cloder

just wanna know what the recomended number of bala sharks to keep in a 40 gallon tank

atmmachine816

Um bala sharks are too big for a 40 I believe and they happen to be schooling fish

Marc

Bala sharks will get to be too big for your tank but if you absolutely feel the need to get them or have somewhere to put them after they've grown you should get 2.

cloder

thanks for the help guys

Gunnie

cloder

well now i am confused , fish lore website says 40 gallons is the bare minimum for a bala. Help me plzz

atmmachine816

I guess if you really wanted you could keep them in a 40 gallon tank but its a bare mimum.

Butterfly

It says bare minimum for A bala shark. but they like to be more than one. so for them to be happy you need a bigger tank and more than one bala shark.
Carol

cloder

thanks again guys, the 2 balas are still mini, when they're larger i'll look into a bigger tank,

thanks for all the help

0morrokh

that's what a lot of people say...sorry to pick on you, but a lot of times it just doesn't happen. Tanks aren't cheap, and they're a lot of work to set up. Do you have a friend or a nice lfs that could take the Balas if you can't keep them?

cloder

no i dont know anyone with an aquarium. my friends little sister once has a betta. most my friends think im nuts for getting a tank

0morrokh

Hmmm...if I were in your shoes I would return the Balas to the lfs while they're still small. They probably won't take full grown Balas, and what if you don't get that bigger tank set up after all...

Frank01Mustang

I kept 3 14 inch tri-colors in a 50 gallon for 5 years with a few other fish, you should be fine with 3 smaller tri-colors

Gunnie

Just keep in mind that fish may look fine on the outside, but when they outgrow their tanks, it can be from the inside where you can't see it, or their growth can be stunted and you would never know until it it too late. Keep a close watch on your fish, and be especially diligent on the water quality. Since the tank they are now in is too small for the adult size of the fish, they are okay for now, but you should already be planning the purchase of the larger tank now so you will be ready to move them at the right time. There is nothing wrong with starting them out in a smaller tank, but sometimes the plans to upgrade don't happen, and you have fish in a tank that's too small.

jpunk9

I am planning on doing the same thing, but i am going to start a fish tank fund the day I get my balas. That way I will have money to buy the bigger tank in a year or two. That is just a suggestion. 5 dollars a month is 60 dollars.

aznemo

this is killing me! i just got a 45 gal set up and cycling and i'm chomping at the bit to get my shark community going which i would LOVE to include bala's in!
BUT i hear one gets lonely and two will fight so i figure i need three, and every time i see someone saying you need to raise balas in an indoor lake, someone else pipes up saying they've successfully raised 3 or more in a teacup. add a touch of peoples descriptions of goldfish and balas living together with my deciding not to let my goldfish out of his 10g into the 45g because someone else said goldies cant live with anything but goldies; then, sprinkle it with balas being described as a hardy fish with others telling of how sensitive they are to the mix and you get one frustrated aquarium-er!
i really do want to do whats best for the fish, but i just cant get any straight answers

susitna-flower

You get confusing information because so many people have different levels of experience. Many tell you what they think, others can tell you first hand experience, but even then it is tainted with opinions that are biased toward their personal situations. If they can't afford a large tank, they will tend to think what they do (like cramming 10 goldfish into a 20 gallon tank) is fine....until they die.

Balas need to school. 2 isn't a school, but 3 is fine. I have had 2 for over a year now, and they seem happy, though not in a school, so I would have to say in my experience 2 would be BARE MINIMUM. They do jump, so the tank has to be covered, and the bigger the tank the happier they will be.

Balas are NOT good to put with redtail or rainbow sharks...This is NOT going to work because both the redtail and rainbow will get aggressive, where the bala is not aggressive at all.

This link will explain more about their needs. A 55 gallon tank can hold them for awhile, but you need to up-grade quickly to a tank at least 72" long.

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

BlueGreen

I have not had good luck with Bala sharks over the past several years, however after reading here and researching I probably have a good idea of why. I recently had 3 Balas but also in the same tank were 2 Redtails. The one Redtail has grown and is noticeably aggressive. I am down to one Bala now.