Some of my fish are acting strangely - please help

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elcano

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Jun 17, 2003
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I'll start with my bala shark.
I have two and the older one is extremely highly strung. Whenever I go to feed the fish it flips out and heads to either end of the tank and swims up and down very erratically. It's done this so much that it has a discolouration on the end of it's nose! What's more, it doesn't eat anything as far as I can see, but apart from that seems perfectly healthy. The other one shows no sign of timidness or insanity.

I have four clown loaches. The largest sits inside a little clay log all day and night and doesn't come out to eat as far as I can see. The others are all very small and rarely find the food tablets I drop in for them. They don't click excitedly when they do.

In contrast, I have 4 tiger barbs who are amazingly normal. They are veratious and eat everything they can get their mouths onto and they aren't scared in the slightest (they'll happily eat blood worms from my fingers)!

I do weekly 30% water changes, the water is clear and there are plenty of plants. It's a 40 gallon tank and is no where near overstocked.

Any help would be fantastic!

Thanks in advance!
 
OrionGirl

OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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Actually, with a balas and clowns, the 40 will soon be very overstocked. Both fish can get up to 12 inches--way too big for a 40. While they might be small enough as juveniles, in the long run, the balas at a minimum will need a much larger tank, and the clowns will need one eventually.

The bala--sad, but this is pretty normal. These are very skittich fish when they are not kept in a group, and they are prone to injurying themselves in small tanks.

The clowns--do they have lots of hiding places, scattered around the tank? More hiding places usually gives the fish a greater level of comfort in being out and about. It does sound like they are unhappy--any signs of parasite? How long have they been in your tank?
 
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elcano

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Jun 17, 2003
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Yes,
I'm aware that the balas will grow too large for my tank and I have plans to trade them in at the LFS when this happens.

I might even do that sooner than later as it's not terribly nice seeing my bala doing himself damage.

The Clowns have a couple of hiding places, but I will endevour to put some more in over the weekend. Thanks for your help!
 
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