Bala Sharks..

[kat and james]

ok so a question about my tank! we've got three bala sharks, two are about 2.25inches long (maybe a little smaller) and one is only about 1.5 inches long. we started off with only two these were the same size, and stayed together all the time, we decided we'd like another, and ended up trading our firemouths for one at the lfs (this new one was quite a bit bigger than the other two). everything was fine, then suddenly one of smaller ones started to grow really fast, and is now the same size as the new one (just about). these two larger fish tend to stay together and leave the smaller one to itself the smaller one is still pretty small.

first of all, one pins the other one, and actually looks like it is bitting it, there is never any damage to the scales, and the one being pushed around doesn't seem to mind.. then they stop and start rubbing the end part of their bodies together, just after the dorsal fin. it almost looks like they are locked together, they swim around like this for a bit, rubbing back and forth (sometimes even eating like this), next they break apart and chase each other around and around then stop, and swim off like nothing happened, they may do it again, or they may not!!

my question is what the heck is going on.. is this aggression or playing..???
could it be that they are growing out of our tank (its a 50 gal).. we have a 170 gal lined up for them.. just need a house to move to where we can put it, so hopefully in the next month or so!!

all our tank stats are fine, we do weakly water changes.

any help would be appreciated!!
thanks everyone (in advance)

 

[CFC]

Its just perfectly normal bala shark behaviour, when i kept them mine would do this for a couple of hours every evening.

 

[kat and james]

that's really good news.. glad it is only play! they had me a little worried!

thanks CFC

 

[iron maiden fan]

this sound a bit like mating behavior or atleast what I've read is mating behavior I'can't find the page I want to show you right now but maybe I'll find it later

 

[kat and james]

i always thought that it was practically impossible to breed bala sharks in captivity! would be cool if we did have some babies they are so cute
i'm not even sure what sex they are!!

 

[iron maiden fan]

don't get excited it is practically impossible to breed them and I seriously doubt you anyone on this forum would be able to (no offence intended) because you would need to simulate their natural conditions perfectly and even then they might not breed beacause the simple fact is they just don't seem to want to breed even when they display mating behaviour

 

[kat and james]

yea i know! but it would be cool!! we don't have any fish that we would be able to breed, but once we get the bigger tank we aer gonna get some angels, and fingers crossed we may get some bubies!!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

yea i know! but it would be cool!! we don't have any fish that we would be able to breed, but once we get the bigger tank we aer gonna get some angels, and fingers crossed we may get some bubies!!

Be careful with angels though, mating pairs can get very agressive towards other fish and angels can easily produce hundreds of fry if i remember correctly.

 

[iron maiden fan]

thats as long as they don't eat them lol.A mated pair takes up at least 20gal also if they do hatch you will need lots and lots of space

 

[kat and james]

yea i know.. they are cichlids after all.. the lfs breeds them, and he said when we are ready to buy a some (about 6) he will tell us waht to do if they do breed, we are planning on a quarantine/breeding tank anyways.. no problems with space when we get them though.. the tank is 170 gal!!