Irridescent Shark Aquarium setup

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CoryWM

CoryWM

Candiru
MFK Member
Jan 13, 2008
368
11
48
Everett, Washington
www.tankgeek.com
I've not been able to solve my current ID shark problem yet. I've got 5 ID sharks that I can't seem to stop from swiming against 1 end of the tank. I've tried 2 different tanks, and about 5 different lighting setups. And all 5 always swim against the same end of the tank. They're currently about 5 inches long. They'll dart away from the side to grab food, then straight back.

I rescued a 8 inch ID shark that had been beat up by tinfoils, and lost an eye. He has made a full recovery and swims around the tank about 50% of the time.

Tank setups:
6x2x18inches with clown loaches, giraffe cat, flagtail prochilodus
Filtration 3x 2026 eheim canister, 2x ac500. The has black background and left hand side is painted black also. They swim against the right side.Temp has been from 78 to 82. Lighting has been from 40 watts to 300 watts. To no lighting for days.

7x1x30 L shaped tank with guppies, swordtails etc.Temp between 76-78 Lighting 300 watts, black back. no sides painted. Swim against left side of tank.

My fish havent put on much size, it's been about 3 months. I wouldn't say i've been able to notice a difference. I put 1.5 inches on clown loaches in the same time. Water is always below 40ppm nitrate, usually below 20. Weekly water change schedule. I've tried open floor plan, with only a couple rocks for clowns to hide in, and fully scaped plant/rocks where clowns were in heaven, but still no change from Id Sharks. Have also changed room lighting as well, seems to make no difference.The flagtail and giraffe cat was added to the tank after the ID sharks came out, so they couldnt be a source of stress.

I'm looking for tips to get them to swim about the tank. I wonna figure out what works, so I know what to look for when I upgrade their tank. I'd love to get them back into my 6x2x18 to grow out a bit, bbefore I buy Bigger.

I'd like to avoid painting the other side black on that tank, as it is a viewing angle of the tank. But will do it, if required.

Any insight would be helpful.

thanks,
Cory
 
thats a lot of iri sharks in one tank

my advice would be line up the bigges tank you can for their future home

presently the 2 i rehomed are in a 8 ft 300g
 
i found this problem with my arrow and 6 of my ids in a 6x2x2, no matter what i changed they always went to one side of the tank. what eventually worked was heavily planting the two back corners this tends to persuade the fish to swim around the mid area of the tank. problem may be that they are fairly small theyre much less skittish and more sociable when they hit ther 9" mark.
 
billbobthegreat;2992671; said:
i found this problem with my arrow and 6 of my ids in a 6x2x2, no matter what i changed they always went to one side of the tank. what eventually worked was heavily planting the two back corners this tends to persuade the fish to swim around the mid area of the tank. problem may be that they are fairly small theyre much less skittish and more sociable when they hit ther 9" mark.
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Great Info, exactly what I was looking for, more opinions like this. I'll have to try that.

And as far as lining up a big tank. I can have any perfecto/all glass tank within a weeks notice. I work at a LFS, I'd get it at cost. I'm mostly waiting for them to grow into it a little bit. I'm hoping manufacturers will expand their line of wider tanks. Or wait till i see a fish tank factory tank deal I can't pass up.


I do realize this is alot of ID sharks, they're rescues though. The 5 I took at the begining. Too small of a tank, 30g long I think they were in. This last one also came in on my day off, when I came back into work, the next day the tinfoils had beat him badly, and his eye was filled with blood, puta divider into the tank, and his eye ruptured during the day. Took him home and nursed him back to health. I'm sure i'll be able to provide a better home/longer life than they had. As a hobbiest, if I cannot provide an adequate home for them, I can selectively choose who can house them. As an employee of a mom and pop lfs, I can guide where they should go. But I think we'd let them end up in a 180 for life. It's very difficult to make customers understand that their "giant" fishtank won't be adequate.

So I think keeping them as my pets will be the best option. I don't plan on getting anymore. I wish larger fish required a permit, proof of tank would be a step in the right direction. It would cut down on the number of donations for sure, most people who have say a 180+ would be much more likely to upgrade to an appropriate tank, than the first time hobbiest with their 29g. 180 to 300+ isnt that big of a jump in space, however 29 to 180g is a big space requirement in the home.

PS, I think i'll order up like 3 anubias Mother plants today to try stuffing in that corner.
 
One of my customer's tanks has 2 Id sharks in it. It's a 180 and they've been in it for 11 years now. They are 24" and 19", there is also a 20" flagtail, a 20" pleco, a 9" clown loach, and 2 9" silver dollars, the tank has been in their casino for 20 years and they have no plans on upgrading. When I first started cleaning it the lady that had done it before me had an undergravel filter only, was doing monthly water changes, had them feeding a shotglass full of flakes daily, and on top of that the bottom half of the tank was full of lava rock. The fish were emaciated, catarac(spelling) in the eyes, and were cut to ribbons by the rocks. I've since switched the fish to a Hikari cichlid pellet staple diet, along with some waffers for the pleco and loach. The fish are all healed now and I took out the lava rock. Now there's an Fx5 on the tank, and I'm trying to talk them into putting another one on there. The fish are so gorgeous now it's hard to believe looking at them the first time. Anyway the moral of this story is that no matter how slow they are growing they will eventually get massive. These got to 24" on a diet of flakes for 11 years!!! Hope you have something much larger than a 300 planed. I have my customer's fish so use to me now that I can hand pet them and they love it! I pet them all not just the sharks. Anyways good luck with your new little ones!
 
necrocanis;2992909; said:
One of my customer's tanks has 2 Id sharks in it. It's a 180 and they've been in it for 11 years now. They are 24" and 19", there is also a 20" flagtail, a 20" pleco, a 9" clown loach, and 2 9" silver dollars, the tank has been in their casino for 20 years and they have no plans on upgrading. When I first started cleaning it the lady that had done it before me had an undergravel filter only, was doing monthly water changes, had them feeding a shotglass full of flakes daily, and on top of that the bottom half of the tank was full of lava rock. The fish were emaciated, catarac(spelling) in the eyes, and were cut to ribbons by the rocks. I've since switched the fish to a Hikari cichlid pellet staple diet, along with some waffers for the pleco and loach. The fish are all healed now and I took out the lava rock. Now there's an Fx5 on the tank, and I'm trying to talk them into putting another one on there. The fish are so gorgeous now it's hard to believe looking at them the first time. Anyway the moral of this story is that no matter how slow they are growing they will eventually get massive. These got to 24" on a diet of flakes for 11 years!!! Hope you have something much larger than a 300 planed. I have my customer's fish so use to me now that I can hand pet them and they love it! I pet them all not just the sharks. Anyways good luck with your new little ones!
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Was the substrate small lava rock? Or they had lava rock as decoration?
 
It was huge chunks of lava rock. The substrate is a hideous rainbow colored rocks. lol. They also had tons of fake plants in there there were falling apart. The tank was very ugly and still needs a lot of work, but the owner is reluctant to upgrade much!
 
I have an 18 year old, 28" ID. Over the years I have learned a few things. They dont like furniture,(rocks, wood, etc). They can bang them into your glass on a freakout moment. Not to mention hurt themselves. My old boy, when he was in his tank, always stayed in the same corner, unless the TV was on, then he watched from the other corner. I discovered that the current from the filters was just how he liked it, in that corner. He would move anything I put in, if it was in his way. Now he is in a black pond. No more TV. He stay in the spot that has the best current for him. He swims around and gets lots of exercise but he loves his current. My guy did take a while to get big in the 100g. He grew 5 inches in two plus years since he was put in the pond. My baby ID is two years old and is only 8" at this momement. He will be in the pond once he is about 12". Your 5 ID's will get big, just feed them well and be prepared to own 5 fish that will be needing a long and wide tank. Less than 24" wide will not be big enough for them to turn around in soon enough. They get big and live a very long time. I have the proof. Good luck,
 
I thought my IDs at around 1 year, and 1.5 yo were growing slow. From 1.5" to around 11".
 
I have the same problem. I have a 6x2x2 tank, my id's were active when i first got them, now they are sitting on the bottom of the tank. I thought one of them was dead and when i went to scoop him out he darted around the tank smashing into everything. They raerely come out during the day now, nighttime they are more active. Does anybody know why thgis is? I did have three but my albino died two days ago, I don't want to loose my other two.
 
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