Young bala sharks

Heady

Heady

Cardinal Rule
Feb 22, 2003
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Pacific Northwest
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I have just gotten 3 young bala sharks (5") and am feeding them Tetramin flake food once a day. Is this enough? Is there another kind of food that would be better? I don't want to stunt their growth. They are in a 55 gallon tank with a plecostomus and 2 giant danios.
 
they like veggies too; cucumber, courgette (zuchini?) etc. mine also like a piece of prawn once in a while too.
 
I know nothing about the dietary requirements for Bala sharks, but they get to be 14", and the AC species profile recommends 70 gallons at a minimum, while mentioning that a 65 would not be nearly enough to keep a group of them. I would recommend a very large tank, as they love to swim, and you more likely could stunt their growth in a small tank than with dietary concerns.
 
i agree with the above.

they tend to be very skittish. you're going to ideally need a 6 foot tank for them in the long term.
 
I bought my plecostomus when he was 1" long, strictly to control the algae, and he grew to 12" in a 15-20 gallon tank in about a year. It was quite a surprise; I never expected him to get that big at all, much less in a tank so small he couldn't swim as an adult.

I've heard different recommendations from different sources for tank size. "Baench's Aquarium Atlas" recommends a min. 39" long tank specifically for balas (mine is 48"); "The Ultimate Aquarium" by Bailey & Sandford generally recommends 1 inch of tropical fish per 10 square inches of water surface area; "You and Your Aquarium" by Mills generally recommends 1 inch of fish per 12 square inches of water surface area (in which case I'm one danio overstocked); the woman who sold me the balas has her own tank of 5 balas with lots of other fish in a 75 gallon tank. I'd like to get a larger tank - who wouldn't? - but can't afford it right now. In any case, these are not full-grown; they are 5". How fast do they grow/how soon before you suggest a larger tank?

Is flake food acceptable? I also have frozen cubes of brine shrimp, bloodworms, & algae. I don't know if they're still getting used to my tank or what, but only one seems to be eating.
 
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I own 7 Bala's in two different tanks, and I don't worry too much about their diet. They all get along fine, although I never see them eat anything but flakes. They never go for any live food or Cichlid Pellets, although on occasion I have seen them hunt down a Sinking Shrimp Pellet.

I have always been very critical of people who tell others to move their fish into a larger tank. You have a 55 Gallon Tank, so I assume it is 48 inches long. With 3 Balas, 1 Pleco, and 3 Giant Danios, You have plenty of room. If anything, add 3 more Balas to create a better school and establish the Balas as the dominant species and the Danios as the dithers.
 
Have 2 balas that are the first to attack cube bloodworms,brine shrimp, krill and yes make clicking sounds when sucking on floating aro sticks.
 
balas are fine in a 55 for years up to 10" personaly a 5"bala is not a baby for me it takes almost two years to to get from 1"to5"
besides big balas are worth some cash oh my gosh that would be a travisty if they outgrew your tank and you recived $30 each store credit:D
As for food the best thing I ever tried was planting spinach seeds in a pot in the window sill every three or four days I would pull out a 3-5" tall baby plant stuff it roots and all in a 3/8 drive socket and let it sink hour later GONE.
And for your tank you want some feeding action try droping live crickets in there all your fish will eat them just do a few at a time and watch them so they dont escape (or freeze them)the danios will GO NUTS:eek: they like to drag them down to drown them before they eat them my GD would eat 2-3 large crickets each never seen colour on GD's since I killed mine:mad: Heater stuck on.
 
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