Paradise Fish With A Shark?

[cuticom]

I as yet dont have a tank nor fish LOl, am just doing research.

The two fish I really like are the rainbow shark and the paradise gourami. From sites I read the paradise needs to be kept in cold water, the shark in tropical. But then on other sites it says they are both tropical. Then some sites say they are compatible and others say they'll kill each other

So would a single rainbow shark be able to happily live with a paradise gourami? What size tank would they need?

If they cant live together I think I'll just get two tanks and have a cold water tank without a filter for the paradise and a tropical tank with heater and filter for the shark.

Right now I'm still in the research stage LOL

Emma

 

[helterskelter]

Both are tropical fish, it just that paradise gourami will live happily in unheated tanks as well, which is why this was firstly imported into the UK in the mid 1850's as a pet fish.

The problem is RS (and all shaks of the Labio genus) get very teriatoral and will hacse most fish all the time.

The best thing is to get a large tank 3' in min for these fish to allow all the other fish space to keep away.

I've kepet them together in the past, so if you get a good sized tank first then you'll be alrite.


also when first stocking only get 4-6 small fish at a fime to allow the system to buikld up slowerly or the wast materials will kill some fish off if done to quickly.
The last thing as sharks get teriatoral this should be one of the last fish to stock, so the other's settel in first.

Good luck with it all

Helter

 

[cuticom]

LOL, I'm not going to get any other fish then just a sharkey and a paradise fish. It's only the shark and the paradise that I'm interetsed in. Th others look pretty but arent for me.

Thanks for your help, i think I'll just go with keeping them seperate. I don't wnat to come out one morning to find my shark has eaten my paradise LOL

Emma

 

[sylvia]

Make sure you fishless cycle your tank(s). Read the links in my signature as necessary.

Both paradisefish and sharks are territorial but they won't normaly bothe reach other. Having said that, they need a pretty big tank (min. 30 gallons) to live together. Singly, the paradisefish could work in as little as 10 gallons but the shark still needs atleast a 20.

I don't know just how much you've researched but I can pretty much guarantee you'll be wanting more fish less than a month after getting these two If I were you, I'd buy myself a 40-55 gallon and get both the paradisefish and shark (BTW, it's best to avoid keeping multiple sharks together as they'll almost always kill each other and paradisefish don't do well with each other or other gouramies either). I'd then add some of the larger rainbowfish like boesmani or lake katubu rainbowfish (beautiful once colored up - best kept in schools of at least 6 - they mix well also so you could get both species) and maybe a bristlenose pleco (not a common or sailfin - they grow huge).

 

[cuticom]

I wont be getting a bigger tank, unless the shark needs an upgrade. I live on a working farm, plus I show and breed pedigree cavies, so most of my time is spent on those guys. I've got other fish too, My Mum has a community tank which houses her fish and some tropical unknowns which she adopted from my bro when he moved out. Also I have my four Betta's

I don't like the rainbowfish, I have a thing about pets having personality, not just being decorations. I've researched quite a bit, have been planning on fish for a couple of months, I've been through every site I could find on paradise fish and Rainbow sharks, and looked through all the types of fish. The only other ones that grab me are the cichlids, especially the oscars and angels. Oscars kinda get a bit big tho LOL.

I've bought two tanks now, one for the shark (who gets the wonderful name of Kelvin) and a smaller one for the paradise fish (who gets the name Howie LOL). The rest of the equipment is waiting for me at the post office as i found an online site that sold everything much cheaper then the pet store. Now I just have to convince my parents to drive me the hour into town. We'll be getting the fish on friday or saturday.

I'm just gonna use the fish to cycle the tank, as my chemistry ability is a bit belo whats needed to cycle a tank with ammonia.

 

[sylvia]

That'll work out fine in terms of the tanks but your 'chemistry ability' may cost your fish their lives. It doesn't actualy take a lot to fishless cycle a tank - just patience. Just add a bit of flake food to your tank every 4 days for 6 weeks, then do a huge water change and gravel vacuum and your tank will be ready. You say you like fish with personalities - so don't treat them like decorations!

BTW, rainbowfish do have personalities. just because they look similar, doesn't mean they don't act as individuals. Many people think this about schooling fish and it is absolutely not the case. I appreciate that their personalities are different though so its udnerstandable if you don't like them - I just wanted to 'set ther ecord straight'.