Are These Fish Compatible?

[6lkl6l]

pair of german blue rams, 1 red tail shark, 4 corries, 6 neons, if i can find them SAE, and maybe a couple other non agressive small fish.
the tank is 24"x15"x24" i will upgrade eventually, its heavy planted a few of the plants are not true aquqtic but have been growing nicely for about 6 months, it has an eclipse filter hood.

 

[CroNiC]

Ya you will have to upgrade because RTBS grow big. Not to dissapoitn you or anything ... but some say that RTBS do fine with corries, some say they dont. It all depends on your RTBS because each one has a different attitude. You probaly wont have trouble with your neons, but you should get 8-10 neons. The more the better. I'm not sure how the neons would do with the RTS

 

[sylvia]

How many gallons is it?

Rams, when they breed, are liable to chase cories. Red tail black sharks hate any fish that looks like them - so SAEs are out of the question. To be honest, I'd skip the RTBS altogether as it could also pose a threat to the neons and cories.

If I were you, I'd go for the rams, a school of 6-8 neons and, depending on your tank's size, 6 cories (the more cories, the less likely they are to be harassed by the rams). Along with these fish, I'd add some fish -hatchet fish (a school) OR a trio of honey gouramies - to fill out the top layers. If the tank were large enough, perhaps a few platies could be included as well for color.

 

[6lkl6l]

ok no rtbs any other suggestioins?

 

[Katchan]

Why do so many people have it in for RTBS? I cant believe its just dumb luck I've had with their non-aggressiveness. In my experience they are purely territorial in agressivness, and less so than most cichlids. In a 20 gallon tank, what I consider to be bare minimum for them the are fine if given a hollow log or similar hide to call their territory, in anything less than a 20 they tend to treat the whole tank as theirs, above that size the tank is simply to big really for them bother patrolling constantly as long as a suitable "home" has been supplied.

Of the two tanks I currently have with Red tails, one is a 40 gallon with an adult and a 7+cm juvie. This tank also has cories and and a few other community fish, the only aggression shown is when the chases my large bristlenose or the juvie shark out of its log, chase ends as soon as the perpatrators are 4-5inches from log entrance, perp's may return to vacinity but are not hasseled as long as they dont seek to enter the log. I have never seen them show any aggression to my tetra's or cories.

My other tank with red tails is a 60 gallon, with two 9ish cm sharks and 7ish cm flying fox. These sharks have their own logs in this tank but are often seen cruising in formation (yes thats cruising NOT chasing). generally no agression is shown to the flying fox as long as it doesnt seek to enter the sharks percieved territory, there would be more aggression shown to the pair of kribs in the tank but thats probably beause there territories overlap slightly, the other tank mates are probably to big to bother with 6"pleco, large 3 spot gourami, a BGK and a young pair of convicts.

these are just some of my experience's with red tails which for some reason may be out of the ordinary, but I prefer to think its a case of a fish that is generally misunderstood. And yes I do intend once I have a good selection of adults and a suitable tank to attempt to try breeding them, a challenge I am patiently waiting for.

Andrew

 

[sylvia]

What size tank do you have - it's not realy possible to suggest fish without knowing the gallonage.

Katchan:

Towards tetras, they don't usualy show aggression - they eat them (small ones obviously). In the case of cories, it's territoriality because they occupy the same areas in the tank. It's only an issue in smaller tanks - which is why I've been asking for the tank size.

Don't think people say these things for no reason. I like RTBSs - lovely fish, beautiful color, interesting habits - I'm not risking any fishy lives though in order to keep more than one per tank or mix them with unsuitable tankmates. I have kept them with the right fish and had no problems. I've also kept them with the wrong fish and been forced to move them and I've seen plenty of others kill their fish through similar mistakes.

I'm not saying yours won't work out - you never know and I wish you luck with breeding them; that would be great - but I would suggest you save what you said for when they are all fully grown. While there's a big size difference between them or they are immature, hierarchy is easy to settle or aggression has not developed fully yet. When all the fish are mature (including your FF), it'll be an entirely different matter to avoid clashes.

Do let me know if you manage to breed them - I'll want full details

 

[6lkl6l]

i dont know its gallons but it is 24"x 15"x 24"
my main concern is the rams the corries and rtbs if i get one

 

[Katchan]

I figure your tank is about 125liters or 33US gallons, but you need to take into account footprint as well, which if you have written your dimensions the standard way is one 24 inches by 15 inches (by 24 inches high), not alot really while big enough for rams & cories or RTBS and cories or RTBS and rams (may have some trouble if rams bred with this combo) I wouldnt keep all three with that footprint.

Andrew

edit in - if the tank was 24"x24" foot print (x15" high) it should be easily big enough to handle that combo of fish

 

[Torrean]

I must have gotten the 4 most evil rainbow sharks ever. They are supposed to be less aggressive than the red-tailed sharks you are discussing but generally very similair. Anyway my rainbows got split into 3 different tanks (one died from aggression) Can't talk much about the biggest because I haven't seen him since I dropped him off. But the one in my 55 terrorizes my dwarf gourami every chance he gets but the little dwarf turns around and bites at him and he runs off. In my GF's 29 the rainbow shark chases around two full grown trichogaster gourami (that's gold and blue three-spot) He ripped open the side of the golden one (we healed that with some melafix) and the gourami's spend most of there time hiding now. I wish I could find a couple tanks with nothing but a lot of small fish or REALLY big fish since they don't bother my GF's Danios or my White Clouds or My 10in Pleco. They are absolute terror's in my book. Maybe some aren't too aggressive when full grown but 4 evil fish makes me very cautious.

 

[SamUK]

i have 3 RTBS in the same tank and ive recently been told that i shouldnt do that but ive kept a close eye on them and they seem fine.

2 of em seem to stick together whilst one has the other end of the tank.


maybe as they grow theyll get more aggressive.

 

[Torrean]

what tank do you have them in? I don't see them in your sig? Or am I just blind? Chances are they will start killing each other soon. I had 4 RFBS in the same tank for months and nothing went wrong. Then they started swimming side by side butting heads. Finally one fish became dominant and chased all the others any time they came out. So they either fought all the time or the other three hid (and starved) while one ran the tank

 

[vik_luvs_fish]

Yes, my red tailed black sharks like to be evil, one more than the other, it chases the smaller one all over the tank if he sees it.

Before I moved the smaller one back in he used to chase other fish, now, not so much.

 

[6lkl6l]

the tank is 24" high and i v decided to just stick the rams and corries and forget about the shark