black fin sharks (help)

[zigzag131]

i've had my 25 gallon fish tank set up for about a month now the first time i tested it was 3 days ago and all the levels were perfect. and i am truly new to this.

i have a 25 gallon tank with red and white rocks in the bottom three fake plants and two things for my fish to hide in. a topfin 60 filter and a 24 light from walmart.

at first i had
2 black fin sharks
2 rainbow sharks
1 albino high fin pleco
1 high fin pleco
1 tiger oscar
2 pink kissing gourami(sp?)
1 cichild not sure what kind

and my aunt helped me out a little bit by showing me that all these fish should be together and they are all seperated now.

but in my 25 gallon tank i have 2 black fin sharks and two rainbow sharks with one pleco. for the first week i had them the black fin sharks swam around like crazy all over the tank (mostly at the top) but now after they have been in the tank for about a month both of them sit at the bottom on the rocks with their fins down and just dont move much.

does anyone know why?

 

[jo3olous]

i've had my 25 gallon fish tank set up for about a month now the first time i tested it was 3 days ago and all the levels were perfect. and i am truly new to this.

i have a 25 gallon tank with red and white rocks in the bottom three fake plants and two things for my fish to hide in. a topfin 60 filter and a 24 light from walmart.

at first i had
2 black fin sharks
2 rainbow sharks
1 albino high fin pleco
1 high fin pleco
1 tiger oscar
2 pink kissing gourami(sp?)
1 cichild not sure what kind

and my aunt helped me out a little bit by showing me that all these fish should be together and they are all seperated now.

but in my 25 gallon tank i have 2 black fin sharks and two rainbow sharks with one pleco. for the first week i had them the black fin sharks swam around like crazy all over the tank (mostly at the top) but now after they have been in the tank for about a month both of them sit at the bottom on the rocks with their fins down and just dont move much.

does anyone know why?

wow, that setup of fish is highly wrong.
-The black fin sharks i am guessing are bala sharks. they require 50-75G tanks as juveniles and over 125G tanks as adults. Long tanks (4ft+) are preferred. Bala sharks should grow 12-16 inches as an adult and are highly active swimmers, lack of swimming room is bad for them as they may dart from side to side or possibly try to jump out the tank.
-Rainbow sharks are 1 to a tank only. It is very hard to successfully pair or group rainbow sharks because 1 will torment the other, even in larger tanks it becomes an issue as they mature. The same rule for rainbow sharks apply for redtail sharks. you cannot have > 1 or a combination of either. It is rarely successful to have 3 or more together, another reason they are almost never bred in captivity. They just do not get along. Your rainbow shark may be happier if you gave it caves and various hiding places for it to claim territory.
-Pleco: If this is a common pleco, please return it. They are a heavy bioload to your tank and should not be housed in anything less than 75G. It may be small now, but those can exceed over 1foot in length, can be territorial and are somewhat girthy. My friend has one that grew over the years in his 90G, you do not want a 1.5ft pleco in your 25G trust me.

I am figuring you got rid of the tiger oscar, gouramis and cichlids. I've never heard of gouramis with bala sharks, IDK if it's a good/bad combo. Tiger Oscars will not fly with any of those fish, they are just too messy and need a lot of space to themselves.

That's the best advice I can give you as far as your stocking goes. If you don't plan on exchanging your fish, hopefully you are upgrading to a bigger tank soon. Hope you make some good decisions. Goodluck

 

[zigzag131]

fish

thank you very much for the help. and i am planning on changing things around because i really want to start getting more into aquariums with out without fish.

i have two 55gallon tanks and a 110 gallon tank and i will change up the fish as soon as i get new filters in about a day or so

(the oscar is in my neighbors 55 gallon tank with another oscar)

the cichild is in my neighbors 120 gallon tank with some other cichlids and the gourami is doing well with the sharks but if something changes ill switch them around

 

[jo3olous]

thank you very much for the help. and i am planning on changing things around because i really want to start getting more into aquariums with out without fish.

i have two 55gallon tanks and a 110 gallon tank and i will change up the fish as soon as i get new filters in about a day or so

(the oscar is in my neighbors 55 gallon tank with another oscar)

the cichild is in my neighbors 120 gallon tank with some other cichlids and the gourami is doing well with the sharks but if something changes ill switch them around

I would take advantage of your other tanks then!

If you have larger tanks already, I would just keep everything you have since you can eventually re-home them.

What you should do though is google a little more about the fish you have and look to see what you can mix them up with.

To answer your initial question because I forgot it, your sharks are probably stagnant fins down because they are stressed? Did you cycle the tank before adding fish or did you do a fish-in cycle? If so balas arent the best starters for that and they may be struggling.

I would do a 50% water change and see what happens from there. Also take note if your other fish are chasing them, or stressing them out too.

 

[zigzag131]

i just have to get the money to get them up and running. like filters heaters and maybe some live plants after i read about them

 

[jo3olous]

i just have to get the money to get them up and running. like filters heaters and maybe some live plants after i read about them

If you're taking the oscar back, I would put the oscar in a tank with little decor/plants. Oscars like to re-arrange and move/mess up decor.

For your rainbow sharks, I would get caves/pots, stuff for them to dwell in.

To satisfy the bala sharks, try to keep any decor/plant pushed to the back of the tank. This will leave the front end of the tank with lots of open space for them to swim. It makes them happy and you get to see all their activity

 

[MissFishy]

Sounds like ammonia poisoning if they're being lethargic and just sitting on the bottom. Take a sample of your water into the fish store and have them test it for nitrites and ammonia. This doesn't address the problem that you should NOT have bala sharks and 2 rainbow sharks in a small 25 gallon tank. Read up on both of these species and their needs.

 

[homebunnyj]

Once you've done a sizable water change to reduce the toxins in the water, get your neighbor to let you swish some of his/her filter media in your tank every day or two to seed your tank with beneficial bacteria. Even better, see if your neighbor can spare some of the filter media to keep in your filter box for a couple or three weeks. This will speed up the cycling of your tank immensely and minimize damage to your fish's health.