Sad silver fin shark

[wyckd]

I have had a silver fin shark for a few months now and he had seen happy when he was swimming with his buddy my Oranda goldfish. "Tankhead" had since died on Thanksgiving none the less and now the shark stays in the general area where the goldfish died and floated. He also doesnt swim like he used to he kind of stays in one spot on the bottom of the tank. Can a fish die of depression? Is there anything I can do? There is some other kind of fish in the tank (can not remember the species) a supposedly blue lobster, snail and sucker fish. I feel bad for him! Can some one help?

 

[Jeox]

well. first of all. he'll either not do well, or just die, unless you, as he grows, convert him to brakish or salt water.
none of the others you listed can survive this though.
Im surprised the 'lobster' hasn't killed everything by now..

 

[wyckd]

do you think maybe if I get another goldfish he would be ok?

 

[Jeox]

do you think maybe if I get another goldfish he would be ok?

no, because he won't survive very long in pure freshwater...

 

[avalon]

Are we talking about balas? or ID's? as around here Bala sharks are called black fin sharks, silver fin sharks or just silver sharks...

If it's a bala it doesn't need brackish...

 

[Plecos_Ftw]

Yea Id need some ids.

 

[jasonmac978]

Silver Shark Catfish require brackish to marine water conditions. I learned the hard way. My fiance wanted one when we were at one of our LFS. My main concern is if it is a schooling fish, the woman assured us it is not. She also said they will only grow to 5-6". After about a week in my tank it died. It was pointing straight up and down, and kind of floating around. He was a pretty cool fish. I have seen these fish in most stores in my area being kept in freshwater tanks, very misleading. I wonder why they do that???

JM978

 

[Jdncowboy]

The Silver Tipped Shark aka The Columbian Shark, is a brackish water to marine water fish. As a juvie it can and will survive better in freshwater, but as it gets bigger and matures it will need its tank convereted to brackish. They get a lot bigger than 5"-6". They can get upwards of 12". They have a pretty fast growth rate if fed well and kept in the right conditions(not as fast as an oscars growth rate though, just a little bit slower) a 75 gallon tank for just one is a good thing.

You Columbian is lonley becuase it is a schooling fish and will do better in a group of at least 3. oh and if he is swimming around with his fins tucked into his side thats a pretty good sign he wont be around much longer.

 

[lhoang]

Try replacing the other goldfish with another one

 

[Merbeast]

Try replacing the other goldfish with another one

Good call. Replacing the needed salt with a goldfish will work just fine. Err, no. If you want to take care of the fish, you need to research the fish to see what it's needs are. The columbian shark needs to go brackish or full salt water to survive. A goldfish will not replace that needed salinity. I assure you, no matter how much we anthropomorphize, the fish does not have depression.