Miserable Irridescent Shark! :(

[shazam26]

Hello everyone, I'm pretty new to the forum and I wanted to run something by everyone to see what they think.
There's an irridescent shark at my lfs- it's been there for a little over a year. It's been in the same gravel-less, one-plant 15 gallon the whole time. The poor thing sits on the bottom, swimming in place all day. It kills me to see it. I know I don't have a tank large enough to provide it- nobody does, unless they own an aquarium, really- but wouldn't it be much better off in say a 125 gallon, as opposed to a 15 for the rest of it's life? This guy is about a foot long right now, maybe a little under it.
He's healthy- they feed him well and all that- he's just so miserable. Do I have to just leave him there, or can I house him for a while? I was thinking of maybe keeping him until I could give him to an aquarium of sorts. It just kills me to see the poor thing in there like that.

[MatsP]

This is a definite problem. Is this a "return" (i.e. a fish that got to some poor fishkeeper who grew it to this size?)

You could definitely make it happier by letting it live in a larger tank, but bear in mind that it's a short term solution, and only really big public aquaria (as you correctly state) can take these sort of fishes when they grow big... And even they may find that there are better/more interesting things to do with their tankspace than to take on tank-busters from the general publich (especially if they already have three of that sort in a tank). So what are you going to do with it once it outgrows what you can house it in?

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Mats

[shazam26]

No- as far as I know, they ordered Irridescent sharks, and this is what they got. There was a couple of them there. One that was much larger- my assumption is the poor guy died. He was much too big for a 15 gallon- the one that's there NOW is- but that other poor fish was nearly as long as the tank itself.
It's just so miserable sitting on the bottom of the tank. He's also developed a bump on his nose- obviously he's tried swimming and not gotten far.
I feel so helpless for the poor animal.
I live in a smaller community, so there's nowhere for the pet store to bring him.
I am moving in roughly 2 months- I'm moving to a larger city, where there are aquariums and pet stores better suited to caring for this guy. I was thinking of purchasing him, and caring for him until the big move. Then I could give him to a nice home- perhaps even pay a place to take him in and place in a better home.
T

[racoll]

shazam26, while its obvious that you want to do the right thing, I would be very cautious. If you take him from the store, you may find that you get "lumped" with this fish for a long time.


These animals are not suitable for captivity, and it would not be good to have the responsibility for its long term care on yourself.


There is no guarantee that a larger store would take it.

[MatsP]

racoll makes some very good points. You would have more leverage if you had bought it from the store you want to return it to (particularly if they didn't inform you correctly of the size this fish may attain). If you try to "return it" to a larger store someplace else, look at it from the store's point of view: Why should they take an almost unsellable fish from you?

I appreciate that you will want the best for this fish, but it's really much better if the stores DON'T sell these fish, and one way to achieve that particular objective is to LEAVE them in the store (yes, that's cruel to that particular fish, but if they don't sell this one, they won't get another one in, to fill it's place, which they may be tempted to do in the case when it does get sold, and that just means MORE fish that no-one can care for in the trade!)

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Mats

[shazam26]

That's just the problem. -_- Irridescent sharks are so, so popular. I've heard of so many people buying them- keeping them in 10 g tanks. This store in particular won't sell that fish to anyone with a tank smaller than 55 g. But they always seem to have a few sharks in. Perhaps I should contact the management of the aquarium in the city I'm moving to, to see if they would take him in? They have beyond plenty of tanks... very large ones. They have freshwater, brackish and saltwater tanks there.

[Moontanman]

I have an observation/question about these catfish. I rescued one from a petshop and put it in my125 along with several other fish both small and large. It was about 12" long. I kept it for five years before the tank failed and I lost everything in the tank to drying out but my point/question is this. The Irridescent shark never got any larger. He was rather calm as these fish go but other than that he was a normal Irridescent shark. He was healthy, he ate well on black worms and pellets but he never grew any larger. The person who had him before me had him in a 55 by himself. I am a firm believer that fish do not grow in some mysterious way to fit their container but this one sure seemed to do so.

[Moontanman]

Let's bring this discussion to an end. The only reason I wanted it to carry on has been resolved. I felt the way that fish were being written off as unsuitable for aquariums was very flippant. I have discussed this with several people and the consensus has been personal choice should play big role in what fish you keep. Not what some else thinks about the fish in question. We have agreed that personal choice should be a big part of anyone's choice of fish! If not them then who?

Michael Hissom

[racoll]

Moontanman, you have the wrong thread here I think.

Copy your post into this thread, and we can both delete these posts.

[Moontanman]

I don't know what you mean but if it will bury these embarassinmg posts then more power to it!


Michael

Moontanman, you have the wrong thread here I think.

Copy your post into this thread, and we can both delete these posts.