Irridescent shark, NOT for the home aquarium either....

Managuense

Managuense

Superstar Fish
#41
May 16, 2003
1,204
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43
Springfield, MO
#41
while the responsibility of keeping fish is certainly in the hands of the hobbyist, the unfortunate problem in many LFS's is that fish like these are often marked as growing to only 12", or mislabeled, or not marked at all. (i know, i work at one)

reb-bellied pacus at the LFS i work at are labeled 16" inches at max growth, and it is nearly impossible to argue with people that they grow much larger when they are looking at the label in front of you....;)

they will always be in the hobby...
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yes, they will. so will painted glass fish, goldfish varieties, hybrids, and anything else that sells.

just the nature of business.


one thing you fail to mention, is that it takes YEARS for an ID shark to get to that size...
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bro, i understand where you are coming from, but another problem with this notion is that eventually these animals WILL grow to their adult size (or helplessly suffer and die prior to it).....and what to do then? zoo? LFS? ......which is where the problem is, since most places dont have the capacity to take unwanted fish.

i hear you man, i just disagree.:)
M
 

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leck85

leck85

Large Fish
#42
Jan 12, 2005
137
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39
hockeytown
www.vancitybettas.cjb.net
#42
they wont always grow to their full capacity.. good luck finding an ID shark in the hobby that size.. i think someone said something about how thats a diff species than the one kept in aquariums..

good luck getting an ID shark to get 12 inches... they arent the most hardy fish in the first place...
 

A

allthingsanimal

Large Fish
#44
Sep 12, 2003
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42
Springfield, MO
#44
I have to disagree with leck85. It is easy to get an irridesent to a foot or more. If you have a problem getting a fish to its adult size you are doing something wrong. You also state that they are not the hardiest fish anyway. Why would you buy a fish banking on that it will die in your system before it reaches adult size. I'm not trying to be hateful but i believe that you should take care of your pets like you would your own children. WE choose to purchase the fish it is our responsibility to keep them healthy. If they perish in our care something is wrong with us not them.
 

J

jimthome25

New Fish
#49
Feb 16, 2005
4
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Philadelphia
#49
I'm glad i saw this post, i was at the pet store today and saw some IR sharks, about 3 inches long and the tag said max size 12 inches. It's a shame, nice looking fish. Any suggestions on sharks that would fit happily in a 10g? I saw red tailed sharks, black sharks, and balas, but i hear bala's grow huge too. I plan on upgrading the tank as soon as i move (6-12 months) so as long as it kept a reasonable size for a little while.

Edit:i forgot to mention the tank is a hex, so about 3 feet high and 2 feet wide.
 

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DiOhio

New Fish
#51
Feb 25, 2005
5
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SE Ohio
#51
Hi all, new member here and just had to jump into this discusson. I was doing a search on life expectancy of the ID Shark and found this thread.
My ID Shark is now 5 years old and measures 24". That's 2 feet ! I was really stupid for not researching this fish before I purchased it and only relied on the fish store salesperson who said 2 ID Sharks would do good in a 75 gallon tank. Well 2 years ago at 14" the other one I had finally killed himself from a major spazz attack. The surviving fish was moved to a 130 gallon 2 years ago and last year measured at 16". The only other fish I have in with him is a 20" Clown Knife (and of course feeder goldfish). The 130 gallon is WAY too small for this fish. I have been trying to find him a home and no one has a tank big enough ! The Clown Knife (or just about anything that moves) sets him off into spazz attacks where he'll knock the glass cover off, break heaters (I go through about 4-5 per year), spashes water onto the walls and floor, knocks off filter intakes and makes a total mess of the tank. These fish do NOT belong in home aquariums. And it doesn't take all that long for them to reach 2 feet in length.
 

mudracer06

mudracer06

Large Fish
#54
Jan 10, 2006
101
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Oakland, California
www.mud-racing.net
#54
I have a 25 gallon tank, and the intent to get a 100 gallon or so within 6-12 months. I recently bought a Irridescent Shark not realizing it would get that big, I will blame myself, not the fish store.

Three Questions...

1) It is only a few inches, and seems to have enough room for now. Would it be ok to keep it in a 100 gallon tank?

2) If I shouldn't keep it, what should I do?

3) The first few days it was semi-active, hiding some of the time, swimming around some of the time. Now for a little over a day, it just sits at the bottom under some rock looking around. Swimming to a new spot every once in awhile. I have read two seperate sites of two other people that noticed the exact same thing with theirs. Any ideas what might be up, or is it just something this fish does?
 

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DiOhio

New Fish
#55
Feb 25, 2005
5
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SE Ohio
#55
I would definately take him back !! You are only asking for trouble down the road.

With that said, if you move him to a 100 gal. right away I think he will just grow faster. But even if you keep him in the smaller tank he's still gonna grow and sooner or later the 100 gal will NOT be big enough. Take the fish back unless you plan on getting a 500 gallon tank ! And I'm not sure that would even be big enough in the future.

I know I was shocked with the behavior of my ID sharks because in the fish stores you always see them swimming around. Once I got mine home they hid most of the time. I tried to make them happy by supplying caves but eventually I couldn't find a cave big enough so I put in a huge 6" diameter piece of plastic pipe and that worked good for a while. Now at 24" long with a girth of 10" (tip of dorsal to tip of anal fin) I cover both ends of the 130 gal. tank with towels to serve as caves and the Clown Knife stays at one end and the ID shark stays at the other end. If I remove the ID shark's towels to clean the gravel (which is usually a nightmare) the ID shark swims to the other end.
The ID shark hasn't had as many spazz attacks since I supplied him with the "towel" cave but they still do happen. A few months ago he actually jumped out of the tank ! Imagine finding a 2' fish flopping on the floor ! It took all I had to get him back in the tank. He floated upsidedown for a while (I really thought he was dead) but within about 30 min. he was back to normal.
 

Ronin

Ronin

Medium Fish
#58
Jan 27, 2006
90
0
0
Toronto, Canada
www.recdir.com
#58
yes ooo ahh, look i have under 10 posts therefore i am a nub...but i went to my lfs the other day and they have a 1foot id shark in a large pool like holding area, and it looks nothing like that. The one in your picutre was supossed to be a link to an id shark, but if u look closely at the thumbnail, its a different picture than the one u actually see when clicking on that thumbnail.

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgu...=&safe=off&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-52,GGLG:en&sa=N

Diohio's picture is the most accurate one..
 

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Fishckabibble

Fishckabibble

Large Fish
#59
Jan 13, 2006
792
2
0
Colorado
#59
I saw one in the petstore a few years ago that was about that size, i would love to have one in a 300 gallon tank. but that is a pipe dream lol i used to have one and i loved him, his name was sharky poo, and just to add a little info, it takes a really long time for them to get that big, so if you got a baby one you would have time to slowly upgrade tanks.
 

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