Help before its too late

lildunn34 · Post by **lildunn34** » 16 Feb 2003, 15:35

I just bought a pl*co and a brackish balck fin shark, i wanted to know if that is a good mix in a 40 gallon tank and do i need to put salt in the water?

Post by **Silurus** » 16 Feb 2003, 16:45

Nope, not a good mix. The pleco will not be able to tolerate the amount of salt that the shark will eventually require.
Juvenile sharks do OK in fresh water, but they will eventually require a brackish/marine environment as they mature.

Zack · Post by **Zack** » 16 Feb 2003, 17:28

The shark would also appreciate a few more as they like to school. The tank is too small for both once full grown.

lildunn34 · Post by **lildunn34** » 16 Feb 2003, 17:56

What if i dont put any salt in the water will the black fin die when it gets older

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 16 Feb 2003, 19:23

Count on it, almost 100%
If you like fish that look a bit like that shark and cruise the tank too; maybe some young doradids or shilbeids will do for you. They combine with Pleco's and there are several species that don't grow big.
Or good old Pimelodus pictus; easy to get, but DEFINITELY worth the money, and always on the move; especially with a few. And those won't outgrow the tank either.

lildunn34 · Post by **lildunn34** » 16 Feb 2003, 19:48

so what if i put 5 table spoons of salt in the tank with the pleco will the pleco die,

Pleco:2 1/2 inch

black fin shark: 3 inch

tank size: 40 gallon

PLEASE HELP

Post by **Barbie** » 16 Feb 2003, 21:32

They did help. You just don't like the answer you got, so you keep asking it different ways. The fish are not going to be compatible to live with each other. Your tank is too small for their adult size. Responsibly, you should return them and research fish that will fit the environment you can provide for them. If that's not the solution you'd like to hear, then you can always ask again, or in other places. Eventually someone will tell you what you want to hear. The fish will probably live a while the way you're keeping them, but it just takes an added stress or two of any kind to do them in that way. Its not recommended, or a good idea, in my experience. Good luck.

Barbie

lildunn34 · Post by **lildunn34** » 16 Feb 2003, 22:00

your mean, but im going to keep them and see what transpires

clothahump · Post by **clothahump** » 16 Feb 2003, 23:14

I do not think Barbie was being mean at all, she is just stating that these fish are not compatable.

SirHelm · Post by **SirHelm** » 17 Feb 2003, 03:18

Barbie was right on the money with her post! And no she was not being mean. On this forum you have access to some of the most exeperienced catfish experts on the freaking planet! You went and made a very common mistake of buying fish without researching them, or were mislead by some LFS clerk. You have now found out that you should return at least one of them, so that they can have a chance of leading a normal exsistence. However in your 10 year old brain you have decided that will ignore the above sage advice and see how it goes. Well when you are flushing your dead pleco down the toilet, you may want to reflect on the immature decision you have just made.

You are not a responsible pet owner. Simple as that!! You would rather condem fish to a slow and prolonged agonizing death, then return it.... all because you think they are "cool". Very sad.

BTW you have no idea what "mean" is...... Oh wait yes you do...... it is about the same as slowly killing your fish.....

SH

gail · Post by **gail** » 17 Feb 2003, 04:05

Lildunn, please wait, and hear these people's comments. They truly love these fish, and they have unrivaled expertise in caring for them. I came to this forum a week ago with a terrible situation... I was a complete novice with an unidentified catfish... this forum helped me identify the fish, get the fish a correct tank set-up, and feed him correctly. After their advice and support, my fish is doing beautifully. Please let them help you. They are a truly caring and expert bunch of people. Your little fish are your helpless dependents; you must care about them or you wouldn't have gone to the trouble of finding this site. Maybe you could take one fish back and build your tank around the other. These people will help you! Please let them! I wish you the best. Very sincerely, Gail

lildunn34 · Post by **lildunn34** » 18 Feb 2003, 21:42

ok guys i really apreaciate all this help and i did some research and i fond out that plecos can survive in brackish waters so tommorow im putting some aquarium salt in the tank and see how it goes, but before that i want to know when is a person sapose to change the black fin sharks water to brackish, if it is to soon tell me because the lady at petsmart didnt say a thing.

Post by **Silurus** » 18 Feb 2003, 22:22

There isn't very much known about the migratory patterns of ariids, but I would say when your fish hits 8 inches or so.

lildunn34 · Post by **lildunn34** » 18 Feb 2003, 22:31

i know youall have told me this over and over again but i found a few sites that said that plecos can survive in brackish waters so im going to do more research and keep on wishing. heres the site http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pCatId=936

Post by **Silurus** » 18 Feb 2003, 22:47

Hmm, the site did not specifically say that you could keep plecos and sharks together for the long term. Some of the supposed tankmates (barbs and danios) listed there definitely will NOT tolerate any significant amount of salt in the water, so I don't take that as a green light for putting the fish together.
Besides, I'm somewhat skeptical about the accuracy of information from a website that says that Chinese algae eaters are catfish...

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 18 Feb 2003, 23:05

Remember, we should not just be looking for our fish to survive. We should be looking for them to thrive. Which would you yourself rather do?
Under the conditions you are planning on forcing your fish to live they are highly unlikely to be able to thrive, even if they survive. Your aquarium is way too small for even a half-grown Shark Cat, and just because one site tells you that Plecs will tolerate Brackish water doesn't change the fact that several people on this forum have told you that they will not do well under these conditions. If you still insist on risking the lives of your fish in this way then you are actually willing to commit an act of cruelty, and there's too much of that around already.
If I were you I'd stop shopping at a 'pet superstore', and find yourself a proper aquarium shop where you will be able to get proper advice about your fish that will allow you to actually enjoy this hobby.

Post by **Dinyar** » 19 Feb 2003, 05:21

Maybe I'm just old and jaded, but one thing I think I've learned over the years is that you can't save prople from themselves if they don't want to be.

Someone like Gail can come in here and learn a lot in a short time because she wants to learn, and because she didn't think she already had the answers. It takes maturity to be able to do that.

Dinyar

edward · Post by **edward** » 19 Feb 2003, 10:09

oh well, as the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

Makes me wonder why ask for advice in the first place. I have to say I have asked for help a number of times on this site, and the answer has always been prompt,useful and supported with experience. I guess if you have already decided to ignore advice that you don't want to hear, then you're beyond help.

sigh

lildunn34 · Post by **lildunn34** » 19 Feb 2003, 15:31

ok, guys it really was to late. My filter sucked up the black fin and now its dead and i want to know what would be a good mate for the pleco now. Im very sad that the shark die and i didnt want it to die this way so now what???

Post by **Silurus** » 19 Feb 2003, 15:45

First thing to do would be to get all of the salt out of the water.
Next thinhg to consider...do you want a concept tank (i.e. all fishes from one continent), or just a mishmash of community fish?

jscoggs27 · Post by **jscoggs27** » 19 Feb 2003, 17:02

Maybe it would be a good idea to investigate how your filter managed to suck up a fast moving fish like that. Before you put anything else in the tank with a risk of killing that as well.
jason

lildunn34 · Post by **lildunn34** » 19 Feb 2003, 21:08

ok this happened many times before with my gold fishes, for some reason the filter always sucks up the small fishes that like to swin in current( black fin Shark) and i want to know how do i prevent this, Gladly i didnt put any salt in the tank and the pleco is ok in a boat at the bottom of the tank and before i get a bala i want to know how to prevent this form happening again. It got half its body sucked in sideways so it was like balancing upside down inder the filter. One more thing, I DO LISTEN TO U GUYS AND GALS so thanks for the previous help and i need some more before i do anything elso more stupid.

Post by **Silurus** » 19 Feb 2003, 21:18

Did you put a filter basket (or a screen or whatever these things are called) over the inlet? This would stop the filter from ingesting large objects like your fish.

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 19 Feb 2003, 21:53

eheim (im sure some other comps will have this too) produce a prefilter thing that costs about 10 euro...

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 20 Feb 2003, 00:20

lildunn34 wrote:Gladly i didnt put any salt in the tank and the pl*co is ok in a boat at the bottom of the tank and before i get a bala i want to know how to prevent this form happening again.

OK, before you get a Bala Shark, they get to two feet long, need to be in shoals, and barely qualify as aquarium fish. Cross it off your list. I've known people have problems with this fish in a 150 gallon aquarium.

I would guess that maybe your Arius didn't get sucked in while it was alive. I would say that maybe it died or was dying and got drawn against the intake. That's the only way a fish like that would get trapped even by an unshielded intake.
I'm picking up a bit of a 'sharky vibe' in your stock choices. The thing is, fish that swim like sharks need ROOM. That's why they swim that way. So, unless you are prepared to give over the biggest part of a large room to an aquarium, you're restricted to fish that get no more than a few inches in length.
In a 40 gallon tank the biggest fish you should be considering is one that reaches a MAXIMUM length of six inches, and preferably smaller. I know it doesn't sound much but a fish should be able to swim more than three times it's own body length without having to turn. There are plenty of Cats that look cool but stay sensibly sized, why not look through the Cat-elog and run some choices past us?

Post by **Dinyar** » 20 Feb 2003, 03:40

Coelacanth is right, lidunn, that fish didn't die because it got sucked into the filter intake, it got sucked into the filter intake because it was dead. I have tiny fish called Chiloglanis that like to sit on the intake of a big power head . When they get bored, they just swim away.

Have you tested your water? What did you find?

Coelacanth is also right about going with small fish. Bigger isn't better, more fun, whatever. Keeping fish alive, healthy and showing something close to the interesting behavior that they do in the wild is better, more fun, etc. And you can do that more easily with small fish.

Dinyar

Zack · Post by **Zack** » 20 Feb 2003, 04:43

If your into the sleek shark like fish why not get a few pim-pictus? Check um out in the cat-e-log, their cheap and asy to acquire and are extremely active for a catfish. The information on this site for them is top notch but someof the pictures arent all to appealing (no offense guys) so remember to look in books and possibly another site(i cant believe i just said that).

Zack · Post by **Zack** » 20 Feb 2003, 04:46

I double checked the catelog to make sure i was talking about the right site (for the bad photos) and i discovered i must have been talking about another site sorry guys.

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 20 Feb 2003, 06:18

@zack you can try use the edit button to alter your post instead of posting multiple times as the last guy in the thread...

lildunn34 · Post by **lildunn34** » 20 Feb 2003, 16:11

ok, i wont get a bala shark but i herd that plecos and oscars are a good match and before i had this pleco i had an oscar that was like 8 inch but did because i didnt know how to clean the tank correctly. Tell me names of fishes that are compatible with my pleco in a 40 gal tank that i can get at petsmart. I didnt have a thing over the filter i dont even know what its called.

Help before its too late

Help before its too late

Lildunn..........!!!!!!!

i did research

filter?