# Red Tail Shark



## tankman2 (Jul 7, 2011)

So the other day I added in my last batch of fish to complete my aggressive style community tank. All of the new additions are doing fine except my red tail shark. The red tail stays hidden in the rock work most of the time and when i see him he seems to be moving very slowly and swimming almost vertically a lot of times. 

When feeding I noticed that he took the flake but then did not consume it. Do you think that he could just be stressed out still? Or is there something wrong and I need to remove him? He has been added to the tank for 4 days and there are no other fish that appear to be bothering him to make him stressed out. Unfortunately I also do not have a quarantine tank to put him in so the move would be back to the LFS.


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## Fishy Freak (Jun 1, 2011)

Need more info...
What other fish are in the tank?
Were they all added 4 days ago?
How big is the tank?
Is it cycled? how long ago?


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

Curious about the answers we'll get from Fishy Freak

The other thing is honestly, a red-tail shark is a semi-aggressive fish. Much like a bala shark. If you're talking AGGRESSIVE then you're talking arrowana, cichlids, some catfish, peacock bass, etc.

If you're feeding only flake and plan on keeping it that way, then you don't have aggressive fish, or you'll be buying a LOT of flake. Or they are just very young and feeding flake, cause that's what I did to start when I had cichlids.


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## tankman2 (Jul 7, 2011)

Besides the redtail shark I have 6 serpae tetras, 6 tiger barbs, and 3 small bottom loaches. So I guess I meant to say semi-agressive. The loaches and the redtail shark were added 5 days ago now.

The tank was cycled, 6 tetras were added first for awhile, then the 6 tiger barbs after and now the most recent were the 3 loaches and shark. It is a 35g hexagon tank ammonia, nitrite are 0, nitrates are low. Have done 2 small partial water changes in the past week. 

The red tail shark is my only cause for concern all others look great.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

My dad used hade a 20 gal with a loach and rainbow shark...


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## Fishy Freak (Jun 1, 2011)

Since your tank is cycled and the other fish seem fine, you can rule out ammonia as the cause of the swimming vertically. It could be shock of the change to your tank from the shop. Has he improved any, have you only fed flake food?
What sort of loaches are they?


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## Fishy Freak (Jun 1, 2011)

Another thought, did you see the shark swimming in the tank before you got it?
If it is not eating could be some internal blockage, does it seem at all bloated?
May have a swim bladder issue too.


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## Fishy Freak (Jun 1, 2011)

On some further reasearch could be a sign of worms or internal parisites too.


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## tankman2 (Jul 7, 2011)

I appreciate your help and insight fishy. The loaches are yoyo's. The redtail seems to be out and about a little bit more, a lot of times he hides deep in the rock work where he cant be seen. Observing him when he is out though he has a weird swimming pattern where he will seem to almost float upwards almost vertically like I said earlier. I have been feeding a mix of flake and freeze dried bloodworms. I also supplement with sinking algae wafers. 

The problem is I have yet to see him really eat. Since he hides in the bottom the scraps rarely get down to him at all. I saw him nibble a little on an algae wafer a few days ago but other than that nothing. He doesn't come to the top of the tank for the bloodworms since they don't sink. I can see a slight improvement in his swimming but I feel as if the initial shock of being put in the tank should be gone now since it is going on 6 days and all the other fish are adjusted and look great.

My real concern is that if he has a problem that my other fish will become infected as well. Are there any alternatives to feeding besides what I've mentioned? Also I feed them twice a day with a mix between the flake and worms, and substitute every few days with an algae wafer or two.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

tankman2 said:


> I appreciate your help and insight fishy. The loaches are yoyo's. The redtail seems to be out and about a little bit more, a lot of times he hides deep in the rock work where he cant be seen. Observing him when he is out though he has a weird swimming pattern where he will seem to almost float upwards almost vertically like I said earlier. I have been feeding a mix of flake and freeze dried bloodworms. I also supplement with sinking algae wafers.
> 
> The problem is I have yet to see him really eat. Since he hides in the bottom the scraps rarely get down to him at all. I saw him nibble a little on an algae wafer a few days ago but other than that nothing. He doesn't come to the top of the tank for the bloodworms since they don't sink. I can see a slight improvement in his swimming but I feel as if the initial shock of being put in the tank should be gone now since it is going on 6 days and all the other fish are adjusted and look great.
> 
> My real concern is that if he has a problem that my other fish will become infected as well. Are there any alternatives to feeding besides what I've mentioned? Also I feed them twice a day with a mix between the flake and worms, and substitute every few days with an algae wafer or two.


I had a Red-Tail Shark for a couple years until an unknown disease got him. As far as I can tell his behavior is normal. They are usually rather timid and reclusive for the first couple months, but you should gradually start to see him more. Just keep an eye out for any possible irregularities on his body just to be sure.


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## tankman2 (Jul 7, 2011)

Yea I think it might have just been the shock of first adding him to the tank. Now he is fine, out and about with the rest of the fish and shooting to the top during feeding time for frozen brine shrimp.


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## IronDoll (Nov 8, 2010)

Mine was like that at first but i increased the temp and he loves it and is out all of the time now. I keep it about 80. I bet the new environment shock is all it is.


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## tankman2 (Jul 7, 2011)

Yea I'm at about 80 as well. At first I figured it was initial shock but after waiting like 5 days it was still the same. I guess he just needed more time than average to adjust to his surroundings


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## Fishy Freak (Jun 1, 2011)

Good to hear


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## FishBreeding (Aug 13, 2010)

mine only ate algae wafers for the first couple months i got him he didnt have much coordination and couldnt catch stuff floating so he would always wait until it got to the bottom so make sure he gets food at the bottom


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## tankman2 (Jul 7, 2011)

thanks again for the help guys


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## tankman2 (Jul 7, 2011)

So I unfortunately have some bad news on this. I came home yesterday to find that my red tail was floating around, still alive, but clearly something was long. He looked to be on his last breath being pushed around by my air pump and filter in the tank, swimming upside down and very discolored. Ultimately after observing him for awhile I made the decision to remove him from the tank and put him out of his misery. When taking him out I also realized that I had lost one of my yoyo loaches. It was laying at the bottom looking torn apart and as if it had been dead for a few days. 
Before this I also found one of my tiger barbs one day floating at the top of the tank with its head missing.

I have reason to believe that it is a larger cichlid I have in the tank that has done this to the yoyo and tiger but dont have an explanation for the red tail. 
All of the other fish seem fine with no signs of distress or anything, still eating really well.

I did a 20% water change to be safe yesterday and will probably do another water change in a day or so at about 15%. Does anybody have any ideas on this?

Like I said I was skeptical about the redtail when I first got him- something seemed off. Then he seemed to get better and was fine for a week or two and now this happened. :?


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## tankman2 (Jul 7, 2011)

bump......


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Have you tested your water? What are its parameters?


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## tankman2 (Jul 7, 2011)

yes I tested all the paramaters and have kept up with regular weekly water changes. 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrites and low Nitrates around 10-15ppm. Not sure what type of explanation to give for the recent deaths I had. Besides the ones previously mentioned there have been no more fatalaties and all the fish in the tank seem to be doing fine showing no signs of sickness. Weird.


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

Well.. Red Tailed shark should have a larger tank anyhow, especially not a hexagon. What is the larger cichlid? You didn't mention that earlier.


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