Rainbow shark
Encyclopedia
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 shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....

s, which belong to the Chondrichthyes
Chondrichthyes
Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fishes are jawed fish with paired fins, paired nares, scales, two-chambered hearts, and skeletons made of cartilage rather than bone...

 ("cartilagenous fishes") lineage, the rainbow shark is an Actinopterygii
Actinopterygii
The Actinopterygii or ray-finned fishes constitute a class or sub-class of the bony fishes.The ray-finned fishes are so called because they possess lepidotrichia or "fin rays", their fins being webs of skin supported by bony or horny spines , as opposed to the fleshy, lobed fins that characterize...

an ("ray-finned fish").

Physical description

Rainbow sharks have elongated, dark-black and greenish bodies. They also can be light orange body wise with dark red fins.They also come in an albino variety which has a white body and bright orange fins. 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.

Distribution and habitat

Rainbow sharks are species native to the basins of Mekong
Mekong
The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....

, Chao Phraya
Chao Phraya River
The Chao Phraya is a major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It runs through Bangkok, the capital city, and then empties into the Gulf of Thailand.-Etymology:...

, Xe Bangfai and Maeklong
Mae Klong
The Mae Klong is a river in western Thailand. The river begins at the confluence of the Khwae Noi or Khwae Sai Yok and the Khwae Yai River or Khwae Si Sawat in Kanchanaburi, pass Ratchaburi Province and empties into the Gulf of Thailand in Samut Songkhram....

 in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

. They are also found in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. They live in water with sandy bottoms.

Behavior

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
Territory (animal)
In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics...

, 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, and also biting.. A large rainbow shark will continuously chase a smaller rainbow shark until the smaller one dies, especially in confined environments like aquaria. This makes breeding difficult. 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
Red-tailed black shark
The red-tailed black shark , also known as the redtail shark and Labeo bicolor, is a species of freshwater fish in the carp family, Cyprinidae...

, bala sharks
Bala shark
The Bala shark, Balantiocheilos melanopterus, also known as the tricolor shark, silver shark, or shark minnow, is a fish species of the family Cyprinidae, and is one of the two species in the genus Balantiocheilos...

 and black sharks
Black Sharkminnow
The Black Sharkminnow is a fish in the genus Labeo....

 should be avoided.

Tank requirements

An adult rainbow shark thrives in a 55-gallon sized tank with water at the neutral pH
PH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...

 range (6.5 to 7.0 pH), with temperature kept between 22 to 26 °C (71.6 to 78.8 F), and water hardness maintained at 2 to 15 dH. They must have this much space as they sometimes swim around quickly. A single rainbow shark is normally mixed with other community fish of similar size.

Size

Rainbow Sharks usually reach a maximum length of 6 to 7 inches.

Compatibility

Rainbow sharks are compatible with barbs and rainbowfish
Rainbowfish
The rainbowfish are a family of small, colourful, freshwater fish that are found in northern and eastern Australia and New Guinea and in the Southeast Asian islands....

, which are upper-tank and middle-tank dwellers. They can also live with danio
Danio
The Danio genus comprises many of the species of danionins familiar to aquarists. The common name "danio" is used for members of the genera Danio and Devario.-Taxonomy:...

s, loaches
Loach (fish)
Cobitidae is the family of the true loaches, which are Old World freshwater fish. They occur throughout Eurasia and in Morocco, and inhabit riverine ecosystems. Today, most "loaches" are placed in other families...

, plecos
Plecostomus
Hypostomus plecostomus is the scientific name for a type of freshwater tropical Central and South American fish belonging to the family Loricariidae. They are large algae eaters, and to differentiate them from small algae eaters, they are often referred to as plecostomus, often abbreviated as...

, and gourami
Gourami
Gouramis are a family, Osphronemidae, of freshwater perciform fishes. The fish are native to Asia, from Pakistan and India to the Malay Archipelago and north-easterly towards Korea. The name "gourami" is also used for fish of the families Helostomatidae and Anabantidae. "Gouramis" is an example of...

s.

Diet

Rainbow sharks are non-picky herbivorous
Herbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...

 and omnivorous
Omnivore
Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...

 eaters but are primarily consumers of algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

 in the form of tablets, wafers and flakes. They also eat livefood such as insect larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e, Tubifex worms
Tubifex tubifex
Tubifex tubifex, also called the sludge worm, or sewage worm, is a species of tubificid segmented worm that inhabits the sediments of lakes and rivers on several continents...

, periphyton
Periphyton
Periphyton are a complex mixture of algae, cyanobacteria, heterotrophic microbes, and detritus that are attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems. It serves as an important food source for invertebrates, tadpoles, and some fish. It can also absorb contaminants; removing them from...

, crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s, phytoplankton
Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν , meaning "plant", and πλαγκτός , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye...

, zooplankton
Zooplankton
Zooplankton are heterotrophic plankton. Plankton are organisms drifting in oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The word "zooplankton" is derived from the Greek zoon , meaning "animal", and , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"...

 and aquatic insects. Diet also include lettuce
Lettuce
Lettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. It is eaten either raw, notably in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes, or cooked, as in Chinese cuisine in which the stem becomes just as important...

 and spinach
Spinach
Spinach is an edible flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant , which grows to a height of up to 30 cm. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions...

. They will also eat frozen bloodworms.

Breeding

No actually breed sequence has been documented. Although known to be egg-layers, reproducing rainbow sharks are difficult in an aquarium setting.

Variants

The albino red-fin shark (Epalzeorhynchos munense) or albino rainbow sharkminnow, is a variety of rainbow sharks with a white body and red fins. The Epalzeorhynchos munense closely resemble Epalzeorhynchos frenatum in temperament and appearance, thus they share the same common names in the aquarium industry.
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