Enough room for Bala Shark and swordtails in 55 gallon tank?

[Fishman37]

I have a 55 gallon aquarium and I want a Bala Shark and 11 swordtails. I used the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule and it should work.

1 Bala = 12in. 11 Swordtails = 44. I know thats 56,

but thats just one gallon over and the fish won't grow to their proposed sizes most likely.....Is my tank big enough for them?

 

[joylynn]

I don't have a lot of experience, but everything I have read about Bala Sharks says they need a lot of room and do better in schools of 5-6. To find out more about Bala Sharks I would do a search on the forum for Bala and read up on the posts that come up. I gather they are a bad idea for any tank under about 100G at least.

 

[TKOS]

How deep is a 55 gallon? 12 inches? How will a full grown bala turn around.

Also you will find that a single bala will likely go crazy as they are a school fish that just can't seem to take solitary life. I have seen many kill themselves.

A tank at least 18 inches deep is minimum.

The sword tails will be fine. A redtailed shark might be a better choice though they can be aggressive, they generally stay around 8 inches max or so. Make sure it has a cave if you get one.

 

[Roan Art]

Just a note: the "inch per gallon rule" -- or any "rule" -- isn't a good rule and really should not be used at all for stocking tanks. They do not take into account placement, aggression and many other factors.

As TKOS pointed out, your bala(s) won't have room to turn around in that tank.

Roan

 

[Wishful]

The "one inch rule" isn't really a good guideline to go by, though it does give you somewhat of a starting place. Four one inch neons simply don't have the same affect on a tank as a four inch gourami. Nor are all fish built alike, a tall bodied fish like an angel doesn't count the same as a narrow but long danio.

You should also count on the maxium adult size rather than assume your fish will stay smaller. They may, they may not. Everytime your trim another little bit off your guesstimate you push the limits that much more.
The ideal is to have your tank significantly understocked from it's capacity, not filled to the brim and overflowing with no leeway.

An understocked tank leaves you room to add another type of fish, or re-balance the numbers of each type of fish you have, leaves room for unexpected reproduction, decreases agression and stress, and allows you to enjoy watching your fish mature and grow without worrying about their having too little room as they get bigger than you expected.

 

[Fishman37]

man that really stinks, I wanted a shark really badly. ok, so i'm not getting the shark, what about some endlers? or if not, what's another type of fish (other than other livebearers) that would be a peaceful and pretty with my swordtails?

 

[SnakeIce]

A bala shark is a big skittish schooling fish. A 12" bala shark startled would cover six feet in a blink of an eye, without the room to do so you could loose them when they hit the glass hard.

Can you have a bala shark in a 55/75/100g tank? yes. Will they live 15+ years in that tank? No. Without room to run, they get stressed and that stress shortens the lifespan considerably.

Keeping an animal in conditions that deprive it of a natural life span is not responsible management.

 

[Rowangel]

man that really stinks, I wanted a shark really badly. ok, so i'm not getting the shark, what about some endlers? or if not, what's another type of fish (other than other livebearers) that would be a peaceful and pretty with my swordtails?

Have you thought about corys? They occupy a different area of your thank (the bottom) and wouldn't really interfere with your swordtails. A nice school of those would look pretty cool.

 

[pugwash]

What about a rainbow shark? A bit like bala sharks but as opposed to black fins and silver body, the rainbow sharks have red fins with a black body. And only grow to around 6 inches.

They are a relative of RTBS, and as I've never kept them, not sure about their aggression.

^^ A school of cory's would be cool - lots of character. IMO I think Sterbai's are the best.

 

[SnakeIce]

I would check a book out from the library with pictures of aquarium fish in it and peruse through it to get a better idea of the kinds of fish available. When you go to pick fish that type of information is helpful also since it has adult size indications.

I would limit your fish selections to 6 inches or smaller because the tank is only 13" wide. That gives your fish the ability to turn around and interact with other fish with a less stressful potential. There are lots of fish to pick from and once you get into watching behaviors what the fish looks like becomes a little less of a decideing factor.