Ruuin

Well I was looking around on the site and everyone is saying bala sharks and nice and peaceful creatures..

in my tank i have 2 balas...4 neon tetras..and 1 dwarf puffer fish.
the first day it was okay..but by the 2nd things seemed strange
My poof puffer wasnt eatting!
and then by the next day my tetras weren't either!
The balas eat everything before the other fish get a chance..
my puffer was just swimming around and a bala came up and nipped him in the tail..and when he finally got the courage totry and get food from the top one of my balas nipped him again..and the tetras make sure to stay clear away..

Ive read that dwarf puffers are suppose to be the mean ones..when mine steers clear from anything that swims by it..=\
could my balas be taking over my tank??

is it because my tank is too small? it is a 10 gallon and i plan on moving to a bigger tank..soo dontworry about that.

another question..i heard that the fish will stop growing depending on it's tank size..like if i kept my balas in the 10 gallon they wouldnt grow that much more..is this true?

all this has been buggin me i want ALL my fish to be happy!
please help??thankyou =]

vin

Tank size is an issue. I also think the puffer is an issue as well.... The bala doesn't like the puffer taking up his space or sharing his food. Also, he's a schooling shark and should be kept in a small shoal of at least 3. It could be that he feels alone and is acting the bully....As for fish growing to their surroundings - stunting fish growth only causes problems for the fish later on. It causes them pain and shortens their life span dramatically. Plus there are no guarantees that he won't grow. The bala sharks should be in a tank at least 65g.....If you were to keep a fish that gets to be 10" in a 10g you'd be doing a lot of harm to the fish.

Butterfly

Do I understand all that is in a 10G? When fish are kept in tanks too small for tehm tehy frequently become aggressive and territorial. If tehy don't have room to grow not only does their outside become stunted but their insides do also causing pain and deformity. Check this link out.
http://www.fishlore.com/Forum/index.php?topic=5338.0
Carol

Neville

Welcome to Fishlore!!!!!!!!!

Bala sharks grow up to more than 1' so deffinitely it's not a good choice for a 10g. balas may even eat your small tetras accidentally; they require a much bigger tank, so i think u should return the balas; and get more tetras and small schooling fish.

Stradius011

Balas can get to 13 inches and are peaceful but might eat smaller fishes that are small enough for their mouths. The smallest aquarium you can get for the balas are a 55 gallon but will thrive ina much larger aquarium.

Cody

the bala isnt trying to be mean in a ten gallon tank and the speed of a bala it could clean the up before it gets wet...my bala always wait for food to sink down to the bottom and then he ate it...and i always had tetras with him and i never had that problem...but i do love balas

hsubroto

I have an agressive bala sharl, i added 10 neon in the tank and they are 2 left the next day. I believe he ate them T.T.

somedude

I just got rid of my Bala.he was approx 8-10 inches long.He has been in my 55 gallon tank for about 4 months now.In the last couple of days he started eating all my tetras and a baby clown loach.I was feeding him twice a day
He is a beautiful fish......to bad he had to go

susitna-flower

I love my balas, have two that started out in a 55 gal tank, they were in with all sorts of smaller fish, and never were a problem, but they were really active. They are now in a 125 gal tank, have grown considerably, and are really calm......much happeier. At feeding time they still munch fast, and don't leave anything but the left overs for the other fish, but they NEVER act agressively with anyone.