With all the different and unique freshwater fish to choose from, the red tail shark is sometimes overlooked. Regardless, this fish is remarkably beautiful and highly recommended for fish tanks that will tolerate its lively personality. The black body and red tail are always a sight to see because this color pattern is not very common in fish. The red tail shark has a nice long lifespan of 5 – 6 years.
Aquarium Requirements & Fish Compatibility
The red tail shark will be around 6″ in length when it is full size. Although they do not get incredibly large, a fish tank that is 50 gallons or more is highly recommended when it is fully grown due to its aggressive nature. It should be the only red tail shark in the fish tank because it becomes highly territorial. Having other bottom dwelling fish such as plecos, rainbow sharks, and cichlids is also not recommended due to this fish’s aggression. The red tail shark does well with fish such as:
- Barbs (Tiger Barbs, Denison Barbs)
- Tetras (Neon, Glowlight, Emperor, Black Neon)
- Angelfish
- Gourami
- Bala Sharks
It is encouraged to provide a lot of places for this fish to hide. The fish tank should be full of decorations, driftwood, rocks, and plants (live or plastic) to help curb the previously mentioned aggression. Adding many decor breaks the line of sight for this fish which can help mellow it out. They love hiding in caves and crevices and will fight for the ability to do so.
The red tail shark does very well in temperatures ranging from 72 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit, KH levels between 10 and 15 and pH levels ranging from 6.5 to 7.5. Due to its aggressive personality the red tail shark’s care level is little more challenging compared to peaceful community fish.
Feeding
The red tail shark is an omnivorous animal so it will consume just about anything offered to it including vegetables such as cucumber and zucchini. Please remember to thoroughly rinse the vegetables before placing them into a fish tank and do not keep the vegetables inside of the aquarium for long periods of time because doing so may cause an increase in phosphate and nitrate levels. Besides vegetables, the red tail shark will go around the aquarium consuming algae that grows on rocks, plants, and glass.
Other foods that are commonly given to red tail sharks are flake food and frozen fish food. The flake food is meant to provide the nutrients a red tail shark would acquire from algae in the wild and the frozen bloodworms will provide the protein required for the red tail shark. Using these will help provide a well rounded diet for your shark. Other fish will also happily consume these foods! They are not limited to just these two types of food. Flake food can be substituted with pellet food and bloodworms can be substituted with brine shrimp or krill. Krill is normally given to larger red tail sharks.
Breeding
Breeding is an incredible challenge for red tail sharks in an aquarium setting. This is mainly because they are intolerable of one another in aquariums at home due to the aquarium’s size limitation and the fish’s territorial personality. Large aquariums may be able to keep more but it is still quite a challenge to get these fish to breed.
The only physical difference between a male shark and a female is that when matured, the female red tail shark will have an larger abdomen compared to the male. Otherwise the male and female sharks are identical.
Final Notes
The red tail shark is a fantastic fish to keep in fish tanks where the other fish swim in the middle to upper parts. Although they are not normally advertised as algae eaters, the red tail shark will remove some algae from aquarium decorations. Adding a few snails to help will be beneficial. Overall, this is a fantastic fish with very unique colors that are great for planted and regular freshwater fish tanks!
Image by Astellar87 on wikimedia