rainbow shark aggressive

twoinchina

We only just got a 10 gallon tank a bit more than a week ago, originally there were 2 rainbow sharks in it and unlike what i read about them, they got along pretty well, stayed together a considerable portion of the time, the second shark was really quiet and hid behind a filter, it died 3 days later, the first one, however, is alive and well.

He (or she) looks a bit fatter than when i got him and swims around, scavenging for food at the bottom all the time. He also seems to enjoy plants, but I am notsure if he eats them or just cleans them off :S

The thing is, he started chasing my female gouramis around the tank (I have 3), and though they are much bigger, they seem to be afraid of him.
The gouramis chase each other around, but even the biggest one seems afraid of the shark.

The shark also chases the other fish (2 male red swordtails and 2 tiny angelfish), but not as much.

Is it normal Rainbow Shark behavior?

Thank you

reverendred

seems like a lot of fish for a 10 gallon tank...

xingumike

yes it is, they are territorial and aggresive and there isn't enough territory in your tank due to overstocking imo.

tbh the other one may well have been hiding from it, hence it died

twoinchina

Thank you very much for your quick responses

unfortunately a bigger tank is not an option right now :(

but i try to keep it clean and the fish are 1.5 to 2 inches long... so hopefully they'll survive

i provided a couple of pvc tunnels, they seem to enjoy. especially the shark

is it normal that it seems to be spending most of the time digging the gravel for food? i feed them 3 times a day and it seems to be joining in on it every time

xingumike

yes my girlfriend has 2 and they sift through the sand as well

lioness501

imo, u r over feeding, they certainly dont need feeding 3 times a day. mine get fed every other day

twoinchina

Thank you much for the advice, I will start feeding them twice a day (can't just cut them poor fishies to once every other day it's their only joy in life - apart from chasing each other around the place)...

what brought me to feeding them this often though are two things:

1) instructions on the can of fishfood I bought

2) the change in behavior, at first, the didn't seem to eat much, at that time I only had a can of tropical fish food - red pellets whick sank to the floor and polluted my gravel.

my angels didn't seem to eat at all, so I went back to the market and asked for some "angel-friendly food". They recommended brine shrimp dried cubes.

Fish seem to be enjoying, all but the angels they eat too but without much enthusiasm.

then I got them tiny live bloodworms or whatever they are called, the fish loved them to the point where one of my angels started scavenging the bottom of the tank with the rest of the fish looking for remaining worms.

now whenever I feed them (I tap on the glass before feeding everytime, so now they know when it's time to eat), all of them swim to the bottom of the tank and look for worms

but I've run out of worms for the last couple of days :(.

however, it looks like the fish started eating more food after the worms were introduced

don't know if it's good or bad

thank you much

lioness501

i feed with flakes every other day, every wednesday they get bloodworms and once a week cucumber. if uneaten food is left to rot this will cause poor water conditions, perhaps u could tone it down to once a day? or feed a variety of food from each day???

musho3210

Please do not have mercy, fish are always hungry and will never stop eating until bloated to the point where they are about to die. Fish can survive 2 weeks without eating and still be acting normal, more than two weeks they can survive but will start to weaken, there was an old tale where a lungfish survived 1 year without feeding. Feed once every other day is fine and it will help the water conditions be not so bad, also you are way overstocked so you need to bring some fish back to your lfs or risk them all dying

zen242

Rainbow sharks are aggressive. Even in a 6 footer they attacked everything else in the tank. Particular similar species like SAEs and a small Bala I was keeping for a friend.