pet store... 2 thumbs down

[fishums]

Hi everyone im new and have been around the forums for a few days and thought i would introduce myself. I am very new to fish and have only been keeping for about a month. My interest was sparked when a friend of mine gave me a 55 gallon tank with a oscar about the size of a football and recently decided to get more fish. so i went to a petstore with tons of fresh and salt water fish and picked out a ten gallon tank. Then i was assisted by a worker on the fish to put in it. i found a few i liked and the lady verified they would all do fine in the ten gallon tank. Now comes the bad part... So the fish i have in this tank are 2 African Cichlids a yellow one and a striped blue one. They are about an inch, inch and a half long. Also i have an iridescent shark that's about 2 and a half inches. As well as a pleco thats about 3 inches... The lady said everything would be okay. Well luckily for my fish i found this website and did some reading. The good news is that within 3 weeks i will have another 55 gallon tank and from my understanding that will work for the pleco and the Cichlids, as far as the shark im still not sure. The store has a no return policy and on top of that the Cichlids are nipping his fins terribly and i fear i am running out of time. For right now i am going to put the shark alone in my girlfriends 5 gallon tank but it will be moved as soon as possibly. I was wondering about possibly a tank divider when i get the 55 gall but im not sure if either fish would benefit. I feel terrible for moving the fish into such poor conditions. To make things worse the employee told me nothing about cycling a tank other than just put a goldfish in it with the filter going for a few days. Some how it worked, the fish are still alive but i am furious that i was not informed how to properly care for these fish. So the main question i have is is their anyway to make these four fish live together without problems in the 55 gallon when i get it? Also will the nipped shark fins grow back? Any and all help and advice would be appreciated.

 

[unwritten law]

The fins will grow back to an extent. I'd try putting the shark with teh oscar but I bet it's too small now. Hopefully it will be okay in the new 55 with the cichlids cause there will be more room for him to get away. Best idea is to turn the new 55 into an all african tank (eventually) and move the pleco and shark into the other 55 with the oscar when they can.

I'd go back and raise hell to the petstore and make them take the fish back. Just put them in a bag and drop them off at the register and say **** you guys.

 

[fishums]

thank you for the advice. Im not shure about putting anything in with the oscar, hes about as big as a football and has lived in his tank alone his whole life. Also he eats goldfish bigger than my little shark. lol. Hes very mean as well so im not sure about any tank mates. As tempting as your idea of "returning" the fish sounds i will probably just keep them because they would probably just resell them to someone else and inform them they will all thrive in a betta bowl. I just got done moving the shark to a 5 gallon plastic tank with a small filter in it for temporary confinement until he heals and i find a more suitable home. Iv seen pictures of These sharks eating cucumber slices by the looks of it, is this ok? Would this be beneficial or problematic to the shark? Or is it just a treat?

 

[tropicalcrazy]

well your shark is going to need to eventually be moved into a minimum of 1000 gallon tank as they become EXTREMELY huge which they dont tell you. that shark WILL get bigger than that oscar so you might want to start raising hell at your store like unwritten said, and definitely complain about all the poor advice/ lack of advice. otherwise welcome to MFT and sounds like your starting to get on the right track