New to forum and new to Balas - Is my tank too small

[muzicstar]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and wish I had found this site before buying my son a fish tank that is too small for the 3 new bala sharks.

We prepared the tank and left it for a week...following all instructions etc.

We then went to the local pets store and fell in love with the silver sharks and so purchased 3 baby ones that are about 1.5 inches in length.

The tank is 24x12x12 inches and I know now having read some posts on this forum that it is much too small and I'll need to get a bigger tank.

However, I wanted to ask when I would need to do this as they are quite small just now.

We have a large tank that houses a pet tortoise who will also need to be rehoused soon as he will be outgrowing it soon, and I was going to convert one side of the glass so that it is sealed to house the balas. Has anyone else done this? The tank is double the size, but would I need bigger than this again as there would be no point converting it, if it still won't be big enough?

[Chief_waterchanger]

3 Bala sharks would need a 75g tank just for themselves at adulthood. 48x18x12 are the measurements for 75g tanks, if you needed that.

Within a year they'd need to be in that 75g.

[aznemo]

ummm. i have a 45 gallon (us) tank and its 48x18x12. i'm cycling to start a shark community and i'm still on the fence about the balas i really want because everyone that says my tank is big enough has a counterpart saying its not.. . . i'm definately going to get a red tail and a rainbow, and i'd LOVE to get 3 balas but i just cant find a straight answer about whether or not my tank will accomodate them.

[susitna-flower]

HI MUZICSTAR, WELCOME TO FISHLORE!

You have chosen one of my favorite fish....Balas are GREAT community tank fish. Your 15 gallon tank will house them OK for a couple of months. Soon however you should consider a bigger tank.

Everything I have read on them is that the size appropriate for them is a MINIMUM of 72 " long....this would be a tank about 125 gallons. check this link:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile21.html

They also have to be in a tank that is covered as they are extremely active and are jumpers!

The two I have started out in a 55 gallon tank, that was 48" long, and I had them in there about 4 - 6 months.....all I can say about that was that they were "restless", their swimming pattern was never ending back and forth....they didn't grow very fast and I knew they were suppose to grow big, so I was very concerned that I was stunting the fish.

As SOON as I up-graded to a 125 gallon tank the restless swimming stopped. They actually enjoy just "hanging out" now, they are peaceful giants, the largest one now over a foot!

This is something to put your mind to for the next few months, but right now, I would have to ask if you cycled your tank before introducing fish? It didn't sound like it, and that could end up being a problem fairly quickly.


AZNEMO
As for housing them with any other fish with similar body shape, the Bala is not the one to be aggressive, but you CANNOT keep red tailed sharks OR rainbow sharks with any other similar shaped fish, they will be aggressive and end up fighting.....