Red Tailed Black Shark help!

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Liondtm

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 7, 2017
Messages
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Hello everyone, I bought a Red Tailed Black Shark a few weeks ago, when I bought him he had a white tip on his dorsal fin. But now all of his fins have white tips. Is this normal or should I be worried? Thanks in advance!
 
I’ll get a pic as soon as I get back from the store, and his tank mates are 4 angelfish, a rubberlip pleco and a bala shark, but the other fish don’t mess with him, the RTBS is the territorial one
 
That is completely normal on a RTS, you dont need to worry. As long as it’s only on the tips of the fins and it doesn’t look fuzzy and the fins don’t appear torn or frayed in anyway, it’s just part of their coloring. Most rtbs have this when they are young. It will sometimes stay. Sometimes it will disappear as they age. The females are more likely to keep the white tips. Males usually don’t.

I have had a red-tail for a year now. I assume it's a female, since she has a gray belly and the very tips of her fins are still white :)
 
That is completely normal on a RTS, you dont need to worry. As long as it’s only on the tips of the fins and it doesn’t look fuzzy and the fins don’t appear torn or frayed in anyway, it’s just part of their coloring. Most rtbs have this when they are young. It will sometimes stay. Sometimes it will disappear as they age. The females are more likely to keep the white tips. Males usually don’t.

I have had a red-tail for a year now. I assume it's a female, since she has a gray belly and the very tips of her fins are still white :)



Same with mine! Mine has a gray belly too, how do you determine gender of a RTBS?
 
Same with mine! Mine has a gray belly too, how do you determine gender of a RTBS?


The females usually have a grayer belly. Males are typically solid black (there are exceptions though). I would guess you had a female.

My shark will also turn grayish white sometimes when she’s stressed. But it goes away. I try to keep this from happening.


Some important things about rtbs:

Make sure you have a large enough tank. Otherwise, your shark will get stressed. This leads to greater illness susceptibility and aggression. Even if it’s not a problem now, it will be if you don’t have a large enough tank.

Make sure you have some caves and plenty of hiding places for your shark. They need hiding places! It’s in their nature.

And a tight fitting lid. They are jumpers! Trust me on the lid. It’s an absolute must. I can’t tell you how many stories I have heard from people coming home to find their shark dead on the floor from jumping out of the tank.

Regular water changes are important for rtbs. They don’t tolerate ammonia or nitrites well. So you should always know your water parameters. The best way to monitor this is purchasing the api freshwater master test kit.

Good luck! They are wonderful fish, and don’t deserve their bad rep.
 
The females usually have a grayer belly. Males are typically solid black (there are exceptions though). I would guess you had a female.

My shark will also turn grayish white sometimes when she’s stressed. But it goes away. I try to keep this from happening.


Some important things about rtbs:

Make sure you have a large enough tank. Otherwise, your shark will get stressed. This leads to greater illness susceptibility and aggression. Even if it’s not a problem now, it will be if you don’t have a large enough tank.

Make sure you have some caves and plenty of hiding places for your shark. They need hiding places! It’s in their nature.

And a tight fitting lid. They are jumpers! Trust me on the lid. It’s an absolute must. I can’t tell you how many stories I have heard from people coming home to find their shark dead on the floor from jumping out of the tank.

Regular water changes are important for rtbs. They don’t tolerate ammonia or nitrites well. So you should always know your water parameters. The best way to monitor this is purchasing the api freshwater master test kit.

Good luck! They are wonderful fish, and don’t deserve their bad rep.


Currently these fish are in a 36 gallon bowfront, because they’re so small but once they start getting some size I’m moving them all to a 55 gallon tank. I had to take one of my angels out today because it got Ich, I’ve treated both tanks, and I’ve noticed my RTBS likes to hide because I have a tree trunk decoration with a face in it, the inside is hollow and the eyes are open holes so she likes to go inside and hide since it’s one of the main places to hide in the tank, but I’m still waiting on my 12 live plants to get some size too.
 
Hi, this is completely unrelated but do you plan on getting an even larger tank than 55 gallons? That would be pushing it with just a pair of angels because they get so territorial when paired up. Also Baka sharks get huge, like 12"-16" and love to have buddies to school with so you would definitely need a larger tank than 55 gallons and they are very active. Other than that sounds like you are going to have some beautiful fish grow up :)
 
Hi, this is completely unrelated but do you plan on getting an even larger tank than 55 gallons? That would be pushing it with just a pair of angels because they get so territorial when paired up. Also Baka sharks get huge, like 12"-16" and love to have buddies to school with so you would definitely need a larger tank than 55 gallons and they are very active. Other than that sounds like you are going to have some beautiful fish grow up :)



Yes hopefully, next step would probably be a 75 gallon, and maybe after that a 120
 
Oh wow that's going to be big. I'm so jealous haha. I can't wait to see how they will look
 
Well I’m not going to lie it’s going to be a while, luckily I’m getting the 55 for free because it was my grandpas when he was in the hobby, he still has the old heaters, filters, air pumps, etc for it but I might upgrade everything on it except for the tank itself
 
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