Bala/silver Shark

[SlushMonkey]

Most of wat i have read in this topic is wrong from my experience!!! schooling fish? BAH! must have more than 2? BAH! peaceful? BAH!

although... huge tank YES Territorial YES little pricks as soon as they reach about 4inchs OH YEAH!

I have ...HAD ... 6 of them, all of them fought with every other one, swimming like crazy scaring every fish and ramming the glass.... i even heard some where that a big silver smashed the glass completly!, and yeah they jump massively

left my lid up once came in my room, 3 on the floor blamed the cat but oh no, another one launched while i was saving the rest of them..

yes they look awesome, but are so bad to keep, i would never buy them again...have returned 3 to the LFS looking at giving away the other 3 even though they are only 3inch, just before or the trouble starts!

I guess everyone understands how i feel by now so ill shuttup

Slush

 

[raptorrex]

Most of wat i have read in this topic is wrong from my experience!!! schooling fish? BAH! must have more than 2? BAH! peaceful? BAH!

although... huge tank YES Territorial YES little pricks as soon as they reach about 4inchs OH YEAH!

I have ...HAD ... 6 of them, all of them fought with every other one, swimming like crazy scaring every fish and ramming the glass.... i even heard some where that a big silver smashed the glass completly!, and yeah they jump massively

left my lid up once came in my room, 3 on the floor blamed the cat but oh no, another one launched while i was saving the rest of them..

yes they look awesome, but are so bad to keep, i would never buy them again...have returned 3 to the LFS looking at giving away the other 3 even though they are only 3inch, just before or the trouble starts!

I guess everyone understands how i feel by now so ill shuttup

Slush

ouch that's a bad run. your problems are not unique, but they are unusual. just one thought, did they all come from the same LFS?

 

[SlushMonkey]

yeah they did, pro store though its huge biggest around, 2 seperate lots 3 @ 5 inch and 3 at 3inch, all fought with each other! they head butted angelfish till they lost their strips and chased every other fish as well

bad idea

Slush

 

[andywg]

Most of wat i have read in this topic is wrong from my experience!!! schooling fish? BAH! must have more than 2? BAH! peaceful? BAH!

although... huge tank YES Territorial YES little pricks as soon as they reach about 4inchs OH YEAH!

I have ...HAD ... 6 of them, all of them fought with every other one, swimming like crazy scaring every fish and ramming the glass.... i even heard some where that a big silver smashed the glass completly!, and yeah they jump massively

left my lid up once came in my room, 3 on the floor blamed the cat but oh no, another one launched while i was saving the rest of them..

yes they look awesome, but are so bad to keep, i would never buy them again...have returned 3 to the LFS looking at giving away the other 3 even though they are only 3inch, just before or the trouble starts!

I guess everyone understands how i feel by now so ill shuttup

Slush

I have never seen a single bit of aggression from my 7 balas (or the two that have died along the way). They will swim fast up and down the tank, and when spooked will fly into the ends and the cover glass, but no aggression, not even when sorting out the pecking order after eating. I have found that as I have bumped up the shoal from 3 to 5 to 8 I have seen far better behaviour from the lot.

Your experiences make me wonder whether the tank was too small, as the only other times I have heard people moan about aggressive balas is in small tanks (particularly those 4 feet and under in length)

Once mine hit around 6" the 72x18x18 did not seem very large, especially if there is any decoration in there taking up swimming room. Fortunately mine have slowed down their growth at the 2 year mark so they can easily stay in the 6x2x2 for some time yet.

 

[kamber]

No aggression from my 4 bala's a couple have a little chase around every now and again but they usually shoal together around the tank.

 

[andywg]

Psst. Check the date of the last post before yours, in particular the year

 

[kamber]

Psst. Check the date of the last post before yours, in particular the year

I know, was searching for bala info (there was a more recent thread about a lady buying some from walmart) Still useful to know for people, especially as a lot of people get them and put them in 2-3ft tanks.