" or so....would that be ottos? She said they would be fine in my community tank

Edit* after doing some image searching....they are ottos....not chinese algae eaters. My mistake.


----------



## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

kduncan said:


> I think thats what they are....or maybe they are Ottos...my LFS said these only get to be 3" or so....would that be ottos? She said they would be fine in my community tank
> 
> Edit* after doing some image searching....they are ottos....not chinese algae eaters. My mistake.


That's good because Ottos are much more peaceful, but you really need more like 4-6 instead of 2.


----------



## kduncan (Jul 12, 2010)

Yeah they seem to be fitting in just fine. They are about 2" long right now, and my LFS said they wont get much bigger.


----------



## ronmarsh99 (Feb 18, 2011)

it's for sure the ID Shark that is eating your small fish, I had one that was 12" long they will eat the slower and smaller fish, they seem to get them at night when the fish can be sleeping, My Shark was a pain one little movement and he had water right up the wall, floor and all, So I ended up giving him away, They fish need a tank that is larger then a 100 gallon. good luck


----------

