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

so as you can tell dont get a bala i had a bala in a 10 gallon when i first started and it died i thought 12 inches (bad info yet again from petsmart) and 10 gallons well he wont get big enough and ill have a bigger tank wrong died at about 3 inches long i was mad pug was has a good idea though rainbow sharks a pretty, get about 6 inches long (i believe) and a peaceful fish ... really you cant go by in./gallon or any rule as stated above you have to go by will the fish be able to turn around when fully grown? can my filter handle the bio load? and what are the fishes needs like giant danios only get about 4 inches but need much more than a 10 gallon
 
In a tank that big I woudl look to adding something that occupies a different area of the tank and there are tons of choices. As mentioned cory catfish area great choice. they won't interfere with the swords at all and stay on the bottom most of the time.

Also a few SAE might be cool. They have a long body that is sort of silver and black and they eat algae. Do an internet search first though as there are many fish sold by that name and some are not a great choice.

Finally might I suggest a small loach. Khulies in a larger group are quite active. Zebras and yoyos are really neat as well. Keep at least 5 of the same kind for the best family interaction.
 
Well, if you want something zippy, that actually looks like a shark while there moving around all the time chasing each other, try some buenos aires tetras.
Feeding is always a blast, these fish literally splash you while there eating.

But, they aren't the easiest fish when it comes to compatibility, swordtails would be out of the question, as well as most other small slow moving fish, with the exception of bottom dwellers, and there quite nippy as well. Bottom dwellers, similar tetras and large cichlids would make the best possible tankmates IMO.
 
SnakeIce said:
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.
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so what's the approporiate tank size & dimension to keep a bala? a group of bala?
 
Well, I was thinking, In place of the Bala Shark how about 7 Bloodfin Tetras? I know that they're compatible with the 11 Swordtails, but is this too many fish for the tank? My filter cleans the water once every ten minutes, is this good enough to handle the fish load?...and I have an airstone, will that help too?
 
Most places I've seen recommend a minimum 125 gallon long tank for balas.
They are a schooling fish and should be happier with 6+ together, but quite a few folk say 3 isn't so bad a number either. They are VERY active swimmers and need a great deal of length to move in, if kept in a community tank you'll also want lots of space for the other fish to not get barrelled into all the time by the balas. Most smaller tanks simply dont' have that type of room.

I'd second the buenas aires tetra as a really lovely active bunch of fish.
Feeding time in their tank at the LFS is a riot. Ditto for some good bottom dwellers. What you choose, though, will really come down to what type of tank you want. My partner and I are always debating choices as he wants a tank with a few large colorful fish to focus on, and I prefer heavily planted tanks and lots of little fish so there's constant interaction and movement!
Some folks really want a quiet slowmoving tank with really beautiful intricate fish...others want fish that they can interact with as owners alot.

Figuring out what you want out of your aquarium will go a long ways towards figuring out what you should put into it.
 
Fishman37 said:
Well, I was thinking, In place of the Bala Shark how about 7 Bloodfin Tetras? I know that they're compatible with the 11 Swordtails, but is this too many fish for the tank? My filter cleans the water once every ten minutes, is this good enough to handle the fish load?...and I have an airstone, will that help too?
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what kind of filter do you have? ... once every ten mins means 6 times an hour sounds about like mine i dont see why that wouldnt work as far as i know most tetras are not very big and they would all have room to turn around but like everyone else is say i would get somthing that is a bottom dweller that way you have something on all levels and they can kinda help keep ammonia down but they by no means will eliminate the need for water changes they just tend to get the food that all the other little guys miss and that falls in between the small cracks so in otherwords i would think about fowllowing these guys advise personally i like corys they are hardy fun little fish
 
The amount bottom feeders lower the amonia by is very insignificant. What goes in must come out, they lower the amonia just as much as any other fish. You also have to do gravel vacuming as well nothing eats fish waste, so you have to get it out of there somehow, other than lettting it rot preferably.
 
...yup thats what i was tryin to say -lol-
 
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