shark, I here it is pretty good sized.  I bought one this weekend, it is about three inches long and jet black, beautiful fish..[:D]

Hey...

Only I get to know about her little red tail....




When I left him with her about 6 months ago, he was 4-5 inches long.  Very sleek swimmer, though he really like to chase the Tiger Barbs around.  They are gorgeous fish, make sure they have a well planted area where they can hide a little.

Oops..Sorry Matt_s, thought I could slip that one by you!! I bought some Cherry Barbs this weekend also, for their size they give that big old shark a run for its money, also got some more Tiger Barbs now have 12, but they are babies, only the size of a dime. Saw some Green Barbs but they had Ick, very cool fish, I will get some as soon as healthy ones can be found!!!

Look into the Cichlid family of fish.  They are the best breeds for fresh water, hands down.  Be careful what you mix and match, or you will wind up with only one healty fish with a full belly and smile on his face. [}:)]   And to think that he was the smallest fish in the tank 6 months ago.  whoddathunkit?

Throw one small african cichlid in there with all those barbs.  Give him a few months, and see who rules the tank.  Great entertainment.  

Finding healthy fish is pretty hard for some reason.  I could never figure that out.  I really like the barbs, but they are so "darty" they almost aren't relaxing to watch.  The shark is my favorite.  When he was small I had an undergravel filter with the uplift tubes and carbon.  I would pull one carbon out and he would swim in the hole and eat the algea off of the plastic where the carbon went.  It was hilarious to see him upside down, swimming against the current, while munching away on this overgrown algea.  

I haven't seen him eat since, but I know he did because he got BIG!  He can zip across my 50 gallon with a flip of his tail, especially after a barb!

I can't wait to get my tank set up again!

DK-Prof,

You are partially correct about the Cichlids.  Certain varieties (Mainly the African varieties) do require a brackish/hard type of water.  And the Tanganyika type happen to be the very type that do require a nearly brine type water.

Most of the ones I have had success with in the past were the South American variety. The sizes, shapes, and colors of the Cichlid family are quite vast.  The largest one I raised was known as a "Red Devil", and wound up about 2 lbs.  He was mean as 40 hells.  I could not put any other fish in there with him after a year or so.  He virtually wiped out my entire population of Oscars, Firemouths, Convicts, Festives, and anything else that moved inside that tank. The problem was that he was smaller the others when I put him in there, but he outgrew the others as he devoured them. Once he finally croaked, I gave the reins over to my wife.  Now she maintains a nice community tank of smaller Barbs, Danios, Tetras, Hatchets, Algae Eaters etc.  The 50 gallon tank affords plenty of room for these smaller fish. Those little algae eaters are worth more than their weight in gold.  Not the lethargic Placos and bottom cats, but those active little rascals.  I just wish I could have had them in the tank with the larger fish.  

I got pretty involved in this hobby several years ago.  It had it's highs and lows.  One of the exciting times was finding thousands of tiny Convicts darting around in there one morning. My wife and I had picked up a boat load of sea shells at the outter banks, and had incorporated many of them into the tank landscape.  Evidently, the addition of those fresh shells made the water properties ideal for reproduction.  Out of the thousands of fry hatched out that day, we managed to actually raise about a half dozen of them to full maturity.  The big, bad "Red Devil" was in his growing stages at the time and managed to work on the masses of them. My wife used to get soooo pissed at him.[}:(]   Discus and Angel Fish were the two that I never did have any luck with.  Numerous attempts to introduce them to various tanks with different vegetation and water properties were unsuccessful.

Enough already.  Please don't get me interested in fish again, or the next thing you know I will sneak in a new Firemouth and let him slowly start working on the barbs. [}:D]

Red tails like just a little bit of brackish water....just a tiny bit of salt makes em calm down a bit.

I LOVE OSCARS!  I had a tank full of Oscars, they were a handful after they got to be mature adults.  Then I moved on to salt water tanks with clownfish, and anemonies and a few angels.

he's grown since Matt_S saw him last (April).  i think he's probably pushing 6 inches.  and he's bulking up too.  not fat, just meatier.  i'm sure that's what the cats are thinking when they see him too!!!!!  he's really black too.  and a bright red tail.  he does love chasing those barbs.  had to pull one out tonight though.  was really sick.  [:(]  had to put him down.  poor guy.

wish i had pics.  we could compare!  [:)]

M4Madness

At least your mom doesn't have to buy many feeder fish. Sounds like they feed themselves.  

As far as the bottom feeders...I almost forgot about the 2 inch long catfish I put in there one time.  A year later, he was like 12 inches long!  He stayed under the rocks, or the Red Devil would work on his a$$!  (I'm telling ya, he was bad to the bone!)  LITERALLY.  I'm sure that fat mud cat was happy when I released him in my farm pond.

If the pet store had it, I tried it. Ever try one of those Water Dog, four legged lizzard looking things with the gills sticking out of his head?  He thought he was tough until he woke up on morning with only three legs.  yep, Red Devil again....  

my very first fish to survive for any length of time was a goldfish named Pig.  well he grew and grew...right outta the 10 gallon tank.  so the 29 was set up, and i got some neon tetras to fill it in a bit.  everything's fine for a while and then for a period of about a week, i end up with one less neon every other day or so.  i was convinced my golfish was eating them, but i thought he was eating them after they had died.  of course, i didn't know what was killing them.  they had no outwardly signs of disease, not even neon tetra disease.

one day while feeding, i notice that yet another neon is missing.  so i reach right in and grab my golfish (fat equals slow) as i'm saying, "open up and let me see if you've got them in your tummy."  now i was just kidding.  i was being silly, pretending to look down his gullet into his gut...like i'd see anything anyway.  when poof!  this neon tetra comes rushing out of my golfish's mouth, completely whole.  the bastard had been eating them...alive!  needless to say, i didn't buy anymore neons when they were all gone.  until the goldfish died, i had to apply one single standard to any new fish i considered:  were the too large for the goldfish to eat in one gulp.  if they weren't, i couldn't buy them.

He ate all your danios too.

oh, yeah.  forgot about those poor guys.