Rainbow Shark

Rainbow Shark

Epalzeorhynchos Frenatum

The Rainbow Shark is a commonly kept species in the Aquaria, they display interesting grazing behaviour, have beautiful fins, and attain a fairly manageable size.

Locale: Occurs through much of South-East Asia, occurring in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia - occurs most often in slow-moving rivers and streams with a sandy substrate littered with rock work for them to graze upon.

Fun fact: Despite bearing the name of ‘Shark’, Rainbow Sharks are actually a species of Cypriniformes, the Order that contains all Carps, Barbs, Loaches, and Minnows, so Rainbow Cyprinid, or even Rainbow Loach would be a more accurate description.

Care:

Care difficulty - Beginner, hardy bottom-dwelling fish

Temperament - Semi-aggressive, has been known to pick at longer fins of other aquarium inhabitants when stressed, underfed, or in too small of a tank.

Adult size - 12-13cms - but has been recorded up to 16cms.

Diet - Omnivorous; will eat both ends of the spectrum, from filament algae to small invertebrates and microcrustaceans, so in the Aquaria it is best to feed a staple diet of smaller pellets or flakes, and can have frozen or even live food dietary supplements, such as live or frozen brine shrimp, live black worms, frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis with spirulina, these should only be fed once or twice per fortnight.

Habitat - In the aquaria it is best to replicate the natural environment that any fish hails from, this helps reduce stress and encourages good husbandry - for Gouramis it is best to have a low-flow environment that is heavily planted with both substrate-bound plants and floating plants, wiry / branching driftwood and smooth rocks are great hard scape to use, coupled with a soft sandy substrate.

Optimal Water Parameters:

Temperature: 24-28°c

pH: 6.2-7.2

GH: 5-12

KH: 1-3

Fish size, sex, exact colour and patterning may vary from photo.