Back in June 2025 I brought home a rescue Chinese HiFin Shark from a friend's pond. It's in this thread:
...which I cursed with a stupid thread title that is confusing and reveals nothing. I'm starting this thread now to continue the tale of this fish, and to hopefully get some opinions and other useful info. Of course, that probably means that as soon as I hit the Post Thread button, he'll likely turn belly-up...
The HiFin, dubbed "Dracula" by a granddaughter, has been in my care for almost a year now (!) and I still don't know what I am or should be doing with him. Dracula started out only about 2 inches long, and now, after 11 months, he is still less than 5 inches in length. He's been transferred a couple of times to cater to his cowardly and mincing behaviour, and I had hoped he'd outgrow that facet of his character...but in order to outgrow something, well, you have to grow! He remains a very shy and retiring fish, usually visible (i.e. not hiding) but never hugely active either. He eats anything that is small enough to be easily swallowed, and he does a lot of grazing on algae, but he continues to feed soooooo slooooooooowly that it's almost painful to watch.
Now, the summer pond season is almost upon us, and I will be moving fish outdoors starting within the next couple weeks. I have 7 assorted aboveground stock tanks, and a small inground pond. Dracula seemed ill-suited for competing with similar-sized and larger Goldfish in my indoor overwintering tank, and was removed after a few weeks of slow but apparent deterioration. He has done quite well with his original tankmates which are all peaceful and now much smaller than he is. I wanted to install him in the inground pond with the Goldies for the summer, but now I am not sure.
I think the stocktanks are off the table. Not only are they used for hopeful breeding of various species, but they can become quite warm, sometimes exceeding 80F at the height of summer, and I hope to avoid those temps for Dracula. The inground/dug pond will rarely exceed 70F at the cool, dark bottom, and even the surface layer rarely hits 75F, so that seems best for him. He'll be able to maintain his distance from the Goldies, and he will have limitless amounts of algae, biofilm and other tasty treats available 24/7. Sounds perfect...
...but I am wondering if and how I will be able to catch him out in the fall to go back indoors for the winter. My pond has numerous large stones scattered across the bottom and sloping up the sides, which make for difficulty in catching any fish when the time comes. Goldies are challenging enough, and they are practically encased in HiVis orange and easily seen. But Dracula will be nearly invisible from above against the mottled stones, wood and mulm on the bottom. I have put a lot of effort and thought and worry into keeping this fish alive since June; I cannot abide the idea of leaving him outside to freeze this coming fall.
I have experimented with a couple DIY fish traps in his tank to see if he'll fall for them, and results are not encouraging. So I am considering just keeping him indoors all summer, likely in the Goldies' tank, a 360-gallon plywood job that houses a small number of assorted fish all summer just to keep it biologically active and alive. He'll do okay indoors, no worries there, but I can't help but think that he will absolutely blossom if he spends the summer outside; almost all fish do.
What to do? If I put him in the outdoor pond, I likely will rarely see him all summer. I'll be wondering all the time how he is doing...but I'll have no way to help him out and hopefully can learn to relax again.
It's the end of the pond season that has me worried.
Suggestions?
thebiggerthebetter
kendragon
or anybody else who has one of these picky little bastidges? Yeah, yeah, I know...the tank looks like hell. This tank contains the HiFin, a Uruguay pleco (Hypostomus laplatae), a few Goodeid livebearers, some Swordtails, etc. It has handfuls of hair algae thrown haphazardly in on a regular basis, and the stuff disappears quickly. I dare ya: try to make a tank like that look good!
Oh, and...look at these pics, especially the middle one...and I defy you to dream up a better name for this fish than "Dracula".
...which I cursed with a stupid thread title that is confusing and reveals nothing. I'm starting this thread now to continue the tale of this fish, and to hopefully get some opinions and other useful info. Of course, that probably means that as soon as I hit the Post Thread button, he'll likely turn belly-up...
The HiFin, dubbed "Dracula" by a granddaughter, has been in my care for almost a year now (!) and I still don't know what I am or should be doing with him. Dracula started out only about 2 inches long, and now, after 11 months, he is still less than 5 inches in length. He's been transferred a couple of times to cater to his cowardly and mincing behaviour, and I had hoped he'd outgrow that facet of his character...but in order to outgrow something, well, you have to grow! He remains a very shy and retiring fish, usually visible (i.e. not hiding) but never hugely active either. He eats anything that is small enough to be easily swallowed, and he does a lot of grazing on algae, but he continues to feed soooooo slooooooooowly that it's almost painful to watch.
Now, the summer pond season is almost upon us, and I will be moving fish outdoors starting within the next couple weeks. I have 7 assorted aboveground stock tanks, and a small inground pond. Dracula seemed ill-suited for competing with similar-sized and larger Goldfish in my indoor overwintering tank, and was removed after a few weeks of slow but apparent deterioration. He has done quite well with his original tankmates which are all peaceful and now much smaller than he is. I wanted to install him in the inground pond with the Goldies for the summer, but now I am not sure.
I think the stocktanks are off the table. Not only are they used for hopeful breeding of various species, but they can become quite warm, sometimes exceeding 80F at the height of summer, and I hope to avoid those temps for Dracula. The inground/dug pond will rarely exceed 70F at the cool, dark bottom, and even the surface layer rarely hits 75F, so that seems best for him. He'll be able to maintain his distance from the Goldies, and he will have limitless amounts of algae, biofilm and other tasty treats available 24/7. Sounds perfect...
...but I am wondering if and how I will be able to catch him out in the fall to go back indoors for the winter. My pond has numerous large stones scattered across the bottom and sloping up the sides, which make for difficulty in catching any fish when the time comes. Goldies are challenging enough, and they are practically encased in HiVis orange and easily seen. But Dracula will be nearly invisible from above against the mottled stones, wood and mulm on the bottom. I have put a lot of effort and thought and worry into keeping this fish alive since June; I cannot abide the idea of leaving him outside to freeze this coming fall.
I have experimented with a couple DIY fish traps in his tank to see if he'll fall for them, and results are not encouraging. So I am considering just keeping him indoors all summer, likely in the Goldies' tank, a 360-gallon plywood job that houses a small number of assorted fish all summer just to keep it biologically active and alive. He'll do okay indoors, no worries there, but I can't help but think that he will absolutely blossom if he spends the summer outside; almost all fish do.
What to do? If I put him in the outdoor pond, I likely will rarely see him all summer. I'll be wondering all the time how he is doing...but I'll have no way to help him out and hopefully can learn to relax again.
It's the end of the pond season that has me worried.Suggestions?
thebiggerthebetter
kendragon
or anybody else who has one of these picky little bastidges? Yeah, yeah, I know...the tank looks like hell. This tank contains the HiFin, a Uruguay pleco (Hypostomus laplatae), a few Goodeid livebearers, some Swordtails, etc. It has handfuls of hair algae thrown haphazardly in on a regular basis, and the stuff disappears quickly. I dare ya: try to make a tank like that look good!Oh, and...look at these pics, especially the middle one...and I defy you to dream up a better name for this fish than "Dracula".
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