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Don't get any bala sharks in that small of a tank, i have a 55 gallon tank, use to have 3, 4in ones and they got way 2 big and way to agressive...... lost a lot of great Neon tetras to them...

Last edited by spazzyme99 at 03-Dec-2004 17:04

Last edited by spazzyme99 at 03-Dec-2004 17:05

get three Balas and in 3-4 years if you really are taking good care of them you can make a great trade with a pet store cause they are big and worth a lot

The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an bacon and egg breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

I feed mine frozen blood worms and shrimp, they love it. They also like algae waffers. In a year they have grown from 3 cms to 20cms.

They are cool fish and that sounds like a good price for one that size. Good luck with them.

Thanks but no responses at all on it was frustrating when I still didn't have a answer. They seem to be doing better by feeding black worms for good protein and being able to direct the feeding to the sick 2. If in a month they still are not fully recovered and still showing signs of sickness I'm going to have to try to identify what it might be agian so I can treat. I deleted the other post cuz I got upset & frustrated. Opps. I should left the darn thing up!

The 6-7" Bala that I picked up from my LFS was in a small tank forever so I asked the store if they needed to find a home for him and they sold him to me for 5 instead of 10 bucks. I love how he displays happiness by swimming fast around the tank and playing. I really want to raise my other 4 well. Cool fish...

Thanks!

Balas aren't aggressive by nature but any animal can react aggressively when under stress. I had a Bala that got real mean and attacked a lot of fish because his tank was just to small. I moved him to a bigger tank and he returned to his peaceful self.

I'm not sure why your hospital post isn't getting responses but I bet its because no one has a good answer.

sorry to have to do this but nobody has commented on my Hospital post concerning my Balas. Why does not one comment. I feel really ingnored when I post on here. Why is that? What am I doing to not get responses? Thanks! I do have 5 balas and one is a good 5 inches... Very peaceful fish... Won't even eat a couple of fry that are in the tank.

balas arent agressive at all

They may not be that agressive but they do get big what does agression have to do with any thing anyway. I've heard of scared balas smashing into the fishtank glass and ing it.

balas arent agressive at all

Oreet there. >

I was just wondering as to how many silver sharks i could have in my tank. The tank is 48" by 15" by 18" ( whatever that is in gallons??)

The tank mates are

2 angels
1 pearl Gourami
1 pleco
4 clowns
3 neon tetras
1 paradise fish.

Are these silver sharks solitary or can they be paired up??

Cheers
Smoothdog >;P

A lot more than that, really - a group of 12" (really more like 14, but I'll be conservative) active schoolers don't belong in a 4' tank any more than zebra danios could live in a 4"x2" box. Even 6' is just too small.

-Molly
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bala sharks need a 75g minimum (since they are wider than a 55g)

Balas not only get large, need to be in schools (3,6 or whatever) and are very active swimmers they also don't like to be cramped at all. I've kept them in the past and did have serious attitude changes (both depressed and listless as well as aggresive). Not because of numbers but because they didn't have room to cruise. I love them but wouldn't even keep a school in my 125G. I know people do it with great success in tanks that size but I would rather have smaller schoolers (rainbowfish) that have the room to really move around the tank. One flick of the tail and a full grown Bala is at the other end of a six foot tank.

I question how mean Plecos get. Mine doesn't seem to have an aggressive bone in its body. I guess each speciman is different though. I will second the large and messy parts however.

They are fine in groups of 3.

Agreed, they are fine, but any bala sharks that I have seen just seem happier in larger groups than that. I guess it's probably just the age-old schooling debate. IMO the more the better with any schoolers. :88)

they don`t need to be in groups of 6! They are fine in groups of 3, as long as they are in a group of 3 or more they will be fine. The answer to your questions is none. They simply grow too big for your tank

Ok your tank is a standard 55 gallon tank.

Silver sharks (I'm guessing you mean bala sharks?) are schooling fish that grow to over a foot long and need to be kept in groups of at least 6. They are also very active swimmers so you need a LOT of space for them. I don't suggest putting them in your tank with the stock you have now.

What kind of pleco is that? If it is a common you will probably want to trade it in for something smaller as they get big, mean and messy. A bristlenose plec would be easy to find and should keep your tank nice and clean.

Clown Loaches will eventually grow to be too large for that tank but you do have a lot of time before that happens.

You listed your current stock as:
2 angels
1 pearl Gourami
1 pleco
4 clowns
3 neon tetras
1 paradise fish.

The first thing I would do is fill out your school of neon tetras to at least 6. In small groups they will get really stressed and timid. Since you have a larger tank, I suggest a group of about 10 or more.

Watch your paradise fish, angels and gourami as they all like to have a fairly large portion of the top of the tank and may bet a bit vicious with each other. You may be able to pull it off, get some big bunches of floating plants to give hiding space for anybody getting picked on.

Hope that helps, are there any other fish you're interested in getting?

If it were my tank, I would probably change the stock to:

1 pearl gourami
1 paradise fish
2 angels
10 neon tetras
1 Bristlenose Pleco
8-10 Corydoras of some sort

Hope that helps