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I have two nice 12cm Bala Sharks in my 1000 litre community tank. One of them is quite happy and feeds regularly and swims about. The other eirther hides or swim franticaly up and down the rear side corner like he's terrified or something.  What is going on with him and what can I do about it ?


Last edited by taksan at 20-Mar-2005 08:38

IM not sure how many gallons your tank is, so i will just say it, balas like bigger tanks.

ALso, bales like to be in bigger groups (6 being fine for them) having only 2 in the tank, will probably stress them out, and they will be scared, and will frantically swim like you mentioned.

Tak, i'd be more concerned about your relaxed Bala, as they are generally skitty fish.

can you give any more info about the tank? how is it set up? tank water parameters? etc?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

my balas arent skittish, they are very calm.

PH is 7 , hardness is 7 and everything else is zero
The other shark IS skiittish but this one is ridiculous.
He won't even come out to eat but then he seems to franticaly dig about after the fish have been fed for anything left behind (as long as noone is within 4 meters of the tank)
I think I need a fish shrink .... otherwise he's going to drive me to a shrink.

i haven't had a problem like this with bala sharks b4. um. try adding plants so he can feel more safe. if not, maybe depending on the tank size try to add more so they can school.

You probably need a bigger school (and bigger tank?). The relaxed Bala is probably the more dominant one, and the skittish one is probably the one that gets beat up by the dominant one. At least, this has been my experience with these fish.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Bigger tank? I don't think so.

1000 liters = 264 US gallons.

Bigger school.

Are they picking on each other or other fish?

Can you list all fish in the tank and their quantities?


Last edited by Cory_Di at 20-Mar-2005 14:17

Sorry, that was me being lazy and not taking the time to convert from liters to gallons.:%)

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I can't get liters straight, but I remembered that 100 litres is just over 26 gallons. I've gone in so many times to convert, I've got a general idea of the size now

They are in a fully planted tank that is sparsely populated with peaceful fish. I've never seen another fish bother the Bala's at all. The other one is fine and has joined the tank community.

be prepared for all kinds of random behaviour with those fish after keeping them now for 4 or so years ive come to the conclusion that they are highly over rated.. however I have had some terrible luck, loosing 3 to totally unknown causes..pain in the arse they are.

"be prepared for all kinds of random behaviour with those fish "

Lol ...I'm beginning to believe that indeed that this one is just a head case. I'll see if he settles down over the next couple of weeks.

I have 3 Bala Sharks, and they always are calm, but they do zoom up and down the tank sometimes together in a group, and all 3 of them dig through the rocks on the bottom. I would say you would do well to add anywhere from 1-5 more of these fish. Even 3 would be a better number that way noone is dominant and noone is submissive.
Also, for those who need to know conversion from Litres to Gallons, its really very simple:
1 US Gallon= 4 Litres
4 Litres = 1 US Gallon
Therefore, 1000 Litres = 250 US Gallons
A very nice size tank, very capable of housing a school of 6 Adult Bala Sharks.
What else do you have in your tank?
Do you have pictures?


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oh yeah ....tank pics and stocking list are in this thread here

I posted it here but some dogooder moved it.http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Photo%20Booth/56597.html?200503201721

Last edited by taksan at 23-Mar-2005 03:56

Today ... he comes out and eats like all the other fish as if nothing is wrong.
This is after 4 weeks of totaly insane behaviour.
Talk about the twilight zone ...