Bala Sharks Agressive?

[Funny Pie]

so, i look in my tank and i realize both my bala sharks and basically almost like they're trying to stick themselfs together and they're rubbing against each other and slamming into the ground and the sides and it keeps switching off when each one is like sucking on the other... is that biting or are they mating or something....

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Definatly agression, although they are not agressive fish by nature, when you put a fish into a tank that is too small for it this can change its behavior and unfortunatly your tank is far too small to house bala sharks, just for a single shark you are looking at 75gals and because they like to be in groups this usually ends up being 100gals+.
My best advice to you is to rehome both sharks ASAP as now they have turned agressive it is highly unlikely they will stop and your tank doesn't have the ability to hold them anyways, sorry for the bad news.

 

[blue_ram]

so, i look in my tank and i realize both my bala sharks and basically almost like they're trying to stick themselfs together and they're rubbing against each other and slamming into the ground and the sides and it keeps switching off when each one is like sucking on the other... is that biting or are they mating or something....

Odd, how big are the sharks and the aquarium they are in? Have they been peaceful before? It certainly sounds like a typical mating behavior of SE Asian Cyprinids. But I've never head of bala sharks breeding in an aquarium.

 

[dwarfgourami]

so, i look in my tank and i realize both my bala sharks and basically almost like they're trying to stick themselfs together and they're rubbing against each other and slamming into the ground and the sides and it keeps switching off when each one is like sucking on the other... is that biting or are they mating or something....

Odd, how big are the sharks and the aquarium they are in? Have they been peaceful before? It certainly sounds like a typical mating behavior of SE Asian Cyprinids. But I've never head of bala sharks breeding in an aquarium.

It does sound a bit like mating behaviour, but surely if they're kept in a 29 gallon and still have room for that much activity, they've got to be too small to breed?

 

[CFC]

Definatly agression, although they are not agressive fish by nature, when you put a fish into a tank that is too small for it this can change its behavior and unfortunatly your tank is far too small to house bala sharks, just for a single shark you are looking at 75gals and because they like to be in groups this usually ends up being 100gals+.
My best advice to you is to rehome both sharks ASAP as now they have turned agressive it is highly unlikely they will stop and your tank doesn't have the ability to hold them anyways, sorry for the bad news.

Have you ever kept bala sharks or spent hours watching their behaviour in some one elses tank? Well apperently not or else you would know that this is just normal bala shark bonding behaviour, even if you have a school of 5 or more they carry on with this behaviour usually at roughly the same time for around an hour each evening. I dont like to sound rude but people really shouldnt make uninformed comments about fish they know very little about.

A 29g tank IS too small however and they should be kept in larger groups, they are large schooling fish and benefit greatly from being kept with numbers of their own kind.

 

[andywg]

Have to agree with CFC. My 6 do it every day, especially if it's a feeding day. Though, for some reason, the larger ones ignore the younger ones (who are left to play amongst themselves). I've noticed the behaviour is more pronounced once the fish pass the 5" mark.

Mind you, I can't wait for the bow waves they'll make at 10+ inches. they rock all the other fish in the tank as it is...

 

[kat and james]

totally agree with CFC, our bala sharks do exactly the same thing, especially the two larger ones, it isn't aggression, just seems to be playing, i actually posted a thread about this behaviour a while back.

our balas are in a 50 gal tank, but they are only small, we have a 170gal tank lined up for them, just need a house to put the tank in!

kat