New fish resulted in sudden depression?

Hi,
I recently bought three red-eyed tetras about 2-3 weeks ago and every since I put them in my tank with the iridescent shark in it, Buster (the shark) has just been laying on the bottom, not eating. Occasionally I'll catch him swimming around or moving to a different spot but he seems to be getting worse

I have no clue what's going on. My tank is 76 degrees Fahrenheit and the water seems to be fine.

 

are the other fish picking on him? he may just be stressed about new tankmates.

 

No they don't bother him at all. They just swim together and hangout behind a rock. It looks like Buster can't swim, he kind of just rocks back and for on the ground.

 

The way I see it, Mr. ID shark is big enough to most literally bust the tank. ID Sharks look tiny and cute when they're sold at the pet store, and then grow to 4 foot monsters that most definitely should not be kept in 10 gallon tanks.

Your ID shark is probably majorly stressed from the transition from the fish store to your tank. Could you provide the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)? He may be suffering from ammonia poisoning.

Most of all, I suggest you rehome him as soon as possible, return him to the fish store, or get a 400 gallon tank. Otherwise, it's not going to be if he survives or not, it would be how long before he expires, to put it bluntly.

 

I have never once that I can remember made a comment to someone keeping a certain fish in too small of a tank on this site.

However I will say, if your aquarium info tab is correct, you are setting yourself up to have constant problems if not total failure with keeping an ID shark in a 10 gallon tank, without even considering the few Tetras in there also.
The same would go for the two goldfish in the 5gallon.

There could be a number of problems that are causing this behavoir.


Brian

 

Adding fish can result in ammonia/nitrite/nitrate spikes which might be bothering your shark.

Unfortunately the others are right about the size of your fish. It's much too cramped in there for him. ID sharks grow to 3-4 feet. It sucks that pet stores sell these guys without telling anybody this because almost nobody has a big enough tank. Try to return him if you can, I know it sucks, especially after naming him. Once that's done we can help you get your tank going great and help you pick out some new fun and colorful fish!

 

Good morning and Welcome to Fish Lore Tiny!

Here is a link that you may find helpful if you haven't already seen it:
https://www.fishlore.com/profile-iridescentshark.htm

Ken

 

When you buy fish or actually befor you buy fish look them up. It is not a case of "oh pretty" The ID must go without choise. The goldfish as well. Then we will talk about adding red eyes(a bit big for a 10) that are of unapropriate schooling size.

 

My friend gave me the shark because she didn't want it anymore, I plan on giving it away to the biology department or hopefully one of my biology professors at my university. It's quite tiny though, I'd say only about 4 inches.

 

A 4" ID shark needs a much bigger tank than a 10 gallon. A 55 gallon would be a suitable grow out for one,for a few months. You need to re-home it ASAP. The behavior it is showing is from being housed in a tank that is way too small.

 

Even at 4 inches, the shark is being stressed from being in a cramped environment. The longer you wait to rehome it, the more stressed it will become. Illness will most likely occur.

And a 10 gallon is not large enough for the tetras, who need to be in a minimum school of 6.

Your goldfish require 20 gallons for the first and then 10 gallons for each additional.

If you'd like to rehome all, we can then help you properly stock your tanks.

 

My friend gave me the shark because she didn't want it anymore, I plan on giving it away to the biology department or hopefully one of my biology professors at my university. It's quite tiny though, I'd say only about 4 inches.

Size won't matter. You were 4" once and now you're much bigger than that.

For what it's worth, I had one of these guys in a 55 and he was about 5". I had him for a few years and he rarely came out to swim. Most times he hid. When he did come out he would simply swim up and down the side of my tank. He wasn't going left and right, only up and down along the tank side.