Agressive Rtbs

[tttnjfttt]

Ok, i am seriously ready to put my RTBS (red tailed black shark) in net and leave him there for 5 minutes. He is tormenting EVERYONE right now. Bad fishy, you are getting a time out. Maybe it wont work. I just feel bad for everyone in my tank right now because i've got a outbreak of gill flukes, and the tiger barbs are getting stressed, hanging out at the surface. Then along comes the bully, charging straight through the tiger barbs. Then he sees the clown loachs , and goes charging after them. Then on and on. This fish is driving me nuts.

To make things worse, i am getting ready to yank the tiger barbs and treat them with stronger meds because they are the worst, but then the shark will have way less targets to go after.

Any input? And no, he's not going for a ride in the porcilen bowl. I've got my hospital tank and my empty 5 gal both in use right now for diff problems, so isolating him there until i can get rid of the flukes and re-home him

 

[RedShark]

Oh man, i feel for you ttt. I have been in your shoes before and know how stressfull it gets. Im here for ya buddy, as long as you don't hold the rtbs in a net
Unfortunately your guess is as good as mine at the moment, what with the hospitals being used and all. The only thing i can think of is maybe place your rtbs in a huge pot, or bucket depending on what size he is. Or maybe get one of those storage bins from the store, place him in there for the time being just to reduce level of stress in tank. That way you may medicate everyone without the extra stress from the bullying.
Hope that helps. reply and let us know your progress ya?

 

[Durbkat]

Seperate it in a bucket with air stone and a heater (if possible) then re arrange everything in the tank (plants and what not) then keep it out for a day and then put it back in, that way he will feel he is the new person on the block and hopefully will leave them alone. If not then sit down to his level and say "these are your friends and you need to be nice to them or I'll send you down the toilet." Then say "fish are friends not food!"

 

[RedShark]

Seperate it in a bucket with air stone and a heater (if possible) then re arrange everything in the tank (plants and what not) then keep it out for a day and then put it back in, that way he will feel he is the new person on the block and hopefully will leave them alone. If not then sit down to his level and say "these are your friends and you need to be nice to them or I'll send you down the toilet." Then say "fish are friends not food!"

Hilarious. I like Durkbats advice much better.

 

[Paul_MTS]

sticking him in a bucket for more than a few hours is really no good for any fish as there going to poop and without filtraiton your going to end up with ammonia poisoning.

Your first idea was much better until you can decided what to do long term, leaving him in a net on the side of the tank will provide him with fresh heated and filtered water.

taking him out and rearranging the tank will work for a day or so at the most but after that he'll be back to normal terrorising the tank.

what size is the shark and how bigs the tank?

the long term solution would be to sell/give him away.

 

[Torrean]

tank divider, or a lot more hiding spots are the only possible alternatives to cursing someone else with your devil fish. I know how you feel. My first tank had 4 rFbs in it and I'm still sorting that out.

 

[tttnjfttt]

He's in a 40 gal tank, and is about 3 inches long. My tank currently has a gill flukes going around in it (probably by some new fish i have gotten but didn't quarentine) The tiger barbs seem to be most severely infected, so they are going in the hospital tank for a dose of clout. I can't dose everyone with that as i have clown loaches, and it says to not use on scaleless fish or bottom feeders. And the last thing i want to do is to put the RTBS in the hospital tank wiht the tiger barbs. Hospital is only 10 gals, so they will be pretty crowded as it is.

The terror seems to be behaving now. Oops, typed too soon. He's off again. I think re-homing is going to be my answer. After tomorrow, I can put him in the hospital tank, and put the barbs back in the main tank.

are RTBS considered scaleless? If not, then i can treat him with clout and send him back to the LPS. I don't want to give back a fish that is possibly sick though, just because i doubt he would recieve propper care and i'd hate to have him spread it through the LPS.

 

[Paul_MTS]

RTBS do have scales so can take the dose.

RTBS really aren't suitable for many tanks, i have a 3-4" one in my 100g SA cichlid com and he still manages to terrorise some of them, being a large tank though with alot of fish he starts to chase one then gets distracted but another so no one gets more than a few seconds of his attention.

 

[atmmachine816]

wat other and how many fish do u hav in ur tank besides ur shark

 

[tttnjfttt]

Dang paul, that is crazy. I never imagined a RTBS albe to bully african cichlids. ouch.

Tank mates include 3 clown loaches, 5 tiger barbs, 4 zebra danios, and a opaline gourami. (i am aware of how big clown loaches grow and wil be upgrading this summer)

 

[atmmachine816]

r the tiger barbs full grown and is the shark bothering the danios, r ther many plants and hiding places and do u hav any pics of ur tank

 

[tttnjfttt]

I don't have a recent pix of my tank, but i have many caves and hiding places in my tank. The bottom back of my tanki is all caves and plants. The RTBS literaly chases fish in and out of all the caves, and goes searching for fish to bully

 

[Fella]

I have a friend who keeps an RTBS in a malawi tank, and he gives as good as he gets!

 

[atmmachine816]

r the tigers full grown and does he bother the danios

 

[tttnjfttt]

The barbs range from full grown to one inch (i think he is perminantly stunted, hasn't grown in over 8 months). He will occasionally chase a danio, but most of the time he doesn't notice them, as they are usually on the surface