Re: Lethargic IridescentSharks

[2pods]

Sounds as if they've been hanging out with Loaches and picked up bad habits
;-)

Peter

[NetMax]

"Retro-Bob" > wrote in message
...
> Short story: my new iridescent sharks are very lethargic.
>
> Long story: Old tank, held (only) four previous sharks who lived
> from 14-22 years old. Last one died a couple of months ago at age 22.
> I let the tank keep running for a couple weeks until I had time to
> clean it. I then removed all the plants and gravel, rinsed them
> heavily, cleaned (but kept) the filter medium, and refilled. Treated
> the water, PH OK, temp OK, nitrites (nitrates?) OK.
>
> Bought 4 small new sharks about 2" long. They were very active in
> the store in a mixed tank, bright lights, etc.
> My sharks have always tended to "sleep" at night but they usually
> keep moving in the day. Not these guys. One parks himself on his
> side in the corner under a bush and looks dead (but he wakes up
> for food). Another figured out how to park himself on the clamp
> that holds the heater to the tank glass and parks himself there.
> After eating, he carefully wriggles his fins into place so he
> can sleep in midair (water) resting on the clamp. A third puts
> himself into the leaves of a large bush like a lizard and
> sleeps there. The last one just rests on the bottom.
>
> I tried a 1/3 water change after a week. Three of them got active
> for a day then returned to their old habits. I raised the temp
> from 76 to 79 - no change in behavior. I've been checking PH and
> fine tuning and checking nitrites but the PH is never off much
> and the nitrites are fine. They get up to eat (usually) and then
> go back to sleep within an hour.
>
> Any ideas ? This doesn't seem right.


I agree, ID sharks (at least all the sub-species I've encountered) are
extremely active fish (almost hyper-active). Post your actual ammonia,
pH, nitrites (NO2) and nitrates (NO3). Post your kH too (buffer) which
can be a factor in older tanks. The other thing that I would look at is
the water conditions they came out of (perhaps much lower or higher gH?).
If everything in the water was good, then I would feed them less and
possibly add some ditherfish.

Note that if they have not been there very long (less than 2 weeks) then
they just might be acclimating, so I would give them some time. Some
extra turbulence in the water is something you might try in the future.
hth
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Margolis]

I am going to say keep checking the nitrites, not nitrates. Nitrites are
extremely toxic and even at very low levels will make your fish lethargic
and act abnormally. Since you say you rinsed everything very well I am
going to say you killed most of the bacteria that convert the bad stuff to
nitrates causing this problem. The fish getting active after the water
change also indicates this. Just keep checking your ammonia and nitrites.

You can check your nitrates also, if they are 0 or extremely low then you
know your nitrites are not being taken care of and are still present

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[Margolis]

btw, how big is this tank if you can grow these beasts to adulthood? ;o0

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[NetMax]

"Retro-Bob" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 12:25:19 -0600, "Margolis" >
> wrote:
>
>>btw, how big is this tank if you can grow these beasts to adulthood?
>>;o0
>
> Not that big, 30high. But, they seem to be limited due to the size.
> They only reached about 6-7" each. In case you are wondering, I did
> feed them a lot but they were definitely self limiting. They were the
> only fish in the tank for all those years so they had no competition.
> I think that contributed to their long life... they got to live with
> fish that had all the same sleeping and eating habits, there were no
> cross-fish aggressions, etc.
>
> Like a lot of animals, they seem to do most of their growing in the
> first couple years, then they grow slowly.
> I have seen one of these over a foot long in a very large tank. I
> always thought mine would get that big but they never did.

There is actually more than one species retailed under the name ID shark,
and their eventual size varies considerably. I never learned to
distinguish between those which would stay in the 6" range, or turn into
monsters (until they were monsters ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Margolis]

"Retro-Bob" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 12:25:19 -0600, "Margolis" >
> wrote:
>
> >btw, how big is this tank if you can grow these beasts to adulthood? ;o0
>
> Not that big, 30high. But, they seem to be limited due to the size.
> They only reached about 6-7" each. In case you are wondering, I did
> feed them a lot but they were definitely self limiting. They were the
> only fish in the tank for all those years so they had no competition.
> I think that contributed to their long life... they got to live with
> fish that had all the same sleeping and eating habits, there were no
> cross-fish aggressions, etc.
>
> Like a lot of animals, they seem to do most of their growing in the
> first couple years, then they grow slowly.
> I have seen one of these over a foot long in a very large tank. I
> always thought mine would get that big but they never did.


Sorry, but I cannot believe they were irridescent sharks then. Fish are not
self limiting because of tank size. There is no way they could stay that
small and live that long. irridescents get over 36", a friend of mine had
some in his 45gallon cube and they were over 12" in a little over a year and
still growing, he had to get rid of them. Fish do not stay small because
of tank size unless the water is so bad that it keeps them unhealthy. And
in that case they die a very early death.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq