iridescent shark help

[clancy888]

i work in the science dept. at a small university, and while we don't use them for any research or anything, we have two fishtanks that i take care of: a 10 gal and 55 gal.

the 55 is mainly home to generations of platies, while the 10 is used as a quarantine.

so, in april, one of my work-study students tells me that her mom has 55 that she didn't want to take care of anymore and instead of getting rid of the fish, she literally just stopped taking care of it. turned the heater and filters off, stopped feeding the fish, etc. they'd just throw the fish out as they died, but three were hanging on, and after months of abuse just weren't kicking it. she asks if i want her to bring the fish in for the school's tank; it was a community tank, so they should be fine with the platies.

she brought the fish in and i had her put them in the 10, which i kept them in for a month.
two of the fish, a rainbow and a black skirt tetra, looked healthy and acted healthy, so i moved them into the big tank, where they've been happy for three months now:

however, the third fish is an iridescent shark.
i know these fish can get very large (re: 'fish that shouldn't be sold' thread) so i feel awful that it's by itself in a 10 gal tank and it sits motionless on the bottom of the tank in the corner constantly. the only time i ever see it move is when i do water changes and it freaks out, swimming up and down and across the tank rapidly.
it's around 5-6 inches long, at least a year old (i really have no idea its age), and is very thin.

moving the other fish hasn't had an effect on its behavior.
i'm not sure what to do about this fish.
besides being so thin, it doesn't seem outwardly unhealthy (no physical deformities/parasites, no labored breathing), but i know this is not a good environment for it.

i've been wondering if euthanization would be ethical, given its present condition and past trauma.

what should i do?

 

[kaiofcanada]

You are a good person for rescuing those poor fish. I would see if anyone here is willing to adopt it to put in their tank. One other consideration is calling some bigger private local fish stores and see if they will take it. They ofetn house very large tanks and adopt bigger fish to showcase. until they can sell them.

Since he doesn't seem sick, it may just be that he is malnourished. I would try feeding him softened peas and some live food to see if you can fatten him up a little. He does look very very thin. Poor guy.

Another thing I know about iridescent sharks is that tank size will stunt their growth. This works to the advantage of the fish keeper, but I don't feel that it is best for the fish. I would make sure that wherever he goes it is to someone who will give him alot of room to grow and will find a new home if they can't house it anymore.

 

[numberoneshorty]

Hi clancy888,

If you need someone to take the fish off your hands I am here. I have a school of these fish and I am able to take very good care of your little guy.

You can also take the good advice of kaiofcanada and sell them to a good pet store. Make sure they are a reliable place, that knows their fish, and takes good care of them as well as their tanks. They can make sure that your fish gets a good home.

Here is the only advice that I can personally give, that I hope will help, if you don't want to give up your little fish. Do a lot of research on the Internet about these fish. That helped me out a lot. Go to the local pet store and ask them a million questions. That's what I did when I got stuck. Sometimes it takes a while for these fish to adapt to their new environment. They are very skittish and shy. So they sometimes need a lot of patience. Once they get to know you, they will move around more and even come to the side of the tank for food. They pretty much beg like a dog, lol. When they are happy they will constantly swim, back and forth, against the front of the glass on the tank. They need to be in a school of 5 or more to be happy as well. Any less than that they can stress and die. They will also stop eating at some point. They will hide whenever possible and never come out. Try different types of foods and mix it up a little bit. Sometimes that snaps them out of any depression that they are in. They eat anything, and mine have favorites such as bloodworms, algae tablets and brine shrimp. They need a minimum of 55 gallons and eventually will need a bigger tank. I personally upgrade tanks as mine grow. I started mine out in a 10 gallon when they were babies. Once I saw them growing rapidly after a few months, I upgraded to a 29 gallon. Some of them stopped growing for a while. Two others doubled in size after the new tank. So now I am preparing a 40 gallon and 55 gallon just to be safe. From there I'll make my best judgement, as to upgrade to a 75 or bigger depending on their growth spurts.

Here is my own personal belief on these fish. I didn't know what I was getting into when I bought these fish. The sales people at the pet store didn't know anymore than I did. They were all wrong as to how big these fish can get. My belief is that I took these fish and now I am stuck with them. I fell in love with these little guys. They are so much fun. So I am responsible for them for the rest of their lives. I don't believe in taking them back to the fish place and in my own opinion traumatizing them. I treat them like any dog or cat I would have. So if you share my belief figure out a way like I did If you don't share my belief that's ok too and do whatever is in the best interest for your fish as well as for yourself.

 

[clancy888]

i ended up trying to feed it live bloodworms, and it acted like a completely different fish. it ate and plumped up and i was able to move it to the 55 about three months after i made the original post.

i have since moved on from that position and had to leave the fish behind, but i have received a few updates.
the tank ended up being very neglected and most of the fish, including the shark, died. last i heard about it was december and it still wasn't being taken care of.
i asked before leaving if they wanted to keep the tank, they did. so i gave instructions, both verbal and written, and walked someone (one of my superiors, actually) through the maintenance process before i left, so it really upsets me that the fish ended up being abused like that after i worked so hard on getting that tank, and those fish, healthy.

 

[numberoneshorty]

That is so great that you were able to get it eating and found something that it liked

I am so sorry that everything in the tank ended up dying. I feel so bad for you and for the fish. All that hard work and you seemed like you really cared about them. Well you did all that you could do.

I found that most people out there don't know how to take care of fish. They won't even do their research or ask for help when they run into problems. Then there's the ones that just don't care and let everything die.

If you ever decided to have a set up like that again, at least you know how to take care of them now, and make them healthy and happy Just make sure no one else will have to take care of them ya know.

I wish you all the best in the future and hopefully you never have to deal with people like that again.

Take care!

Denise