red tail shark...

Ok, so I'm a brand new owner of a 26 gallon fish tank with the intent of buying fish, imagine that! anyways, I fell in love with the red tail shark so I waited my 2 days for the tank to settle in then I ran back to the store to buy just 2 fish to see if everything will work. I got myself 2 red tailed sharks cause they were cool, and because the guy said it was ok. well, needless to say they started fighting when they got in the tank. After reading a lot online I now find that you can't put more then 1 in a tank, some sites said you could if it was really big and/or had a lot of areas to hide. anyays though, how is it that at the store and in the bag on the way home they don't fight? If you can't put more then 1 in a tank how is it that the fish store has like 15 in tank? should I bring one of them back? thanks!

 

It might just be a territorial thing but if they are fighting I would return one. You don't want any damage done to either of them and you could possibly get your money back. I'm new to this myself so I don't know too much but that is just my opinion. Did you allow your tank to cycle first?

 

by cycle, if you mean set it up after rinsing all the rocks, decor, etc, then filling the tank and letting it run for 2 days without and fish, oh and dechlorinating (sp) the water, yes. otherwise, no... I did what the store guy said, I have to admit, I think I know more then they do after reading the internet for about 3 hours. I already found a lot of things I did wrong...

 

Welcome to Fishlore.

The store and bag are short term and don't offer them the same sense of territory as a regular tank.. and they have elevated stress levels. So that helps lower the aggression.

 

welcome to fishlore!
red tail sharks are super aggressive and that's why you can only have one of them in your tank. pet store employees don't even know what they are talking about most of the time and that's why they tell you things that are not truth. take one of those sharks back to the pet store and do water changes cuz you need to cycle your tank. if you can take them both back to the pet store that would be even better so that you can do a fishless cycle and no fish will be harmed or stressed.
good luck!

 

Congrats on the new tank and welcome to fishlore! Honestly, you will get much better information on this forum than at any fish store you go to. Your tank is not yet cycled, so it is not safe for any fish at the moment. I would take some time to read up on the Nitrogen Cycle. This website has lots of information on it. The fastest way to cycle your tank, if you can afford it, is to use Bio-Spira. It will have your tank cycled within a couple of days. Otherwise, doing a regular fishless cycle can take up to 6 weeks. As far as the sharks go, the reason they were probably not fighting at the store is because the tank was overcrowded with a lot of them. There was probably no way for them to establish territories. I would never go by what fish the store has housed together because many times fish are just seperated by species at the store, and compatibility isn't even taken into account.

 

red tails sharks are very aggresive for their small size, the fighting was probably a territorial thing but red tail sharks are known to tease other fish with red on.

 

Hey zizziz,
Sounds like the clerk at the store didn't tell you any thing of value, no surprise. The quality of the water is the most important thing and your tank must be cycled before adding fish. Make sure you read about the Nitrogen cycle and understand it well. There are several ways to cyle your tank and they are explained on this site. The fishless cycle is the one most would suggest as it doesn't harm any fish and there are several ways to go about doing it. Research this site and trust the advice you get in these forums. There are so many knowledgable people here with lots of experience and they are more than happy to help you out. They have all been very kind to me and help me so much. Don't hesitate to ask questions and let us know how things progress...good luck!
Lisa

 

I had to just take my 7 month old red tail shark back to where I bought him from, I kept him with normal tropical fish then changed over to discus and he was bullying them all the time. I am lucky my LFS said they would have him back (much larger than he was when I bought him) and swapped him for 10 neons. Never again he was territorial and a big bully towards all other fish.