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Originally Posted by susitna-flower
[color=navy]All the sites that talk about iridescent shark state they grow as large as 4 FEET !! that is not 12" max! Fish stores should not sell such fish to people who are not equipped to keep them. If you are not prepared to get a bigger tank, call different stores and tell them what you have, and that you want to find them a home. Even if they don't have any in stock, doesn't mean they wouldn't take them. You never know till you try!
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The 4 foot thing is only ever really gonna happen in the wild. I have seen 4 foot Ir sharks yes, but it is VERY unlikely that a home aquarist will ever get them even close to this. The 4 footers I saw were at a city aquarium. They had over 1500Gals. I have read a lot of different things about these guys and the average owners say theirs only ever got to be around 12-25 inches. THESE ARE STILL FREAKIN HUGE FISH, but no where near 4 feet. What you do have to consider and plan for, however, is the
possibility of larger size. As I said earlier, "plan for the worst". Plan to have a 400+ Gal. tank. It doesn't mean you will need it, but you might, so plan ahead. There are those owners who say theirs were tank busters. So, when it comes down to it, their final size is gonna be different for each fish. Of my 2, one has grown 1 inch in 7 months and is 10 inches now, but the other has actually grown very little. I did some measuring last night and the small one has grown maybe a half inch. He's about 7.5 inches now. So I was a little off on my earlier estimate of 2 inches each. I stated in an earlier post that they were running out of room in the 150, but it is not because of the Ir sharks, it's the Tin Foils. Right now each fish in the 150 has about 30 Gals. each of space. At the end of the year I hope to have a second 150 just for the Irs. I think in my case I'll have enough room for them. I'm not saying this is the case for all Ir sharks. You never know till they start to grow. Like I said these Irs are almost 4 years old and have always had a fair amount of room and I'm very good to my fish.
I would very much agree that these fish should not ever be sold. They should be a special order fish for experts only. I started my fish hobby 4 years ago...with Ir Sharks. I learned an important first lesson. Don't buy them. I vowed to do whatever it takes to care for these guys and it is gonna cost me. A LOT!!!! So, yes you should try to find a new home for them. You should also tell the store you bought them from, what these fish can be. I saw some at my LFS once and I talked with the owner and she just hadn't realized. The people she got them from suggested them to her because they sell well. That is terrible. They sell well because they're cute, but can be kind of touchy when they are young so people just keep buying them, killing them, then buying more. Or they are "getting rid" of them because they are too big and then buying more small ones. They are really cute fish.
Anyway, enough rambling on for now. I just wanted to clarify what I was getting at with the "12in max" comment. I actually meant 18 anyway. The only way I can see much more than 20in is if they just steadily grow over the years. Like I said though, they have slowed considerely after about 3 years. I just don't see them getting much bigger that 18".
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Yeah I just thought I'd share my experience with these guys. I thought it kind of demonstrated a broader spectrum of why these fish should probably be left in the wild. The range of growth is too unpredictable. Heck what if mine hit another growth spurt lol. I'll be building a Heated pool in my back yard. 
