Shark gone nuts!

Well my redtail shark has grown a good bit, and the krib who picked on him a bit when he was little is now getting greatly harassed. Would rather not get rid of any of the 2. Any suggestions? If I have to get rid of one it will be him just because he harasses others too, but they are all very fast.

get the krib a mate. is your krib a male or female

What other fish are in there besides the krib & red tail? Also, how big is your tank? If you have enough room to add more fish, then you might think about adding "dither" fish. These would be schooling type fish that constantly swim back & forth distracting potential bullies to help alleviate tension between tankmates. You might also do well to add more plants to provide visual breaks. Like I said, let us know your tank size and other inhabitants and we can better troubleshoot.

if recall correctly strawman has got a few tanks, off the top of my head hes got a 29 and 55. but im sure hes got more.

I have 4 tanks now...for the moment I moved her to my 29 gallon with cherry barbs neons a pearl paradise fish and an angel...
The 55 is where she was... In there I have the shark... 10 rainbows 9 black skirts 7 columbians 2 cory's 2 pearl gouramis and an angelfish.

Kasshan, I have a female...

Also any plants I add do not stay planted long and the leaves disappear..I think he is the culprit. I have 3 good sized pieces of driftwood in there too.

strawman, i seem to recall that we talked about an exchange months ago. ive got an extra male Krib, hes good looking with some eye-spot on his dorsal and caudal fin. he a 3rd wheel in the tank now. almost full grown in size, he was spawned on April 1st, 2011.

i try to get him and take a pic of him for you. i wont charge you anything except for shipping if you want him. im leaving for AZ tomorrow so i wont be able to get back to you until next week tho.

Yes we did, with everything been going on here I had forgotten about that. That sounds cool to me. I appreciate that, hope you have a fun trip to AZ!

having a mating couple should stop the bullying and the two should rally together in defense of the area. silly question, but you got caves for the Kribs right?

ill PM to discuss details

and i want to give this Krib a happy home cuz hes alone right now as his siblings have paired off and shunned him away.

I have a plastic tunnel that looks like wood, I had a pair breed in it before. That's really the only cave I have right now... I have a big piece of driftwood in a corner that she had claimed since the shark was chasing her. She can get between the glass and it. What kinda caves should I get? Never really had caves before. Aww poor guy, I bet he is lonely.

well a halved coconut is my favorite with a little door cut out. cheapest one you get is from the grocery store, and they are a decent size. if you go to petstore and get a half coconut its awful small and expensive.

good way to clean the coconut is to
1. scrape everything clean inside with a spoon
2. dry the shell out in the sun for a day
3. scrape the inside again to get any leftovers ___
4. cut a triangular entrance looks like this ----> (_/\_)
5. then use some coarse sand paper for the inside and out

rinse and there u go, every krib ive ever had has always chosen the coconut when given a choice with any other style of cave.

Oh wait i forgot... ive got an extra coconut. ill toss that in there as well for you

Oh cool, and thanks! I really appreciate it greatly!! :D

This is just typical Red Tail behavior.

Yea, he had no issues with her till this week...the dithers get chased slightly but he will stop...he was relentless with her.

dithers are dithers. its because she is now #2 in the tank and the redtail knows this well growing up with her. the redtail hopefully will be cowed into submission with a pair of kribs

Kasshan wrote:

the redtail hopefully will be cowed into submission with a pair of kribs

Not gunna happen. :) He'll get bigger and be a bigger pain. Again, it's their nature. There is something in their wiring that just sets them off. The way to really keep them in check, is to add another of its kind (redtail, rainbow, black, etc). But....be advised....don't do that unless you have a big enough tank or one will wind up dead.

My aquarium is a 55 gallon...funny thing is he leaves the cory's alone... I figured he would torment them also?

Cories are bottom dwellers. He shouldn't pay them any attention.

ahh, so bottom dwellers and larger fish are all he will not mess with...He leaves the pearls and my 3 largest rainbows alone also.

well i did say "hopefully" lol

lol