I got a trio of 1.5" black sharkminnow, aka the black shark or black labeo, around 2 years ago. IIRC, ~$5 each or maybe even less.
They were growing up in a tank with all the jerks as they turned out, as expected, to be jerks to nice tank mates. From early on, it was obvious that their rate of growth differs. In about a year, one was 7", one was 5", and one was 3.5". The order of asserted and enforced dominance was the same, needless to say.
The smallest one disappeared one day, after half a year in the tank. In retrospect, it was a mistake to keep it housed too long with the Asian USD catfish Mystus leucophasus. The catfish outgrew the smallest shark and probably ate it one day.
In about another half a year, the biggest shark suffered a sudden and unexpected death. Perhaps not so unexpected, seeing how everyone in that tank challenged each other on regular basis, but still this shark was near the top of the pecking order and almost never bore any physical signs of power struggle.
Anyhow, having been left with one shark of the three, the medium grower, I rehomed it into a different 240 gal at about 6", worrying that I would lose it too in the original tank.
Here it is presently. Roughly 10". Chases some other fish in its tank but seems random and not overly vicious. The chasing has been largely inconsequential. Of course it claims the best and convenient spot in the tank, where it enjoys some protection but still keeps an eye on the whole tank. Likes its catfish farm pellets and appears to chew on cut bait fish sometimes.
The video is an overall tank update and not edited just for the black shark presence. Sorry. No time. I apologize in advance for the "filler".
They were growing up in a tank with all the jerks as they turned out, as expected, to be jerks to nice tank mates. From early on, it was obvious that their rate of growth differs. In about a year, one was 7", one was 5", and one was 3.5". The order of asserted and enforced dominance was the same, needless to say.
The smallest one disappeared one day, after half a year in the tank. In retrospect, it was a mistake to keep it housed too long with the Asian USD catfish Mystus leucophasus. The catfish outgrew the smallest shark and probably ate it one day.
In about another half a year, the biggest shark suffered a sudden and unexpected death. Perhaps not so unexpected, seeing how everyone in that tank challenged each other on regular basis, but still this shark was near the top of the pecking order and almost never bore any physical signs of power struggle.
Anyhow, having been left with one shark of the three, the medium grower, I rehomed it into a different 240 gal at about 6", worrying that I would lose it too in the original tank.
Here it is presently. Roughly 10". Chases some other fish in its tank but seems random and not overly vicious. The chasing has been largely inconsequential. Of course it claims the best and convenient spot in the tank, where it enjoys some protection but still keeps an eye on the whole tank. Likes its catfish farm pellets and appears to chew on cut bait fish sometimes.
The video is an overall tank update and not edited just for the black shark presence. Sorry. No time. I apologize in advance for the "filler".
