red tailed black shark on its side?

[cheeky_chappie]

hi

have a rio 180 tank, with a tall artificial plant beside the black filter casing (close enough so some of the plant touches the casing.) my red tailed black shark, which i've had for just under a week now, seems to spend most of its time in or very close to this plant, that in itself doesn't concern me as i believe they are quite territorial and like places to hide etc.

however, what does concern me is it sometimes lies on its side, kind of on a leaf of the plant with its underbelly on the casing (wedged between plant and casing.) the other night it even appeared slightly limp when in that position and i thought it was heading to the great fish tank in the sky, however it's still here and occasionally comes darting out, flies around the tank, then back to its best loved spot.

do you reckon my red tailed is okay? water conditions are fine.

 

[WILDER]

How many fish and which type, can we take a look at your water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, does his belly look swollen and has he darkened in colour, does he seem to be heavy breathing.

 

[Torrean]

I have red finned black sharks. They are almost always upside down or sideways or some other odd angle. I think your fish is fine.

 

[cheeky_chappie]

thanks for the feedback guys, yes he also likes to be vertical (pointing up or down) or sideways etc, torrean the fact you have these fish and yours do same seems to indicate all is well. wilder, belly looks fine, fish has started to darken which i believe is normal once you put them into their own territory from a shop tank with loads of them (where they tend to be lighter.)

 

[pica_nuttalli]

yes, considering that its a BLACK fish, you should be more concerned if it appears pale. fish with red markings will often begin to lose the red color should conditions become stressful. the faded markings are why most fish appear so bland in the store--they're just stressed, not ugly! rainbows are a prime example of color-fading.

congrats on your new shark! i hope it works out well for you.

 

[Katchan]

My advice is get him a home ASAP, the red tail in my sons tank often hid vertically behind the filter until he became confident in the tank and staked out his own turf, then when I got a hollow log for him he makes sure all the other fishies know its his where he spends about 1/2 his time. Of the three red tail's we have you can really tell if they start to get stressed as the front 1/2 gets a little lighter, more a dark grey than velvet black, medium stressed the whole fish turns medium grey very stressed the fish is almost white. Hope this helps

Katchan