About My Iridescent Shark Catfish

I had 1 iridescent shark in my 25g tank. I know now its too small for a tank so small but when I bought the fish I had no idea about that( or I would not have bought it). I bought it 3 months ago. It was probably just 2.5 inches long when I bought it now I think its length is around 4 inches.
Now I recently purchased a school of neon tetras and they are really small now(like half an inch). I was worried that my iridescent shark can eat the neons and so I had to dump the shark in a nearby local pond. I knew that one day I eventually had to get rid of it but I always imagined it will be probably after it get at least 8 inches long( maybe after another 6 months I think). But the because of the neons I had to do it now. I am feeling a little bit of guilt after dumping it. The shark has been in my tank for 3 months and I grew really fond of it.

Also I know that dumping aquarium fishes in wild is wrong but I had no other option. The fish store from where I bought it won't take it back. So, I had to get rid of it one day, sooner or later.

I just want to know what are its chances of survival? I live in India in Kolkata and here the temperature even in winter is not that much cold( max 10°C past midnight, mostly above 15°C at day - these temperaturesare in winter, summers are obviously much hotter).

I know its a tropical fish so I mentioned the temperatures. Even 10°C night trmperature is not very common. Though I don't know about the water temperature. I am talking about the atmospheric temperature only.

Also the pond is not very clean, no chemical wastes as such but the water is murky muddy and dirty ( the colour of the water is light brownish like the colour of mud). I could not find a clean pond in my locality.
I just want to know will my fish survive there as I was very fond of it?
I read that these fishes are original habitants of ponds in tropical areas of South-East Asia.
So is it going to live there or die?
What are the chances?

 

incredibly irresponsible

 

Dropping off a fish into local water is disrupting the local ecosystem.

Would've been much better to find someone to take the fish.

 

That's how species get banned from the aquarium trade.

 

Releasing fish into a local river or pond is illegal in some states, It destroys native species and ecosystems. Please do NOT release fish in the future. As far as the sharks chance of survival it is very slim.

 

In all honestly, it would of been a better idea to kill the fish yourself rather than adding to a strange ecosystem where it is likely to cause problems for the local critters. Where I live it is against the law to release aquarium fish, or even transfer native fish from one lake to another.

As for the chances of it surviving, catfish are very hardy and can survive in terrible conditions. The only problem I see is it getting eaten by another fish/animal or the temperature going being too cold for it to function.

 

Dropping off a fish into local water is disrupting the local ecosystem.

Would've been much better to find someone to take the fish.

But these fishes are native to south-east Asia. Though they are not native fish of India but we fall under south-east Asia too and the temperatures and climatic conditions of there and here are similar.
Plus who would take it? All the people I know who had fish tank does not have any tank bigger than 30g. It's too small for the fish.
I had no other choice. Once I have bought it I had no other choice, 25g is too small for that fish, the fish store won't take it back. When I bought it I did not know about the fish. They sell the fish here by the name 'tiger shark'. I thought it would be a shark species like red tail shark or rainbow shark. The pet store guy lied to me that it will do well in a 25g tank. As I did not know it's original name, I was not able to research on it before buying it. Later I came to know it's real name surfing fishlore fish profiles and came to know how big the fish gets.

Now blaming me is easy, I understand. But it was not my fault. I would have bought it if I knew about the fish earlier.
It will be good if you guys answer my question that whether it's going to survive or not.

p.S.- In India aquarium trade laws are not that strict and I guarantee because some guys dump the fish in a pond, (considering a few others made the same mistake too as here the fish store guys misleads), the fish won't get banned from aquarium trade.

 

You made a big mistake .Instead of trying to justify your actions try learning from them. Own it.

 

Releasing fish into a local river or pond is illegal in some states, It destroys native species and ecosystems. Please do NOT release fish in the future. As far as the sharks chance of survival it is very slim.

No I won't repeat the same mistake in future. I too care about my fish that's why I posted it. also I have read in internet that in many countries dumping aquarium fish in natural waters in illegal but it is not here in India. I am not saying that I did a right thing, but I did not do a illegal thing. In India there is no laws regarding aquarium fishes, The aquarium trade is not regulated legally, it does not fall under the legal jurisdiction. You guys will be amazed to see how the pet stores keep the fishes, 1 betta in a half gallon pot, 20 baby iridescent sharks in a less than 20 gallon tank, more than 100 mollies in a 50 gallon tank and so on.

You made a big mistake .Instead of trying to justify your actions try learning from them. Own it.

I am not justifying my actions. I am telling the truth. It's easy to blame someone without knowing the truth. What would you do if you can't search information on the internet, does not know about the fish and I, an aquarium shop owner told you that these fishes live happily in a 25g tank?
Lastly, if you have a little grey matter on your brain, you should understand that I care about my fish, otherwise I would have bothered taking trouble ask the question. So I would have in no way do anything to harm my fish intentionally.

You made a big mistake .Instead of trying to justify your actions try learning from them. Own it.

I am not justifying my actions. I am telling the truth. It's easy to blame someone without knowing the truth. What would you do if you can't search information on the internet, does not know about the fish and I, an aquarium shop owner told you that these fishes live happily in a 25g tank?
Lastly, if you have a little grey matter on your brain, you should understand that I care about my fish, otherwise I would have bothered taking trouble ask the question. So I would have in no way do anything to harm my fish intentionally.

 

It may not be illegal but it doesn't make it right. Here in the us we had problems with people dumping fish in water ways and it upsets the whole eco system for native fish. In Florida they have large populations of oscars and common plecos. They out compete native species and are very destructive. That's why the laws are now in place to discourage future dumping. Other species like snake heads are out right illegal to own because of this.

 

You cared enough to throw it in a pond not knowing if it would live or die? I'm done

 

No one's attacking you here. We're just pointing out that you most definitely messed up. Even if the other guys are doing it, it doesn't make it okay for you to do it. Same thing goes for the arguement that it's native to that area; I'd almost guarantee it's not native to your specific 50-100 mile radius, meaning that you just introduced a foreign organism to a somewhat fragile ecosystem. If it survives, it'll cause problems. Definitely would have been better to euthanize it.

 

So even if I knew beforehand that it won't live in a pond, then what was I supposed to do? Cook and eat it?
Aren't you getting that I had no other choice?
Should I keep it in a 25g tank knowing that it would eventually grow much bigger and die or should I take a chance by releasing it to its natural habitat if it had even only 1% chance of surviving?( the natural habitat of the fish is south-east Asian ponds)
Tell me what choice did I have once the fish store refused to take it back.

It may not be illegal but it doesn't make it right. Here in the us we had problems with people dumping fish in water ways and it upsets the whole eco system for native fish. In Florida they have large populations of oscars and common plecos. They out compete native species and are very destructive. That's why the laws are now in place to discourage future dumping. Other species like snake heads are out right illegal to own because of this.

No one's attacking you here. We're just pointing out that you most definitely messed up. Even if the other guys are doing it, it doesn't make it okay for you to do it. Same thing goes for the arguement that it's native to that area; I'd almost guarantee it's not native to your specific 50-100 mile radius, meaning that you just introduced a foreign organism to a somewhat fragile ecosystem. If it survives, it'll cause problems. Definitely would have been better to euthanize it.

Okay I understand. What you guys are saying is right. Though I pointed out it's not illegal here, I also agrred that it was not the right thing to do. I thought it was the right thing to do at that moment.
Also just to inform you iridescent catfish are not native to India but here in almost every ponds we have a fish named tangra which is very much similar looking to that of iridescent catfish, though tangra is much smaller. But the two fishes looks really identical and it is found almost in every pond here. I am sharing a picture of tangra. I am sure that these two belonged to the same category though tangra grows half the size of an iridescent catfish but they look alike.

Anyway guys, I understand I did a wrong thing. Won't happen again.

Now it will be really helpful if you guys please say about what you think that whether it's going to live or die.
The thing I can tell you is that the temperature and other conditions are similar to its native place. Also the pond where I dumped it does not have any fish large enough to eat a iridescent shark catfish. Not considering the birds or snakes, they can eat it though but other than that kindly tell what you guys think about it's chances of survival.

And again it was wrong, won't happen again.

 

It'll more than likely die, especially if it was captive-born and raised.

Euthanization would've been the better thing to do, which usually involves either certain types of oil or freezing the fish to death. Both are supposedly relatively painless.

 

Personally, I would have kept it. 25g is NOT the worst thing in the world, and I doubt it would have eaten your neons. Aggression may have been a concern, though. I definitely wouldn’t have euthenized it, just because someone on the internet told you it was the humane thing to do.

As far as survival, who knows. It could very well thrive, if it doesn’t get eaten by predators.

Muddy ponds doesn’t mean it’s dirty or polluted.

 

No I won't repeat the same mistake in future. I too care about my fish that's why I posted it. also I have read in internet that in many countries dumping aquarium fish in natural waters in illegal but it is not here in India. I am not saying that I did a right thing, but I did not do a illegal thing. In India there is no laws regarding aquarium fishes, The aquarium trade is not regulated legally, it does not fall under the legal jurisdiction. You guys will be amazed to see how the pet stores keep the fishes, 1 betta in a half gallon pot, 20 baby iridescent sharks in a less than 20 gallon tank, more than 100 mollies in a 50 gallon tank and so on.

I am aware that in India it is not illegal, I just shared that it is illegal here in the U.S. in some states. It is quite sad however to hear how the pet stores keep their fishes.

 

I don't know it doesn't sound much different than how some stores here keep their fish. Our bettas are kept in little cups by the sounds of it they keep their bettas in bigger containers.

 

Actually, an iridescent shark in a 25g wouldn’t have worked long term. I thought you had a rainbow shark, if I recall from a thread a while back.

No I won't repeat the same mistake in future. I too care about my fish that's why I posted it. also I have read in internet that in many countries dumping aquarium fish in natural waters in illegal but it is not here in India. I am not saying that I did a right thing, but I did not do a illegal thing. In India there is no laws regarding aquarium fishes, The aquarium trade is not regulated legally, it does not fall under the legal jurisdiction. You guys will be amazed to see how the pet stores keep the fishes, 1 betta in a half gallon pot, 20 baby iridescent sharks in a less than 20 gallon tank, more than 100 mollies in a 50 gallon tank and so on.

Same story, in the US. Actually, I’ve seen worse.

 

david1978, good point actually. I was mainly referring to the other example though.

 

Actually, an iridescent shark in a 25g wouldn’t have worked long term. I thought you had a rainbow shark, if I recall from a thread a while back.

Not a rainbow shark, but a red tail shark. You recall correctly. I have 4 tanks. One of them have 1 red tail shark with mollies, couple of cory catfish, peppered cories and 1 orange color pleco. Other has neons, red zebra danios, serpae teras and cory catfish(Here I had the iridescent shark catfish, though then I did not have the serpae tetra or zebra danios), I only had the shark with 4 cory catfish, later I added the neons, dumped the iridescent shark catfish and then added the rest.
My 3rd tank is a cichlid tank with yellow lab cichlid, yellow aratus and blue aratus.
4th one is really small - a 5 gallon tank with 1 tri-colored betta and 3 cory catfish.

I don't know it doesn't sound much different than how some stores here keep their fish. Our bettas are kept in little cups by the sounds of it they keep their bettas in bigger containers.

By the way, tell me what do you personally think about the shark's chances of survival. According to you is it likely to live or die?

 

Honestly it would probably be better if it passed. I know its horrible to say but you don't want to start an invasive species. If someone released one of the same species but opposite sex into the same pond it could be bad. It really depends on the other fish in the pond, if there big enough to eat it or not.

 

By the way, tell me what do you personally think about the shark's chances of survival. According to you is it likely to live or die?

I say 50/50...it could be food for a bigger fish in the pond or it might end up being the one that eats the other fish in the pond. It's tough to say since nobody knows what's in that pond.