Detailed Information About the Red Finned Shark Aquarium Fish

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Brief Overview

The Red Finned Shark can also be known as the 'Rainbow Shark'. This is a beautiful fish but take care what type of aquarium you add one too as they get more agressive as they get older, and larger. This fish is to be kept with like minded and sized fish; not to be kept with Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora, or small long-finned fish that may get its attention from the bottom. This fish's dark body with bright red, contrasting fins, makes it a beautiful addition to the community tank that will accept it. Some good tank mates for these fish are Clown Loaches, Kuhli Loaches, Pleostomus, or Gourami's

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Detailed Wikipedia Information

The rainbow shark (Epalzeorhynchos frenatum) is a popular freshwater community-tank aquarium fish of the Cyprinidae family. It is also variously known as the ruby shark, red-fin shark, red-finned shark, rainbow sharkminnow, green fringelip labeo, whitefin shark and whitetail sharkminnow. Unlike true sharks, which belong to the cartilaginous fishes, the rainbow shark is a bony fish.

Physical description

Rainbow sharks have elongated, dark-black and greenish bodies. The snout is pointed. The abdominal area is flat. The fins possess red to orange-red coloration. The linear area from the gill cover, the eye, and the mouth has a characteristic brief stripe. Compared to females, male rainbow sharks have thinner bodies with black lines along the tailfins. Males also have brighter coloration. They can grow up to 6 inches (15 cm) long with an average life span ranging from 4 to 6 years.

Natural Habitat

Rainbow sharks are species native to the basins of Mekong, Chao Phraya, Xe Bangfai and Maeklong in Thailand in Southeast Asia. They are also found in Indonesia. They live in water with sandy bottoms.

In the aquarium

Rainbow sharks are tank-bottom and aquarium-surface cleaners. Being bottom-level and mid-level dwellers, they consume leftover fishfood. They are known to be territorial, and aggressive to their own species. If kept with their own kind or relatives, threat displays and fighting is likely to occur. This fighting behavior involves head-and-tail butting. Provision of hiding places and hollowed decors such as plants or artificial cave-like and tunnel-like aquatic ornaments minimize this typical behavior. Due to this behavioral characteristic among its own kind, rainbow sharks are not recommendable to the new aquarist. Keeping them with relatives such as red-tailed sharks, and black sharks are avoided.

Tank requirements

An adult rainbow shark thrives in a 55-gallon sized tank with water at the neutral pH range (6.5 to 7.0 pH), with temperature kept between 22 to 26 degrees C (72 to 82 degrees F), and water hardness maintained at 2 to 15 dH. A single rainbow shark is normally mixed with other community fish of similar size.

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