Rainbow Shark Doesn’t eat with other fish?

20 gallon tank-fully cycled
Housing
-1 small shark (aware I will need to upgrade tank as he grows but right now he’s very small)
-6 glofish tetras

Glofish shark (rainbow shark?) doesn’t seem to acknowledge flakes AT ALL. Fish store lady said he would eat whatever I fed my other fish so I don’t understand...
He’s very very active and spends lots of time behaving very much like an algae eater, cleaning gravel and tank decor. He has claimed a pink castle as his territory and spends about half his time in there. I’ve tried presoaking some flakes but EVERYTIME I feed he gets scared and swims to his castle. The flakes float down and he couldn’t be less interested. I’ve had him for little over a week and other than the lack-of-flake-interest he seems fine. Am I over worried about his food intake? Should I get him some algae wafers? Is he surviving fine off of cleaning the tank? Tia for responses ❤️
I posted a few pics just to show tank setup (it’s changed a little bit mostly the same) and his color/behavior

 

What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?

 

Even if your rainbow shark was eating the flakes, you shouldn't be feeding him just that. Try feeding some invertebrates (Bloodworms, Brineshrimp, etc.), and supplement with some algae wafers every once in a while.

 

20 gallon tank-fully cycled
Housing
-1 small shark (aware I will need to upgrade tank as he grows but right now he’s very small)
-6 glofish tetras

Glofish shark (rainbow shark?) doesn’t seem to acknowledge flakes AT ALL. Fish store lady said he would eat whatever I fed my other fish so I don’t understand...
He’s very very active and spends lots of time behaving very much like an algae eater, cleaning gravel and tank decor. He has claimed a pink castle as his territory and spends about half his time in there. I’ve tried presoaking some flakes but EVERYTIME I feed he gets scared and swims to his castle. The flakes float down and he couldn’t be less interested. I’ve had him for little over a week and other than the lack-of-flake-interest he seems fine. Am I over worried about his food intake? Should I get him some algae wafers? Is he surviving fine off of cleaning the tank? Tia for responses ❤
I posted a few pics just to show tank setup (it’s changed a little bit mostly the same) and his color/behavior

Don't feed them flakes, they should be eating shrimp pellets. There are a lot of brands that sell shrimp pellets.

BTW I will assume that you got these fish from Petco or Petsmart. Their employees rarely have training in animals. Just a heads up.


To recap, getting shrimp pellets would probably eliminate this problem.

 

Oh wow you have almost the same fish set up as I do lol. I have 5 tetras and a shark. William (my shark) gets algae wafers and shrimp pellets, he’s never seemed interested in the flakes other than checking out what the tetras are doing while they eat. His favorite is Hikari brand wafers.

 

What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?

Ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0 and nitrate is about 10? It’s pinkish but not dark

Thank you all! I’ll try to give him some more options!

 

Oh wow you have almost the same fish set up as I do lol. I have 5 tetras and a shark. William (my shark) gets algae wafers and shrimp pellets, he’s never seemed interested in the flakes other than checking out what the tetras are doing while they eat. His favorite is Hikari brand wafers.

that’s awesome! I love the glofish tertras. A couple of mine are the longfin variety but the fish don’t seem to acknowledge the difference. My 2 young kids adore them. I know a bunch of fish people look down on glofish because their gm but they deserve to be given homes too?? I would hate to think that the glofish get left to die in the pet stores just because the fish community can be snooty when it comes to them. I love ur orange in ur profile pic! My favorite in my tank is the orange!

 

Rainbow sharks are not ideal for a community tank, especially a 20 gallon. They are highly territorial as you have already noted with his claiming the castle decoration. Because of this, they really need a much larger aquarium, 50-55 gal minimum. If you want to keep more than one, you need a really big aquarium. He may do OK in the 20 gallon as a juvenile, but be planning to upgrade in the next few months.

If you have access to frozen foods like frozen bring shrimp, mysis shrimp, an blood worms, your rainbow shark might accept them more readily. It is best to thaw them out before feeding them to your tank. The tetras will welcome them as well.

Hikari makes some sinking wafers specifically designed for carnivore bottom feeders. Omega One makes some slow sinking mini pellets that would also be good for both. As the fish grow, they might prefer the sinking pellets that are slightly larger. The also sell shrimp pellets. Both Hikari and Omega One are top names in the fish food business. Hikari is based in Japan. Omega One is based in Alaska.

 

that’s awesome! I love the glofish tertras. A couple of mine are the longfin variety but the fish don’t seem to acknowledge the difference. My 2 young kids adore them. I know a bunch of fish people look down on glofish because their gm but they deserve to be given homes too?? I would hate to think that the glofish get left to die in the pet stores just because the fish community can be snooty when it comes to them. I love ur orange in ur profile pic! My favorite in my tank is the orange!

I completely agree! And thanks! That’s Chunk Norris, my favorite tetra (don’t tell the others lol)

 

Oh! And sense we have the same setups, some advice I wish someone had given me about rainbow sharks: Put a sponge over your filter intake!!! Sharks like to suck on EVERYTHING and occasionally go to check out the filter and their long bodies get stuck. I lost one baby shark that way and now I recommend sponge filters to everyone.

 

Th

Oh! And sense we have the same setups, some advice I wish someone had given me about rainbow sharks: Put a sponge over your filter intake!!! Sharks like to suck on EVERYTHING and occasionally go to check out the filter and their long bodies get stuck. I lost one baby shark that way and now I recommend sponge filters to everyone.

That’s great advice! He is small and sucks on everything!

 

Update: I purchased some shrimp pellets and hikari wafers. Both were a complete bust I was so excited to get him some food he would eat but it’s been two days and all the pellets and wafers have just soiled. (I’m vacuuming them up after they turn to complete mush) The crazy part is he seems so excited when I put them in the tank. I know he smells them. He paces the tank and swim all around but when he finds it he just gives it a millisecond of attention and goes on, never having actually ATE anything. And my tetras can’t eat the shrimp pellets. They can hold them and swim around but their jaws are just too small to actually get them in their mouths. All except one pink tetra who I’m afraid is becoming morbidly obese! She is the only fish attempting to consume everything. I’m attaching a pic of her now.
Could something be wrong with my shark???
Is my pink tetra going to explode??

 

Although your tetras might not be able to swallow a shrimp pellet whole, once it starts to soften up, they will be able to eat.

Does your LFS sell frozen foods such as brine shrimp, bloodworms, tubiflex worms or mysis shrimp? If so, try one of them. They are much closer to live foods. Hopefully, you rainbow shark will eat them. Just allow them to thaw out first.

I do not know what to tell you about your swollen tetra. The photos are not clear enough for diagnosis. t is possible she is overeating, but there is a possibility of internal parasites. Watch her carefully to see if you see stringy poop or evidence of worms.

 

I think they do sell the frozen foods. I’ll look next time I’m there. I wish I could get a better pic. She’s seriously starting to resemble a goldfish with how round she is.

 

These may be clearer