Rainbow sharks and dwarf puffers

S

swordfish11

New Fish
#1
Jan 24, 2009
7
0
0
#1
hi

i have 2 fish right now in my tank (35gallon)Rainbow Shark, Red tailed shark.
they ate in the first 20 min i put them in (so it must be a good sign) and so my question is how often should i feed the sharks?

And today i am suppose to get 3 dwarf Puffer fish (freshwater) and a palco, is there a chance of all these fishes in my tank getting along or will they fight to the death? PLZ help
 

unwritten law

unwritten law

Superstar Fish
#2
Sep 2, 2008
1,471
0
0
36
DC
#2
the rainbow and red tail will most certainly fight to teh death very soon... Puffers should not be in a tank with anything else but other puffers and food because they can seriously harm other fish with its beak like mouth... A palco? do you mean pleco?

How big is you tank? HAve you had a tank before? How long has it been set up? Any idea if it is cycled? Do you have a water test kit?
 

M

Monoxide

Large Fish
#3
Dec 19, 2008
224
0
0
#3
He said his tank was 39 gals. But something is Swordfish is we need to know that information on stuff. Have you cycled your tank properly? Whats your readings on your test kit(if you got one). Also from my exsperience of things with puffer as well.. is puffers will fight and kill other fish with them (most of the time) Ive seen it kill my fish in the past. Also those fish are needed to not be put together.. We all want a tank with what we want in it! But truly you dont want to have to keep getting new fish each week because its eaten. SO my friend I see its your 1st post. Does that mean your new to tanks totally or no? Just read as much as you can able stuff before setting it up otherwise your going into the hobby with a hurt leg.

Edit - Also welcome to the website!
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
#4
May 16, 2003
8,589
10
38
42
Colorado
#4
Actually they said it was 35 gallons :)

Welcome Swordfish! I agree with unwritten law, those two sharks in a relatively small tank probably are not going to work...especially with a pleco in there. They are all relatively territorial and live in the same areas in the tank. I would also say you should pick a shark and some other fish to mix in with them....or choose to keep the puffers. Puffers are pretty particular fish, picky with what they eat etc. I doubt a dwarf puffer is going to hurt any larger fish...but its possible. More possible that the puffers will be eaten by the sharks as they get bigger.

For right now, I would feed your sharks once or twice a day in small amounts...not more than they will eat in a few minutes. You should also drop food in for your pleco (sinking wafers) at night every couple of days.

And then, like the others said, do you have any test kits?
 

kalidiscopeyes

kalidiscopeyes

Small Fish
#5
Dec 27, 2008
28
0
0
#5
I asked a local aquarium shop (not a chain store) about puffers and the guy who owned the shop said his experience with all puffers no matter how small was that they are extreamly aggressive. He said that even the pea puffers will gang up on a larger fish and gouge the eyes out and shred the fins to disable it totally and then dine on it :0 Of course that is in a school, but everything I've read says they do best in schools...The owner keeps his puffers in a seprate tank.
What kind of puffers are you getting? Perhaps with just 3 that don't get big they'll have the company of their own species to be happy, but not the numbers to kill everything in the tank. Let me know how it goes! Good luck :)
 

Last edited:
S

swordfish11

New Fish
#6
Jan 24, 2009
7
0
0
#6
the fish are there for 2 days now and the water was cycled for 48 hours and i do see them fighting a lot, what should do at this point, should i take the risk and keep them or give them away to a fish store
 

M

Monoxide

Large Fish
#7
Dec 19, 2008
224
0
0
#7
Your just going to have to much issues with them if you try to keep them. You need to take them back or something. Also you cant cycle a tank in 48 hours. I think maybe your thinking cycling is leaving it run for some time right? Anyways Id take it out and buy bigger tank to have some sort of those cichlids or keep the tank and go with some smaller cichlid or smaller fish.
 

unwritten law

unwritten law

Superstar Fish
#8
Sep 2, 2008
1,471
0
0
36
DC
#8
Take one of the sharks back, don't buy more fish and read up and Google fish-in cycling. You need to establish a bacteria colony in your tank for a few weeks before it is stable enough for fish. Read around here and other places to get some better ideas on what else to do with the tank. Good luck.. the person that sold you those two sharks was a dumbass
 

Last edited:
kalidiscopeyes

kalidiscopeyes

Small Fish
#9
Dec 27, 2008
28
0
0
#9
unwritten law said:
Take one of the sharks back, don't buy more fish and read up and Google fish-in cycling. You need to establish a bacteria colony in your tank for a few weeks before it is stable enough for fish. Read around here and other places to get some better ideas on what else to do with the tank. Good luck.. the person that sold you those two sharks was a dumbass
Click to expand...
That's the advise I'd go with*crazysmil
 

S

swordfish11

New Fish
#10
Jan 24, 2009
7
0
0
#10
Thanks for your help

Thank you for help in helping me decide on what to do


and so i decided to get:

4 green spotted puffer fish
4 Monos
2 Plecos

and i am sure my 2 sharks in a better place (big fish store)
 

misterking

misterking

Superstar Fish
#11
Aug 12, 2008
1,124
0
0
Manchester, UK
www.facebook.com
#11
Woahhh.. you're going to lose pretty much all those fish very soon unless you take severe precautions and this is why:

1. Plecos require MATURE water to thrive. In fact, most fish do.
2. Two plecos, regardless of what kind, are too much for a 35 gallon - they can become surprisingly territorial and need some serious space.
3. Monos require brackish water while young, becoming more and more saline until mature, when they require a large marine set-up.
4. Puffers, as said, are aggressive to most other fish. And, if your uncycled tank doesn't kill the fish, the puffers likely will.

As said, you need to read up on cycling - it is NOT simply the running of a tank for a little while until it's not cloudy. And again, as said, whoever is selling you these fish is a dumbass. You should invest in an ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and pH test kit before doing anything else - I'd take all those fish back if I were you, that sounds like a lot of money to be wasting if they all end up dieing.
 

MissFishy

MissFishy

Superstar Fish
#12
Aug 10, 2006
2,237
5
0
Michigan
#12
Swordfish, please STOP what you are doing right now because you are headed for disaster. A tank does NOT cycle in 48 hours, I repeat, your tank is NOT cycled and ready for fish. PLEASE take the time to read over the link below in my signature on cycling, setting up and stocking a fish tank. Puffers should only be kept in species only tanks as they have special needs. Please take the time to read through the site link before you waste your money, time, and the fishes' lives.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.