Bala Shark Tank

[dbanner]

Yep my 5 foot rio also has polystyrene between the tank and stand. Cant remember the reasons for it but i was told to make sure i kept it there.

That tank will be ok for now for the balas but 8ft plus is what they should be in for long term/life... groups of 3+ is whats recommended by many people but id go with 6+ if you can accommodate their needs long term.

 

[TarkMalbot]

I have 3 that are 6-7" and 2 babies that are only 2".  I am interested to see how fast the little ones grow.

 

[leighton_87]

In the picture of the three together one looks much darker than the others - is that an age thing? A gender thing? Or neither?

 

[Mikey1]

In the picture of the three together one looks much darker than the others - is that an age thing? A gender thing? Or neither?

 
 
they were probably in a bit of shock at that point in time, which lead to the discoloration, the pic im assuming was taken very quickly after the tank was set up and the fish were put in....going by the bubbles on the glass

 

[TarkMalbot]

I think it may be a distance thing too as the two that are a lighter colour were further away and the water wasn't all that clear.

 

[epic154]

cool tank i want to keep bala sharks just dont have the money to buy a huge tank

 

[SandraNewbie]

I have my balas in a 4.5 foot, 300 odd litre tank currently, due to my 7 and a half footer exploding and not having raised the funds to replace it My big guy's taken over a year to get to 5" but he's skittish and so may need a bigger tank in the not too distant future. They take many years to get to their full size and they do slow down a little at their age but the more I watch their behaviour, the less I think Balas are a suitable home awuarists fish.
 
As for natural tank mates...
 
Asian Bumblebee Catfish
Chinese Algae Eater
Crocodile Catfish
Dwarf Goonch
Dwarf Loach
Fresh Water Whipray
Giant Gourami
Goonch
Iridescent Shark
Pearl Danio
Rainbow Shark
Scissortail Rasbora
Siamese Algae Eater
Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta)
Siamese Tiger Fish
Silver Mono
Ticto Barb
Wrestling Halfbeak
 
If you google Biotope Aquariums South East Asian River then look at the Chao Praya River and Mekong River, it'll give you all teh species from thsoe environments, but do research which are suitable, many will become food in a year or two.

 

[TarkMalbot]

I am thinking of a Siamese Flying Fox to go with the Bristlenose to help tidy up a little but will wait for something to grow first as its all very clean at the moment.  That clean that the bristlenose is eating my Amazon Sword but I should have known that.

 

[TarkMalbot]

Running 2 of these in it one at each end:
 

 
Aquamanta efx 200 

 

[Questions?]

lovely tank

 

[Tizer]

nice setup, very similar to mine actually, tank size wise. Glad you put poly under the tank, i have carpet under mine, its not a floating base so very wise to over look some of the comments made in the thread to remove it. You will get a tonne of people comment on bala sharks, 90% of which have never owned them. Good to see them in a nice tank, you've obviously got it all covered. One point i would raise is the ability of the filters, i have a efx 200 on a 120 litre tank....are two enough on a 400+?

 

[TarkMalbot]

I was told they are good for over 200 litres each at they do 800 litres an hour so I have 1600 an hour turn over which is turning over the whole tanks capacity almost 4 times an hour which I was told would be adequate.  I could have gone for the 400 but thought it would be better to have two sucking from either end and also have a larger surface area of filtering.

 

[Tizer]

or two 300s
 
should be good enough then i guess, always nice to have two filters so you can stagger the cleaning a little on them.

 

[TarkMalbot]

Yeah two 300s would have been an option but they didn't have them in stock....

 

[TarkMalbot]

Well the water is now clear and the ammonia levels have not gone up in the first 6 days I have had the tank.  Hopefully the filter media from my other tank, cleaning the other tanks filters in my new tank water, hanging a stocking full of gravel and adding safe start may have done the trick?  I am not out of the woods yet obviously as its only a week old tank.
 
I did do a 15% water change last night though just to help a little.  My only issues at the moment is the bog wood has coloured the water so was wondering how long that will take to settle down, will it settle on its own or will it just get clearer the more water changes I do over time?