Red Tailed Shark's getting bad?

[senemedar]

I have always had troubles keeping Guppies in my tank, ever since I started my first one over two years ago. Whenever I took any to the tank, they've been dead after few months, sometimes even weeks. Only recently I talked with "my fish store" lady and she told me about one of her customers having the same problem with his Cardinal Tetras-- in his case it turned out to be Red Tailed Shark chasing them and biting them to death.

I also have a Red Tailed Shark, so the question arises - may it be the reason that I can't have any Guppies? On top of it all - my latest Guppie died few days ago, and today I've found one of my Cardinals dead as well, even though they have been in the tank for ages now (well, several months, but still...)

The thing is, I have never seen my Sharkie chasing any Guppies nor Tetras, but I can't see what's going on in the tank during night or the day when I'm at work.

Would that be the time for me to part with my Sharkie for the sake of all the other fishes?

 

[jcolon]

RTS getting bad? That would be an understatement. Simply put they become nasty territorially aggressive tyrants as they mature. They have no problem tormenting tank mates ... At least some do. Others are only aggressive towards other similar looking fish ... While a few could care less about bothering tank mates. Depends what you get personality wise. My RTS only chases my Tiger and Black ruby barbs ... Everyone else is left alone.

 

[senemedar]

It does look like his only chasing my Mollies around, but the doesn't seem to bother...
Would it be coincidence then that my Guppies are lasting only a few weeks and now my Cardinal Tetra's dead? Seems rather odd for me...

 

[jcolon]

Coincidence? Maybe ... but when a paroled cat burglar moves in to your neighborhood and suddenly there's a rash of robberies, it's not a stretch of the imagination on who the prime suspect would be.

 

[Aqualady40]

RTS getting bad? That would be an understatement. Simply put they become nasty territorially aggressive tyrants as they mature. They have no problem tormenting tank mates ... At least some do. Others are only aggressive towards other similar looking fish ... While a few could care less about bothering tank mates. Depends what you get personality wise. My RTS only chases my Tiger and Black ruby barbs ... Everyone else is left alone.

+1 agree...my rts has the "its my tank" syndrome...he/she would chase the tb's too when they were all in the same tank