alyssium

Alright,

my redtail black shark is doing well. i adore him and show his picture to everyone that will let me. i'm only having one issue. he charges everythign in the tank constantly. i had guppies with him and he split their fins so i adopted them out. i put in albino tiger barbs which are supposed to be okay with him. he's started splitting their fins, so i'm going to again adopt them out.

i'm getting a 50 in about two weeks, right now he's in a 20. he's about three inches long so i know it's about time for the upgrade. is that the main reason he's being a jerk? and what could i put wiht him that would work?

capekate

The 20g tank may very well be the reason for the RTS's aggression in your tank. I think that it may calm down much more in a larger tank. Also,do you have a good hiding place for it? Such as a cave where he can mark it as his own territory? If he is as aggressive as you say, I sure wouldnt put any other fish in that tank til you have sorted out the problem. RTS are not normally aggressive unto other species other than their own, so the only thing that I can think of is he is not feeling secure in the tank.
Best of luck with him

alyssium

there is a large boat in the tank. i have small clown loaches that he leaves alone... and i mean samll .. i got the smallest babies. cuz i know as well, in teh fifty they will do okay. the boat takes up most of it and ernest is the only one who enjoys the boat.

capekate

It seems to me that you have too many bottom dwellers in the tank,(as you already know) as the CL's prefer the bottom as does the RTS. Im still thinking that the RTS is stressed out and insecure and hopefully it will be happy as soon as its in a larger tank.

Lucy

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Thank you and I hope Ernest settles down for you soon.

Good luck.

alyssium

see, everywhere i've read says that rts's and loaches go well together, and there doesn't seem to be issue between them together. the barbs that stay at the top and generally more so towards teh corners are getting the most .. agression. i would expect more towards the loaches. i have a hard time figuring out who to trust as everyone has different answers. i thought i found a fish guy i could trust here.. but now i'm questioning everythign again.

mathas

Not for long they won't.

Different fish can have different personalities, so what works for some people won't work for others.

One thing I haven't seen answered is when the aggression is taking place. Is it at mealtime, when they're competing for food? Is it retaliation after the barbs act aggressively first? Is it when the barbs try to get too close to the shark's territory? Or is it just a generalized, I-don't-like-you aggression, where it attacks for no discernible reason?

But regardless, more space should hopefully alleviate some of the issues.

sirdarksol

If this is more or less happening all the time, it's likely that it's the typical RTS territoriality. There simply isn't enough space in the aquarium for the thing to have its own space, so it sees the entire tank as its space.

Matt

I agree with Sirdarksol

From Matt