Lightly Medicated | Rainbow Shark (Epalzeorhynchos frenatum)

What “Lightly Medicated” means

This is the same animal as our non-quarantined listing, held briefly in our systems and given one short prophylactic course — a light treatment for ich and for internal and external worms — then observed eating in front of us before it goes home.

A light course knocks the parasite load down. It does not guarantee full removal, and we will not pretend otherwise. Ich is only killed in its free-swimming stage, and a short treatment window can miss cysts entirely; worm burdens can survive a single dose. Clearing an animal takes the full quarantine window — 40 to 90 days depending on the species — which is exactly what the Quarantined listing is for. This tier buys you a lower parasite load and a fish we have watched eat, not a cleared animal.

We condition the fish on our end. Every animal we medicate is brought back onto prepared food on our own systems and is eating before it leaves — in practice it is rare for a lightly medicated fish to ship out and arrive sick. Do the same at your end: get it eating in your aquarium before you count it settled.

When it ships

Plan on 3–5 days on our systems for the treatment course, and it does not leave until it is eating. If the animal is not already in our systems we source it first — allow up to two weeks for it to reach us before that clock starts. From the day you order, plan on roughly two and a half weeks in total.

The guarantees

• Shipped orders: 24-hour live guarantee from confirmed delivery.
• In-store pickup: 7-day live guarantee — bring a water sample from your aquarium so we can test it before your livestock goes home with you.

Want the full program — treated, observed, confirmed eating, and covered for 28 days on pickup? That is the Quarantined listing. Run your own quarantine and just want the fish this week? The non-quarantined listing is cheaper still. The whole ladder is explained in Quarantined vs Non-Quarantined.

Despite the name and the shark-like dorsal fin silhouette, rainbow sharks aren’t sharks at all — they’re a cyprinid, in the same broad family as goldfish and barbs, with the resemblance limited entirely to fin shape. Its territorial streak is specifically about claimed real estate: once it picks a cave or rock crevice as its own, it will aggressively defend that space against anything that looks similar, while generally leaving unrelated tankmates alone. A perennial favorite we stock for New Milford community tank owners. Multiples can live together, but only in a tank large enough that each one can hole up in its own cave without a clear sightline to the next — the fix for the aggression here is usually square footage, not luck.

Care level: Easy · Temperament: Semi-aggressive, territorial · Max size: ~6" · Min tank: 30 gal (add tank size for each additional fish kept together) · Diet: Omnivore, sinking pellets/veggies