Aggression with Rainbow Sharks...

I recently added three 3" Rainbow Sharks to my 125G along with many other bottom dwellers, and although the catfish and botias seem to be doing ok, i'm not so sure about the loaches.

There are plenty of hiding area - caves, stumps, driftwood, plants and sand. Will be adding some clay pots and making some more caves out of slate soon.

First, i've heard you can only keep one of these in a tank, because they will be aggressive towards each other or others in the same family. Then i've heard keeping 3 or more will keep it safe.

I put 2 dojo loaches in there not too long ago, and saw them always staying on the surface, resting on filter tubes, heater, etc. Do you think they are being harassed too much?

I also put a very small dinosaur bichir in their and also noticed the same thing... for the first week, it was resting on the surface alot, sometimes almost seeming lifeless, with nipped fins, but now seems to be doing better.

The dojos have been MIA for a good week now!

Any suggestions, experience, advice??

Thanks much!

rainbows are very aggressive and attack bottom dwellers. Mine is over 5" and omly allows 1 pleco near him. Everything else is up for grabs.

Look for the dojos up to 5 feet away from the tank, that where I found my last one.....
I do know rainbows are aggressive and probably the main bully on the bottom, 2nd up would be the bichir

wow, funny how they are sold as normal, peaceful, community fish...

I had recently covered every inch of the tank... there is probably a space about 4" wide by 3/4" where the filter in/out goes, but other than that, sealed tight.

I'll check the surrounding area again.

Looks like I might have to pull those rainbows out of there...

I did have a 4"+ redtailed black shark and didn't see him act up, he was quite calm!

Oh well... you live and learn.

and Jill, sorry to hear about your butterflies jumping out of the sump! I love those things... crazy how their prices have shot up so much!

I remember getting them for around $5, now I see them for around $15!

I should have known better than to try with them.... but like you said you live and learn!

i had 2 rainbows in my 55g had to rid of one due to the aggressive Territorial behavior to wars any fish that got near them even the large 3inch gold gouramies i had. they harassed my platys and sword tails to death(they kicked the bucket do to the rainbows)i also lost a gold veriatus due to the rainbows. I learned that lesson like fern did.

The thing with Rainbows as I have grown to learn, is that they short circuit very very easily. You can normally get away with one of the "shark" species in the tank. Sometimes they will just mind their own business but then something flips a switch and they start after anything that moves.

But once you add another or even a group, it's a mess. That short circuit is in a constant lock position. ;o)

good thing i added some hybrid cichilds keeps the shark in check and keeps the snail population way down.

i think the best tank to have a rainbow shark in is a cichlid tank! NO SMALLER THAN 75gs
i got like 8-9 of em from kmx (very good quality fish! super black and very dark yet bright red) i have 2 in my show tank (the rest were either given away to good friends or sold) their colors are pretty enough to be around africans and their nature is pretty much the same-aggressive! my tank has a mix of africans from moorrii,and frontosa to Mbuna and german Rams! its a 112g and no one I MEAN NO ONE!!!! really messes with my sharks becuase the others know they'll fight back! i seriously think that rainbows in a community tank is a really bad fish homicide!(spelling lol)/massacre! and a bad idea!

german Rams? there not aggresive? well u live and learn alkomist...

german rams are not aggressive! at least mine isnt! his only enemy is a Slim Tinanti Buffalo Head i got from KMX. its funny how they always swim in circles shaking their fins at eachother. theyre always battling it out over a lil driftwood cave lol.
the ram is only 2" if not smaller. all my other fish are either 3.5-5" and no one messes with him! hes always out and about

the secret is to keep em full and not starving lol theyre all spoiled lil jerks!

keeping up on feeding lessens agression in my experience

i hust dont have luck with rams they always die on me

lol everyone tells me that! idk whats so hard about keeping them alive!
i literally did nothing special to my water or anything
i literally bought him acclimated him and threw him in lol thats it........
i always here ppl cry about them always dying .......somthin about water hardness or somthin lol....idk mines alive and kicking...even kicking but so i must be doin somthin right:)

i guess your doing something rite then i lost five after having them for a month

eeash srry bout bro must suck lol

yea an investment down the tube..

I've got two rainbows in my 55G planted tank. They don't mess with the dinosaur bichar - and he doesn't seem to mess with anyone else. Also have a pair of German cichlids, two large chinese algae eaters, 1 striped Raphael cat, 2 Botias, and a handful of different cories - all bottom dwellers.

None of the bottom dwellers seem to bother each other. But I have ton of terricotta pot fragments turned into caves and lots of sword plants.

The ones that I KNOW are the culprits in the dissappearance of my blue neons, a couple of blackskirt tetra, several glofish, one young bala, two small tiger barbs and the handful of feeder guppies I used to cycle the tank - are the Botias.... When I had them in quaranteen with my guppies at home, several dissappeared there as well.

The rainbows do periodically get in the mood to chase the Tiger barb group - and sometimes the balas. But this is a rare occurence. They're generally more focused on locating the remnents of shrimp pellets in the plants/mosses - or chowing down on the gel weekend bottom feeder. Guess if they feel well-fed - they're not too moody?

I've just learned not to put any fish that stay small in that particular tank. (Unless I have too many guppies produced in my other tank..... LOL) Although the black neons have suffered not a single loss - go figure...

I keep my Rainbow and Redtail Sharks in my 140g with all my African cichlids.I have 1 Redtail Shark and 2 Rainbow Sharks.The Africans do not bother them and they actually chase some Africans around.Now the sharks all get along,but the Redtail shark is the boss and the Rainbows know it.One Rainbow shark is 2" bigger than the Redtail shark and they got into it when I first put the Rainbow shark in the tank and the Redtail kicked his butt.I use to have 5 Rainbow sharks in a 30g korner tank with Angelfish and I had no problems with them.IMO every fish is a hit or miss thing.You never know how they will be with other fishes untill you try it.

Well I went through my 125g to take out community fish and put them in a 65 tall and found only 2 of the 3 rainbow sharks, and realized about 8 other bottom dwellers were 'missing'! hmmm

missing were: 2 dojo loaches, 2 bn plecos, 1 bumblebee cat, 2 striated botia, 1 flounder, and that's all I remember from what I had...

the only other fish in that tank that showed any aggression were my pair of syno eupterus towards each other or large plecos. that's it.

so I decided to not leave those sharks there or in the community tank and instead put one in a 29g with 4 convicts and the other in a 29g with 14 Xmas Fulus (temp tank).

I haven't been able to see the convict tank much but I do see the fulu tank and let me tell you, the rainbow shark has already claimed all the rock/coral caves that the fulus stayed in, and now chase them around and away from it!!! the fulus are all out and hovering around mid-top of the tank, which they never do unless waiting for food!

guess i'm going to have to move him out of there too!

Call boardroom and see if you can take them in for some credit.

for real! i need to get rid of them... i'm starting to think, what good are they?! lol

i'll make a list of what I would like to rehome and call them tomorrow..

is big boss man working tomorrow?

Dojo like to jump. Check behind the tank!

I had a red tail in a 120g with 30 something cichlids. He was the boss and sometimes would suck so hard (clean) some of the fish ,,,,the scales would come off and then you would have to watch for a fish getting infected with something. KEEP A SUPER CLOSE eye on these guys.

Yup Rich should be in today, I know I'm working today........

My Redtail shark chased one of my 5" OB Peacocks for atleast 2 minutes strait and that OB never messed with him again.