# red tailed shark eating plants??



## organic sideburns (Dec 22, 2005)

i added a red tailed shark to my 46 gal community peaceful and i have some java moss and chain swords etc and i noticed the shark slurping up some moss strands. idk if it was cleaning it, or eating snails out of it, but i hope its not eating my plants! do they ever do that?


----------



## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

Well...Red tail sharks are primarily herbivorous. I've had this problem before with a rainbow shark. I had to take him out because he was chewing holes into my hygro and swords.

Probably not what you wanted to hear. Sorry!


----------



## organic sideburns (Dec 22, 2005)

crap! hes my fav. fish in the tank! i really hope he doesnt do too much damage. ill keep him well fed! wut do they eat besides algae wafers?


----------



## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

Anything veggie-based will help keep his mind off your plants. Maybe try clipping some dried algae or blanched zucchini in the tank to keep him occupied. And full.


----------



## organic sideburns (Dec 22, 2005)

blanched zucchini? what does blanched mean? but yea ill drop in some of that once every few days and make sure he eats that instead of my plants!


----------



## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

Just a slice of zucchini boiled in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Makes it easier for the fish to eat and will kill anything harmful living on the zucchini at the time.


----------



## organic sideburns (Dec 22, 2005)

ah i see. that makes sense. thanks for all the quick replies lego!


----------



## seAdams (Jun 2, 2008)

Feed him a wide variety of foods - frozen bloodworms/brineshrimp, flakes, wafers and some fresh veggies. In addition to the zucchini, spinach is also usually pretty popular.

A varied diet also helps to keep them looking their best.


----------



## fishstoregirl (Feb 19, 2009)

They really love live California blackworms or tubifex worms! I feed them to the ones at the local fish store where I work every day I am there and they all come racing to the top of the tank to get them first. 

Also, a little bit of advice, they are EXCELLENT jumpers. I had one in a fully covered tank that was only open where the powerfilter flows back into the tank. I had just gotten a larger, new tank just for it and was waiting for it to finish cycling. I came home one night and my redtail black shark was dried up on the kitchen floor! So do your best to make sure the tank is FULLY covered. 

Also, mine really hated a flying fox I brought home one day to the point where I had to take the fish back to the store, but he got along fine with my SAE... they can be very particular in which tankmates they will tolerate, especially when it comes to other long bodied fish and bottom dwellers. And one more thing... there is one in the plant tank at my work and the plants all look fine, so I wouldn't worry, he might nibble but it shouldn't be much. Such a beautiful fish! Good luck with yours!


----------



## seAdams (Jun 2, 2008)

> they can be very particular in which tankmates they will tolerate


Exactly, and they become more territorial and aggressive with age.

It's best to give them a cave at one end of the tank to defend and don't keep them with corys, who can never learn to stay away from the shark and can be battered to death. Sharks can be relentless in their harassment of other fish.

They're usually very good tankmates for other semi-aggressive fish like Tiger Barbs.


----------



## newshound (May 9, 2005)

a rts will hate any fish with a similar body design once they mature.
that means a sae


----------



## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

newshound said:


> a rts will hate any fish with a similar body design once they mature.
> that means a sae


x2...That pretty much sums it up IME. I've kept quite a few RTS over the years and currently have one now going on 4yrs. I've never had any major issues with any of them as far as plants go, nor many issues as far as tankmates other than harmless chasing in quick darts. On corys, YMMV. My current RTS frequently stacks up in his lair with 5 cory cats, but one I had in the past would chase corys out of his zone.

Stick in a similar body shaped fish and it will usually go badly for the newly added fish. They will typically be harassed, bullied and chased till they jump from the tank or die from exhaustion unless pulled from the tank.


----------



## organic sideburns (Dec 22, 2005)

MY red tailed shark was recently added to my 46 gal a few months ago. i have a couple albino cories, a yoyo loach(i think, or some loach with similar markings) and the rts never showed any aggression at all. most rts are aggressive but once in a while, u'll get lucky and get a peaceful rts. its amazing to watch the rts and yoyo loach interact. they swim around side by side and also hide under the same driftwood(tho they dont hide much). i have a lot of plants which are all overgrown so im sure that helps ease the rts but mine is very peaceful. i love him, hes so much fun to watch! im going to start feeding my fish the live blackworms once every week or 2. ill feed the rts using my turkey baster. it works very well and u can directly feed certain fish by squirting the worms right infront of their faces hehe.


----------



## tays fish keeping (Jul 5, 2016)

a way to get him to focus on your food instead of your plant get some spinach boil it for five min ball it up freeze it then just drop it in and the shark will go nuts for it my red tailed shark stopped for the most part eating my plants, every once in a while ill find a hole or two in my swords but its just in the natural behavior. also by some flourish excel it helps the plant grow ridiculously fast plants will grow faster than he can eat it. hope you can figure a way out to keep them they are very interesting creatures.


----------

