Golden Shark

The golden shark is up there with tinfoil barbs and pacus as a schooling fish that gets enormous. Also called the cigar barb, these beautiful fast swimmers are colorful and very hardy but will outgrow a medium fish tank within a year. Golden sharks will eat flake and pellets and will grow from the shipping size of about three inches to two feet. In fact, these fish are a delicacy in Thailand, but what you do with a two-foot fish is your business.

If you want a schooling fish and want to have a big fish tank, these are the ones.

Quick Facts

Care Guide

Tank setup: These are fast, schooling fish that grow large, so give them plenty of open swimming space, strong filtration and a heavy, tight-fitting lid, since they jump.

Feeding: Feed a quality flake or pellet once or twice a day. They also enjoy frozen foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp.

Tankmates: Keep them with other large, peaceful to semi-aggressive fish such as silver dollars, tinfoil barbs, larger gouramis, plecos and peaceful cichlids. They will eat very small fish once they are large.

Good to know: These "sharks" are members of the carp family, not true sharks. They grow quickly, so check their adult size before buying.