Irridescent Sharks

Hi all - I'm new here and new to fishkeeping, so I hope you can help me!

After our 35 gal hex tank was ready and had been running for a few days, we went to Wal-Mart to get a few fish. They had a huge number of tiny little irridescent sharks that I thought were really cute. We bought two, along with a few tetras, and an algae eater, and went about our business.

That was six months ago. I'm pleased to say that all our fish are still alive and healthy, but not so pleased to report that our sharks are now MASSIVE. They're by far the largest fish in our tank, and we thought maybe they were mutant fish. Apparently, after doing a little bit of research on the internet, they are really not recommended for home fishkeepers, and grow to be absolute monsters.

What I can't figure out is how long the things live - anyone know what I can expect, and will they EVER stop growing? If they don't, they're not going to be able to swim around for much longer, and I can't invest a whole bunch of money in a tank especially for these poor guys.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

ID sharks will get to about 3 feet in length I believe. As long as they are healthy they will keep growing, unfortunately there isn't a whole lot you can do about that. They can live for a VERY long time.

You might try to call a few shops that sell fish only and see if they have display tanks they can put them into. Don't be surprised if they don't give you anything for them though. I know a lot of fish stores are not really accepting these back anymore because there are so many people buying them right now and running into this same problem.

If you can't get a store to take them, try placing an ad in the classifieds to see if anyone is interested. And there's always www.aquabid.com . Sorry I can't really be of much more help

 

what kind of shark is it

 

ID sharks grow FAR too large.. They live for a very long time.. and I don't suppose they are peaceful.. Perhaps you would like to try Bala/Silver shark.. They grow large but they're quite peaceful..Be careful though, they tend to jump... Good luck with your monsters.

 

Like Tina said, they get huge and, although I'm not positive, my guess is they can live around 10 - 15 years at least. Your best bet would be to try to find someone to take them off your hands.

And even if you did have an aquarium that was large enough, they really wouldn't be too suitable for it. They are very skittish fish and when scared, their first reaction is to swim away as fast as they can. It is really common for them to ram into tank sides which can do a lot of damage to their "snout" and possibly kill them.

And BTW, bloodpain, bala sharks, although a slightly more acceptible alternative to ID shraks, still get around 14" and would be far too big for a 35 gallon tank.

-Chelle

 

Thanks for all your input, folks - I'm going to contact some local stores and see if I can give the poor fellas away. I'm not worried about getting paid for them, they were, like $1.36 at Wal-Mart, so it's not like I have anything invested in them except time and affection. At this point, Fric and Frac are so ugly they're cute, and I've gotten a bit attached to them. But I'd rather see them go to a big enough home than to risk them getting unhealthy.

Thanks again!

 

I had ID's and when they got to big I sold them to my LFS. Don't expect much money, but at least then you know where they are going the people know about their MASSIVE size!

 

Not necessarily. If they knew about their massive size, they wouldn't sell them in the first place. Either that or they simply don't care.

I hate to break it to you, but chances are, they're not going to end up in a nice 1000 gallon aquarium. Huge fish like that rarely end up in adequate tanks and most often suffer & die prematurely. I know most of us would like to save them all, but it simply is not possible and sometimes it's better to let someone else deal with it. The best we can do is try to convince LFS's to stop selling fish that 99% of people in the aquarium can't even come close to housing.

-Chelle

 

Nah i don't think so.. nowadays.. fish dealers don't care about the welfare of each fish imported/exported.. All they want to do is to make money..